Congress is wrestling with whether or not to continue the Export-Import bank. According to Wikipedia, it is “for the purposes of financing and insuring foreign purchases of United States goods for customers unable or unwilling to accept credit risk.” From Scott Scherer, Boeing’s head of regulatory strategy at Boeing Capital:
Boeing is not going to let itself be hurt by the lack of an ExIm Bank. If it means sourcing … to other countries who will support us we may have to look at that. Other countries have more aggressive export policies. We will find an alternative.
This isn’t griping about taxes or regulations; gripes which are often justified. This is a corporate spokesman essentially saying that Boeing is entitled to US government financing and insuring foreign purchases of its planes. Boeing is a behemoth, it surely does not need such government assistance to sell its planes abroad. Congress should call this crybaby bluff, and see if Boeing, who does a ton of business with the government, actually leaves. The odds are low that this corporate welfare queen will depart, but if it really thinks it can’t sell planes without sweetheart deals from the government, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out, Mr. Scherer.
