market interest rates. i m not sure if american taxpayers are fronting the money for it, the defenders are claiming it exists to support america s small businesses. really? over 60% of financing helps ten giant corporations like boeing, caterpillar, ge, the same giant corporations that spend millions lobbying the politicians in charge of the export-import bank, but it gets worse. reuters found as much as 3 billion dollars listed as loans to small businesses was misclassified. among those categorized as small businesses were a division of billionaire warren buffett s berkshire hathaway and carlos slim s global conglomerate. how generous are you, the taxpayer to help him out? last month on swamp watch we exposed solyndra for government handouts. both the swamp things got cashed before they went bankrupt. solyndra got 10 million dollars
market interest rates. i m not sure if american taxpayers are fronting the money for it, the defenders are claiming it exists to support america s small businesses. really? over 60% of financing helps ten giant corporations like boeing, caterpillar, ge, the same giant corporations that spend millions lobbying the politicians in charge of the export-import bank, but it gets worse. reuters found as much as 3 billion dollars listed as loans to small businesses was misclassified. among those categorized as small businesses were a division of billionaire warren buffett s berkshire hathaway and carlos slim s global conglomerate. how generous are you, the taxpayer to help him out? last month on swamp watch we exposed solyndra for government handouts. both the swamp things got cashed before they went bankrupt.
illusion, and by offering loan guaranties at loan market rates the market will lose 2 billion dollars. advocates claim the swampy bank protecting american manufacturing jobs because clients couldn t export as much without cheap financing. what? boeing, ge, titans of industry. why can t they find private lenders to finance the deals, not using exim loans. export subsidies may boost the profits of the corporations that get them. it s bad for the economy because it shifts capital economic growth and jobs from unsubsidized firms to subsidized once, also known as politically connected ones. even hurts some of our own domestic companies. delta can t buy boeing planes with subsidized exim loans, while foreign airlines like
tonight s swamp watch. amazingly, then senator barack obama, the candidate for president in 2008 called out the bank s swampy behavior. the export-import bank that s become little more than a fund for corporate welfare. steve: well said, senator, but then what happened after the election when it was time to reauthorize this swampy institution? you ll hear some critics suggest well this is just corporate welfare for big multinationals. steve: excuse me? some critics? you were one of them. wow. obama got swamped real quick. the export-import bank uses our tax dollars to provide subsidized loans and loan insurance if india wants to buy planes from boeing, exim will loan airindia money at below
the taxpayers being on the hook, and the reality is that the default rate is like three tenths of one-third of one percent. much less than commercial lenders. steve: boeing said they have perfectly good alternative sources and credit for the customers but take it anyway because it obviously helps profits. how can you say that this is not something that is ripping off the taxpayer? all right the companies themselves say they don t need it? well, there are companies and obviously a lot of companies that support the export-import bank, and they re not just big companies. 90% of the transactions go to small companies. in fact in virginia companies like roanoke i m talking about the transaction. steve: no, no, the transactions, of course, no, but the taxpayer money. out of roanoke and bristol compressors and orbital sciences, not just all the gigantic companies and other