Information on Export-Import Banks and my views

The Export-Import Bank of the United States is the official export credit agency of the United States.  The bank's mission is to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets.  This Bank enables U.S. companies, large and small to turn opportunities into profitable sales. This helps to maintain and create U.S. jobs, also contributing to a stronger national economy. 

 The Export Import bank does not compete with private sector lenders, but provides export-financing products that fill gaps in trade financing. They assume credit and country risks that the private sector is unwilling to accept.  It was established in 1934 by an executive order, and made an independent agency in the Executive branch by Congress in 1945, for the purposes of financing and insuring foreign purchases of United States goods for customers unable or unwilling to accept credit risk. The mission of the Bank is to create and sustain U.S. jobs by financing sales of U.S. exports to international buyers. The government corporation, Congress of the United States, charters this type of bank. The charter spells out the Bank’s authorities and limitations. Among them is the principle that the bank does not compete with private sector lenders, but rather provides financing for transactions that would otherwise not take place because commercial lenders are either unable or unwilling to accept the political or commercial risks inherent in an underlying transaction.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, the Export-Import bank has played a major role in financing Boeing aircraft. Since 2008, financing has been approximate to one-third of Boeing deliveries, or $8-10 billion per year. Other Export Credit agencies such as Coface, Hermes, ECGD, ECD and BNDES, have also been active players in supporting their manufacturers.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States also plays a vital role in helping American companies compete on a level playing field in the global marketplace. Last year, the bank aided 3,400 companies, large, medium and small, in supporting over 205,000 U.S. jobs. Maintaining a robust network of aerospace suppliers, and facilitating a stronger U.S. presence in the global market. Significantly, nearly 88 percent of these jobs were at small businesses around the country. Many people do not realize that the bank is self-sustaining, and operates at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. In fact, through its fees and charges, the bank brought in more than $1 billion to the U.S. treasury in fiscal years 2012 and 2013. Simply put, the federal deficit will go up if the Export-Import Bank is shut down.  At a time when defense cuts are causing smaller suppliers to shrink their operations, Export-Import bank financing maintains the financial health of a large number of aerospace industry suppliers, providing assistance to 30,000 of them. Many of these suppliers have looked to other aerospace sectors to compensate for lost revenue from the defense downturn. Furthermore, Export-Import financing is a critical tool to the aerospace exporter in both general aviation and space services. From May 2012 to February 2014, the bank financed over $1 billion in business jet exports, supporting over 5,000 jobs. Satellites and space launch services have become the fastest growing sector. Prior to 2010, the bank financed roughly $50 million annually in space services. That number has risen to over $1 billion in each of the last two years. In fact, over 60 percent of U. S. has built commercial satellite exports today that are supported through Export-Import financing.

Equally important, the bank allows U.S. exporters to effectively compete with foreign firms that have their own government-assisted financing. Our Export-Import Bank is one of 59 export credit agencies around the world. Each of them supports the export of manufactured goods in a highly competitive global marketplace. And many of these governments extend more credit, at more favorable rates, than the United States. In fact, as a percentage of GDP, U.S. export credit in 2012 ranked below six other countries. The Export-Import Bank does not cost American taxpayers a dime. It helps our manufacturers compete and sell their products around the world. And since aircraft manufacturing is one of our nation’s biggest exports, it is not surprising that U.S. jobs depend on our government helping to maintain a level playing field. The bank's authority is set to expire on September 30, 2014.

Some solutions are as follows:  Aside from higher lending limits, the immediate effect of the law is to widen financing to include U.S. aviation-industry exports, specifically transactions of U.S. produced goods and services for aftermarket use on foreign-manufactured aircraft. Obama has pressed for the bank’s reauthorization to help aid export sales and job growth. He has set a goal of doubling U.S. exports to $3.14 trillion a year by the end of 2014, from $1.57 trillion in 2009.  The administration is counting on exports to help drive down the unemployment rate, which has been stuck at more than 8 percent since February 2009. The jobless rate was 8.1 percent in April, with 115,000 jobs added, the weakest growth in six months. The economy and jobs are dominant issues in Obama’s campaign.

           

              I really like it when government officials like to use whatever they can to an advantage to win in an upcoming election.  Like promising the world when they know they can’t fix it.  Some of his board members on Washington hill are so wrapped up they are stuck in this thing called the, “Washington bubble” and they start to believe their own lies.  This country needs more than checks to the general public and the government can’t cash.  This is how I stand after serving, I have a totally new view of how the government works.