Obama’s green energy industrial complex scam

From john w k's 1st link:

"It’s money that we’ll never get back," Skorup said of the massive amount of stimulus cash. "It was grant money so there were not a lot of strings attached to it."

In case you were wondering.

Obama lies about Ohio coal miners

Obama’s green energy industrial complex scam sinks to lying about Ohio coal miners. SEE” Coal miners ask Obama to stop ‘absolute lies’

October 13, 2012
By CASEY JUNKINS - Special to the Herald-Star , The Herald-Star

The miners said Obamas campaign team is running ads filled with blatantly false statements about the miners regarding their participation in Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romneys August campaign stop at the Century Mine. These ads assert that the miners were forced to attend the event by the mines owner, Robert Murray.

JWK

They are not “liberals”. They are conniving Marxist parasites who use the cloak of government force to steal the profits, gains and income which wage earners, business and investors have worked to create

And other one bites the dust
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-16/electric-car-battery-maker-a123...
Its just money
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-16/obama-s-5-billion-slow-to-charg...

Islander,

When will the American People, especially hard working people living in our nation’s inner cities, realize that the Obama Administration is operating one of the largest money laundering operation in our nation’s history and is plundering our federal treasury in the process?

I would certainly like Obama to at least tell us what wording in our Constitution grants power to the federal government to tax hard working people living in our nation’s inner cities and then transfer their earned wages to a ruthless gang running a green energy industrial complex scam.

JWK

"To lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow upon favored individuals, to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes [Obama’s Solyndra, Chevy Volt, Fisker, Exelon swindling deals] is none the less a robbery because it is done under forms of law and called taxation." ____ Savings and Loan Assc. v. Topeka,(1875).

John, I am not sure that the 47% who will vote for Obama will ever learn, even when it comes crashing down they will blame everyone but themselves.

BTW, For those who may be interested in how Obama is plundering our federal treasury under his green energy industrial complex scam see: 80% of Obama green jobs money goes to Obama donors.

JWK

"To lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow upon favored individuals, to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes [Obama’s Solyndra, Chevy Volt, Fisker, Exelon swindling deals] is none the less a robbery because it is done under forms of law and called taxation." ____ Savings and Loan Assc. v. Topeka,(1875).

And yet, like the blind government funded juggernaut it's become, GM keeps "forging" ahead;

http://mailview.custombriefings.com/mailview.aspx?m=2012101701sme&r=4368...

General Motors: Production On Electric Cadillac Will Begin Late 2013.
The AP (10/17) reports that, according to General Motors, "production is set to begin late next year on a luxury version of its Chevrolet Volt hybrid," which is called the Cadillac ELR. The "Cadillac will run on electricity and carry a four-cylinder gasoline engine to generate power when the batteries run out of juice" and is "based on the Cadillac Converj, a concept car unveiled in 2009 at the Detroit auto show." GM "will invest $35 million" into the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, which will produce the vehicle.

The whole green energy industrial complex thing is a scam to plunder our national treasury, line the pockets of members of Congress and benefit China our competitor!

Does anyone here remember the following article? Sen. Reid and Obama donors back company seeking $450 million in U.S. money

WASHINGTON — Top Democratic fundraisers and lobbyists with links to the White House are behind a proposed wind farm in Texas that stands to get $450 million in stimulus money, even though a Chinese company would operate the farm and its turbines would be built in China.

And Obama has the nerve to talk about outsourcing?

JWK

"To lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow upon favored individuals, to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes [Obama’s Solyndra, Chevy Volt, Fisker, Exelon swindling deals]] is none the less a robbery because it is done under forms of law and called taxation." ____ Savings and Loan Assc. v. Topeka,(1875).

Another List, only this time it costs you and you didn't even get kissed!
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/18/president-obamas-taxpayer-backed-gre...

Hey Islander....same list here? http://environmentblog.ncpa.org/green-energys-bankruptcy-blackout/

