The Koch brothers’ greed comes with a high price: 500 Americans will see their jobs at General Electric shipped overseas due to the Kochs’ Export-Import Bank takedown. Without the support of the Ex-Im, GE announced it must resort to outsourcing in order to keep a competitive edge.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
For months, GE has said that the failure to reauthorize the export financing agency, which congressional Republicans have singled out as an example of corporate welfare, would force the company to move jobs overseas or risk losing contracts for turbines, power projects and other industrial equipment.
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Executives say that the company is bidding on $11 billion worth of projects, mostly in developing nations, and that bids won’t be entertained if they aren’t sponsored by an export credit agency. GE said, for example, that 80% of the gas turbines have been sold to countries where export credit agency sponsorship is required.
”In a competitive world, we are left with no choice but to invest in non-U.S. manufacturing and move production to countries that support high-tech exports,” said John Rice, vice chairman at GE, in a statement on Tuesday.
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Mr. Rice said that the company had “done everything in our power to avoid making these moves at all, but Congress left us no choice when it failed to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank this summer.”
The Ex-Im Bank provides important support to American companies. Last year it helped keep roughly 164,000 jobs from moving overseas. The bank’s expiration benefits the Kochs’ bottom line. While Koch-owned companies have received a modest $16.2 million from the Export-Import Bank, Koch competitors have received massive benefits to the tune of $19.4 billion. Opposition to the Ex-Im has been a key factor for candidates and elected officials hoping to gain their support, as revealed in a recent Bridge Project Report, “Banking on Obstruction: Koch Profits Behind Opposition to Ex-Im Bank.”
Veronique de Rugy, a fellow at the Koch-supported think tank, the Mercatus Center, has been “at the center of a big political fight” to end the Ex-Im Bank, according to Politico Magazine. And the Koch-backed push for its expiration is just the beginning. In a recent Mercatus Center blog post, de Rugy said, “Importantly, Ex-Im is just the tip of the iceberg… My forthcoming research will show how pervasive cronyism is throughout the economy.” Yes, cronyism is a problem, especially when it comes to the Kochs. Their opposition has nothing to do with ethics — it’s all about profits.
Without the Ex-Im Bank protecting American jobs and helping American companies stay competitive abroad, GE’s announcement is likely just the first of many to come and the Kochs’ hard-line push against the bank will have a hand in every one.