"Acting without any legal authority, President Obama has overridden the federal charter of the Export-Import Bank, and turned it into a competitor for domestic loan business, in utter defiance of the law."

◼ Obama Perverts Ex-Im Bank into Competitor for Domestic Banks - John F. Di Leo/American Thinker

Hardly anyone has noticed or seems to care. Speaking at a Boeing assembly plant in Everett, Washington Friday, President Barack Obama announced a bold new plan to help American exporters: he would broaden the services of the Ex-Im Bank to help grow our exports.

Now, that sounds good on the face of it. The Ex-Im Bank is chartered as an export-funding source with a very narrow, specific charter. It exists in an odd area of commerce that requires some background. (read here)

He has announced that he will break with 80 years of history and a clear bank charter to direct the Ex-Im Bank to provide loans for domestic (USA-to-USA) sales if a foreign government might offer export financing to the manufacturer's foreign competitors. They all do! By definition, export financing agencies abroad provide this service on their international sales; it's not normally restricted by industry or product. The American banking industry can provide sufficient financing for a domestic company to compete with a more costly foreign import (for which you have transportation, duties, and other import costs as well, presumably making the importation undesirable).

He has also announced that he will order the Ex-Im Bank to begin making short-term financing loans of six to twelve months -- not necessarily connected to any export sales! -- to small domestic firms who want to increase their exporting activity. That's so open-ended, it can mean anything and include any company. Not that there's anything wrong with loans to small businesses; it's just that this is not the job of the Ex-Im Bank. Short-term loans to domestic businesses are for normal domestic banks to offer; that's what the business department of every bank in the country is for!

...This administration is making a habit of directing government agencies to change their very jobs without congressional authority. The military isn't there to fight wars, but perhaps to help with disaster assistance. The Department of Education is to issue guidelines on children's diets. NASA is to stop flying into outer space, and instead is to propagandize about the scientific contributions of Islam through the ages. The Department of Energy is to thwart energy independence by denying permits that would produce domestic energy.

And now the Export-Import Bank is to loan money to domestic customers engaging in domestic transactions.

This administration is abusing government, by using agencies for purposes other than their constitutional or statutory functions. This government by executive fiat grows ever more random, ever more disconnected from the reality of the legislation that chartered these departments and agencies as they wander ever farther afield.