I read, with disgust, the March 31 George Will opinion piece “Toomey rightly wants to rein in Boeing’s bank.” Sen. Pat Toomey and Will have used only the barest of facts as a matrix upon which they weave a complete myth.
I had firsthand experience in obtaining an EX-IM loan guarantee for Scientific Industries (SI) a small manufacturer of American-made laboratory products of which about which 50% are sold outside of the USA. SI in 2016 received a $2.5 million order from a Chinese company for catalyst testing equipment and needed financing to purchase raw materials (all American made) to enable fabrication of the finished goods. The International Banking Department of First National Bank of Hermitage, Pa., assisted in the financing.
EX-IM, for at least 80 years, has been a self-sustaining corporation, wholly owned by the United States government. Since 1992, EX-IM has returned billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury. Toomey and Will, in unison, don’t like the fact that Boeing customers, like India Airlines, buy Boeing airplanes (made in America) and compete with Delta Airlines, which acquires most of its fleet from Airbus, a French company. EX-IM has been supported by presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, G.W. Bush and Trump as a self-sustaining, successful corporation.
Could it be that Toomey has friends in high places at Delta and Will continues his vendetta against Donald Trump?
Joseph G. Cremonese
Hempfield