I keep hearing ads on 570AM WWNC, a conservative talk radio station, urging me to tell Congressman Patrick McHenry to vote in favor of the Export-Import bank. The advertisers are banking on herd mentality. They do not expect fiscal conservatives listening to Rush Limbaugh to realize that government subsidy of favorite industries in whatever form is going to net a positive outcome for the economy only by gerrymandering out the opportunity costs. In short, government meddling with business distorts markets, which means they cause people to pay more in taxes to prop up the quicker kisser-uppers while sending the message to good producers who do not want to curry favor that they can just fall by the wayside. In short, if you have the opportunity to bend the ear of Patrick McHenry, I would prefer you tell him to listen to economists of sound reasoning when it comes to economic issues. Here is a nice little article on the Ex-Im Bank published by the Cato Institute for newcomers to the concept of free markets.