I’ve written more times that I can remember on the difference between being pro-business and pro-market. Jonah Goldberg offers a reminder of what that difference is in his most recent column and how Republicans no longer have the luxury of blurring the lines between the two concepts. Which brings us to this portion of his piece:
A big test will be on the Export-Import Bank, which is up for reauthorization this year. A bank in name only, the taxpayer-backed agency rewards big businesses in the name of maximizing exports that often don’t need the help (hence its nickname, “Boeing’s Bank”). In 2008, even then-senator Barack Obama said it was “little more than a fund for corporate welfare.” The bank, however, has thrived on Obama’s watch. It’s even subsidizing the sale of private jets. Remember when Obama hated tax breaks for corporate jets?
Yeah, those were the days.
The reason this issue — which is about as inside baseball as one can get — is of some local interest is the role Eric Cantor played in keeping the Export-Import Bank alive in the first place.
That was in 2012. Mr. Cantor faces a primary challenge from the right this year in David Brat. I am forced to wonder whether Mr. Cantor will take a slightly different approach to the superfluous Ex-Im Bank this time around.
How he handles the matter will be very telling, and will cement which side of the economic fence he calls home: pro-business, or pro-market.
