DOGE and Congress Should Take a Chainsaw to Corporate Welfare
Last month, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) founder Elon Musk swung a chainsaw at a gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference to dedicate his commitment to slashing federal spending. The prop was a gift from Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei and represented the two men’s shared vision of smaller, leaner government. The DOGE is off to a respectable start, but there’s a lot more wasteful and damaging spending that could benefit from a dose of chainsaw. Consider, for example, the grants, subsidies, and tax breaks that fall under the umbrella of corporate welfare.
Throwing Gold Bars Off the Titanic
“We’re just trying to get the money out as fast as possible before they come in and stop it all,” Brent Efron of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told an undercover interviewer after last year’s election. “It truly feels like we’re on the Titanic. We’re throwing gold bars off the edge.”
Those “gold bars,” Efron explained, went out the door to fund the Biden administration’s environmental policies and efforts to shape the economy after the former president left office by placing money beyond the reach of the new Trump administration. According to new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, “roughly 20 billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution” as part of the plan. But really, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
“The government spends $181 billion a year on aid to businesses,” writes the Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards in a new study, Corporate Welfare in the Federal Budget. “That figure is based on a broad definition of corporate welfare, which includes direct cash subsidies and indirect industry support.” The study points out that among the biggest sources of such spending in recent years were the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which included $254 billion in corporate welfare spread over multiple years; the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 ($54 billion in corporate welfare); and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, which was crafted to affect such a large swath of the economy over time that “cost estimates for the bill have ranged from $390 billion to $1.2 trillion over 10 years.”
The money goes to activist groups, local governments
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
