Corporate Welfare for the Kochs [via ECAs] – New York Times

(New York Times, New York, 10 October 2015) In 2013 the people who dreamed up Big River Steel in Arkansas wanted government aid that would help make the project successful — the kind of aid that groups like Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity, both generously supported by the right-wing billionaires Charles and David Koch, derisively describe as “corporate welfare.” The Arkansas Legislature was considering a $125 million bond issue to help pay for the mill’s construction, as well as over $200 million in tax credits for buying and installing recycling equipment… The deal also depended on an $800 million 10-year loan from a German bank, KfW IPEX-Bank which in turn, was contingent on credit insurance provided by Euler Hermes, an ECA like the Export-Import Bank of the United States. In America, of course, Koch-funded groups have led the battle to defund the Ex-Im Bank. The Germans have no such ideological hang-ups, because Big River Steel would be buying its steelmaking equipment from a German company. In February 2013, Koch Minerals, part of Koch Industries took a 40% equity stake in Big River Steel, making them the project’s biggest investor. The Arkansas incentive package ultimately passed, the German government-insured loan was completed and the plant should be up and running next year.