HOW CRONY OBAMACAPITALISM WORKS

HOW CRONY OBAMACAPITALISM WORKS From Washington Free Beacon BY: CJ Ciaramella August 16, 2012 5:00 am 234 AMERICANS LAID OFF 2 DAY AFTER LOAN APPROVAL Just days after the Export-Import Bank approved a multi-million dollar federal loan guarantee to benefit a mostly foreign-based wind-energy outfit, the company pink-slipped more than 200 American workers. The Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that promotes and finances sales of U.S. exports to foreign buyers, approved a $32 million loan guarantee on Aug. 2 for a Brazilian firm to purchase wind turbines from LM Wind Power. According to its website, LM Wind Power is headquartered in Denmark. “Ex-Im Bank’s financing, which guarantees a Bank of America loan, will support approximately 250 permanent American jobs at the company’s Little Rock, Ark., and Grand Forks, N.D., manufacturing facilities,” the bank said in a release. The company maintains a manufacturing presence in Arkansas and North Dakota—but the company laid off 234 of the Arkansas plant’s roughly 300 workers just two days after its loan was approved. “The Export-Import Bank is a slush fund for corporate welfare that distorts trade flows and should be eliminated,” Barney Keller, spokesman for the conservative Club for Growth, said in a statement to the Free Beacon. “It’s a ticking time-bomb that has subsidized everything from Enron to Mexican drug cartels and it should be eliminated as soon as possible before it costs taxpayers.” The Ex-Im Bank enjoys broad support from Democrats and some Republicans, who say it bolsters U.S. exports.