Ed Royce: “the private sector and deregulation are the principal engine of this country's $8 trillion economy. It is not Government…”

“the private sector and deregulation are the principal engine of this country's $8 trillion economy. It is not Government handouts. Government cannot claim credit for the personal computer phenomenon, cannot claim credit for the Internet, cannot claim credit for Microsoft or Bill Gates. The way a market system works, as opposed to a corporatist or socialist system, is that if there is a profit entrepreneurs will risk investing in order to reap the profits. For example, I share with my colleagues the pharmaceutical products that come to market. On average, it costs $400 million, takes 8 to 10 years to bring them to market. And yet, if there is a profit to be made, entrepreneurs will act with or without government handouts, as they do in these cases, to bring these things to market. Most of my colleagues here voted for this last year. We passed this out of this House, this very amendment to eliminate this program, and it was passed out of the Senate. It was subsequently curtailed because of other problems. But, basically, between 1985 and 1986, the Department of Commerce, which oversees ATP and MEP issued $1.23 billion in loans and loan guarantees through various programs. Not even half were paid back. The American taxpayers lost $650 million, and those loans still carried on the books are of questionable value.”