Did anyone else see the recent propaganda advertisement on TV extolling the benefits of the billions in corporate welfare distributed by the Export-Import Bank? It seems the so-called “Bank of Boeing” is up for reauthorization in June but many in Congress are tired of the charade of picking favorites among crony-capitalists.

During its eight decades of operation, the bank has provided over half a trillion dollars in credit, including $20.5 billion last year, which is less than 2 percent of all exports and gives true standing to the bank’s importance.

Commenting in the Wall Street Journal about the advertising blitz, Diane Katz of the Heritage Foundation writes, “The Export-Import Bank’s officials are spending millions of dollars attempting to convince Congress and the public that small businesses (ie: General Electric, Caterpillar, Boeing) would disappear without subsidies. They assume that the economic activity they subsidize would not occur absent Ex-Im Bank financing — an absurd notion, but one prevalent among bureaucrats who cannot fathom that business actually functions without them.”

Exporters must generate their own profits without the aid of a government-created agency with its political hand on the scales. Please advise your representatives to defund this boondoggle.

DENNIS FULLER

Orofino