The Bush administration is planning broad cuts in government subsidies to U.S. businesses, alarming many corporate executives who expected something different from a Republican White House, according to The Wall Street Journal . White House budget officials are telling government agency heads to expect that business-subsidy programs will be trimmed to provide money for such Bush priorities as education, defense and tax cuts. Programs facing cuts include trade-agreement enforcement, export promotion, farm subsidies and technology development.
Government has as little business subsidizing private industry as it does individuals.
Cato scholars have for years advocated emissions trading as a viable free market alternative to pollution regulations. Bush's EPA administrator, Christine Todd Whitman, supported pollution trading as New Jersey's governor, promoting cooperation with businesses, as opposed to strict regulation and enforcement, as the key to cleaning the air. Director of the Project on Representative Government John Samples writes that Democrats have as much to lose as Republicans with limits on fundraising and may therefore contribute to the demise of campaign finance reform. Is No Limits. Sign-up and get the Cato Institute's Daily Dispatch in your email every weekday morning.