US giving $52 billion to corporations

Robert Reich: *Why is the US about to give away $52bn to corporations like Intel?*

I have a different answer. Most US officials are so much under the thumb of business that, when businesses do certain things that hurt the country, the only solution they can propose is to pay businesses not to do those things. This leads to ever more levels of subsidy.

It used to be we had another kind of solution available: punish or tax businesses which did those things. But businesses lobby for the principle that every complaint about business conduct is an occasion for more subsidy.