Wisconsin Examiner: How government aid helped Ron Johnson
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has been critical of programs that direct federal money to households and small businesses struggling from the impacts of the pandemic – he voted against the American Rescue Plan.
But when Johnson was building his business, he benefited significantly from local and federal subsidies.
Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy talked about industrial revenue bonds, lesser-known mechanisms that let private companies reduce their capital costs with the help of the government.
“IRBs absolutely are a subsidy because they lower the cost of capital by about 25% from commercial bond rates,” Greg LeRoy told the Examiner.
Read the full story at the Wisconsin Examiner.