'The Kronies' Are Back, Explaining Export-Import Bank Loan Subsidies

Remember the Kronies? This fun, deliberately horrifying parody of old Saturday morning cartoons was intended to illustrate the collusion between major corporations and the government to funnel money away from taxpayers (Read what we wrote when the Kronies debuted back in January here).

There is a new short piece out this week that explains in its own particular style how awesome (read: terrible) the Export-Import Bank is. Watch below:

Reason columnist and Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy laughed along, but also wondered if the increased awareness of the corporate subsidies the bank offers was a sign that Americans were paying more attention to corporate cronyism. She wrote over at the National Review:

A growing number of people are aware that Big Business often teams up with Big Government, and that it's causing big problems. People know this and they're sick of it — the outrage about cronyism is definitely bipartisan.

It's an issue that has been more aggressively embraced by free-market activities in Congress and around the country, and I actually think we're about to see a backlash against "pro-business" Republicans (George Will rightfully argues that Eric Cantor's demise can be traced back to people being fed-up with pro-business Republicans). If this trend continues, we may end up seeing a real shift in policies.

The first big test? In September, when the Ex-Im Bank reauthorization issue comes up. It will be interesting to watch. 

Our own Nick Gillespie also argued Cantor's collapse is tied to his support of corrupt institutions like the Export-Import Bank. Watch or read his argument here.

More Reason on the awfulness of the Export-Import Bank here.