A Guardian of Jobs or a ‘Reverse Robin Hood’?

““How is it that billionaires like Shinawatra and Bernie Schwartz can get the U.S. taxpayers to subsidize their deals?” asked Franklin G. Polk, a lobbyist for New Skies Satellites, a rival based in the Netherlands that, like other companies, was able to get private financing, but not at the rates as low as Shin’s government-backed loans.

How indeed?



At a time when the Bush administration says it wants to cut back on corporate welfare, the Export-Import bank, often called a "reverse Robin Hood" for taking money from American taxpayers and giving it to wealthy corporations, is growing. In June, while the public was focused on corporate scandals, President Bush quietly signed legislation to double the scope of the bank’s operations and allow it to provide up to $100 billion in international trade assistance at any one time.”

NY Times