Wednesday, May 03, 2006

 

Corporate Welfare

Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters reports on a blow to the Porkbusters effort, in this case a tactical loss to the likes of Senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran. I hope these men have forever foresworn any hopes of seeking nationwide office in the future. I have to think many of us will be eager to hold this kind of greed and rapaciousness (not to say stupidity) against them.

What did we taxpayers lose to the porcine warriors on Capital Hill? Nothing short of $200 Million in payola to corporate benefactors:

The projects that got past Senate pork hawks like Tom Coburn were a $200 million bailout of Northrup Grumman for indemnifying the defense contractor against losses that its insurers refuse to cover. Coburn faced stiff opposition from Trent Lott, the man who apparently wants to make a career out of defying voters on earmarks, and Thad Cochran. Both Republicans insisted that the government needed to replace the loss, even though Northrup made a 7.1% operating margin in 2005, up from 6.7% in 2004 and 5.6% in 2003. That represents $2.4 billion in profit, an increase from $2.3B in 2004 and $1.9B in 2003.

Why does a corporation that made $2.4 billion in profit need another $200 million from American taxpayers to cover a loss they've absorbed in that same year?

Forget investigations into windfall profits. How about an investigation into targeted earmarks into already bulging corporate coffers, such as this?

Over at Porkbusters, they also report on a comment by Lott about how “wily” he and Senator Cochran are, slipping even more pork barrel spending into critical military appropriations, in spite of heightened pressures to tamp down on earmarks.

As NZ Bear remarks, “Call me crazy, but it seems like these guys aren't just killing their party, but actually bragging about it. That doesn't seem very "wily" to me.”

(Via Instapundit)






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