Flashback: When Enron and Solyndra Got Money From The Export-Import Bank

Cato reports:

The Ex-Im Bank's activities introduce distortions to the marketplace. For one thing, the bank picks and chooses which industries to subsidize, and it may be biased toward investments in politically trendy activities such as renewable energy. As an example, the Ex-Im Bank provided a $10 million loan guarantee to the failed solar company Solyndra.

Another problem is that the Ex-Im Bank's subsidies can encourage investment in very dubious projects. That is the story of Enron's international investments, which played an important role in the implosion of the firm. By one estimate, Enron received $2.4 billion in federal aid for overseas energy projects through the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Company between 1992 and 2000. Another study puts total federal government subsidies to Enron for its foreign schemes at $3.7 billion. All these subsidies made possible Enron's excessively risky foreign investments, which came crashing down at the same time that the firm's accounting frauds were being revealed.

If your business model depends on rent-seeking , you don't deserve to make it in the marketplace.