Currently the Senate is having a heated debate about a
mysterious government-run bank that most Americans have never
heard about even though it can call on taxpayer money in an
emergency.   It's the Export-Import Bank, a government
authorized institution that is officially run with the purpose
of creating and safeguarding American jobs, but really amounts
to a loan-guarantor for politically-connected corporations.
Every few years Congress reauthorizes its operations, with
hardly any debate or argument–until this year.  Currently the
Export-Import Bank is run under the assumption that it costs the
taxpayer nothing; the bank uses repayments of old loans to
guarantee new ones.   But this is partly a fiction. The bank is
"self-financing" in the same way housing giants Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac were. If it ever gets in trouble, the taxpayer is
going to bail it out.   Ex-Im operates under the instruction
that it shouldn't compete with private banks, it only provides
financing the market can't or won't provide itse