The Obama administration green energy boosterism is no secret. With big names like Solyndra and Solar Trust of America making headlines every other day, it’s hard to get away from the administrations funding failures. What may come as a surprise is the overall amount of money being thrown away on these green companies that the administration has championed.
Here’s the breakdown of how well green energy is actually doing:
Bankrupt Green Energy Companies that received substantial federal and/or state subsidies:
• Beacon Power Corp: Received $43 million in federal loan guaranteed in 2009 and also received $29 million in PA grants – Bankrupt in October 2011
• Ener1 (parent company of EnerDel): Received $118.5 million in federal loan guarantees — Bankrupt in January 2012 – has since exited bankruptcy
• Evergreen Solar: Received $58 million in MA loan guarantees (an undisclosed portion sourced from federal ARRA block grant) — Bankrupt in August 2011 with $485.6 million in debt
• Solyndra: Received $535 million in federal loan guarantees in 2009 and $25.1 million in CA tax credit — Bankrupt in August 2011
• SpectraWatt: Received $500,000 in federal loan guarantees in 2009 — Bankrupt in August 2011
• Babcock and Brown: Received $178 million in federal grants in December 2009 (4 months after it went bust) – Bankrupt in early 2009
• Mountain Plaza Inc.: Received $424,000 in federal grants through TN Department of Transportation in 2009 — Bankrupt in 2003 and again in June 2010
• Solar Trust of America (parent company: Solar Millennium): Received $2.1 billion loan guarantee in April 2011 – Bankrupt in April 2012
Other Subsidized Green Energy Companies in decline:
• A123: Received $300 million in federal grants and $135 million in MI grants — Declining orders and have forced multiple layoffs
• Amonix, Inc.: Received $5.9 million in federal tax credits in 2009 through ARRA — Laid off 2/3 of work force
• First Solar: Received $3 billion in federal loan guarantees — Biggest S&P loser in 2011, CEO fired
• Fisker Automotive: $529 million in federal loan guarantees — Multiple 2012 sales prediction downgrades for first car release, delivery and cash flow troubles; Assembling cars in Finland
• Johnson Controls: Received $299 million in federal grants in 2009 — Low demand caused cancellation of a new factory, operating at half capacity
• Nevada Geothermal: Received $98.5 million in federal loan guarantees in 2009 — Defaulting on long-term debt obligations, 85% drop in stock value
• Sun Power: Received $1.2 billion in federal loan guarantees — Debt exceeds assets; French oil company took over last fall
• Abound Solar: Received $400 million in federal loans in 2012 — ½ work force laid off
• BrightSource Energy: $1.6 billion federal loan approved in April 2012 – loan obtained through political connections with the administration; absent the loan, Brightsource’s solar power purchase would have fallen through.

Quite a list of accomplishments for our dear leader.

And the question is: Why do wage earning voters in our nation’s inner cities continue to support Obama who is plundering our national treasury, stealing their earned wages, and transferring them to his pals running a green energy industrial scam?

JWK

"To lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow upon favored individuals, to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes [Obama’s Solyndra, Chevy Volt, Fisker, Exelon swindling deals] is none the less a robbery because it is done under forms of law and called taxation." ____ Savings and Loan Assc. v. Topeka,(1875).

The Obama administration green energy boosterism is no secret. With big names like Solyndra and Solar Trust of America making headlines every other day, it’s hard to get away from the administrations funding failures. What may come as a surprise is the overall amount of money being thrown away on these green companies that the administration has championed.

Fact Check: The federal loan guarantee program which funded these loans was created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (President Bush) and has loaned out $34.7 billion dollars, much of it during the Bush presidency.

Introduced in the House as H.R.6 by Republican Joe Barton (R-TX) on April 18, 2005
Passed the House on April 21, 2005 (249 - 183)
Passed the Senate on June 28, 2005 (85 - 12) (Senator Obama did vote yes)
Signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005

Everyone knows about Solyndra because it was in the news. The Solyndra loan guarantee was a multi-year process that the Bush Administration launched in 2007. The Bush team tried to conditionally approve the Solyndra loan just before President Obama took office. The Solyndra deal was very complicated and was spread across two presidencies.

The problem is that government does not understand business. Government backed several car battery plants. None of those plants could have been built without government loan guarantees because nobody is going to lend money to make batteries that power electric cars. Why not? Nobody wants electric cars. It costs $250,000 to build a Volt. No company can make money on Volt cars.

The Ford Fusion seems to be a nice car. I have ridden in one. It can maneuver around parking lots on the battery. As soon as it starts down the road the engine starts. Going down a long hill the engine stops. Going up the next hill the engine runs. At a stop light the engine stops. When you drive ahead the engine starts. Nothing is known about starter life because the vehicle is so new. Ford did not take the bait and go the way of GM and Chrysler.

The problem is that government does not understand business.

True. But business understands government. Its a source of free money.

Nobody wants electric cars.

Not true. Nobody wants crappy electric cars. 2.5 million Toyota Prius have been sold worldwide as of February 2012. The U.S. accounted for almost half of Prius global sales.

I've posted this before and Jeepn has also chimed in, but I own a 2003 VW Jetta with a TDI diesel that consistantly gives me 50 MPG.
These engines have been available since at least 1998.......almost 15 years.

Put that in your prius and smoke it.

The Prius (better known in Maine as the Pious) is not an electric car. It's a hybrid like Ford's Fusion. AlGore's son was stopped for speeding at over 100 MPH in a Prius.

The Prius (better known in Maine as the Pious) is not an electric car. It's a hybrid like Ford's Fusion.

The Volt really isn't either. It also has a gas engine.

Correct, but neither the Ford Fusion nor the Prius hybrids cost $250,000 to build.

The only true electric cars available in the USA that I know of are the Tesla and the Leaf.

http://www.teslamotors.com/

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index

Key phrase: federal loan guarantees
Key word: bankrupt
Missing: the process that the"feds" use to assure themselves that my tax dollars are will be used for fiscally sound programs. Nobody has my back.

Some people made a lot of money off the people and that is all part of the plan......right Olympia?

matt8888 wrote:

And? Is there a relevant point associated with your post? Are we to accept a continued plundering of our federal treasury because a past president engaged in such theft?

We don’t know what Romney would do if elected. But we do know what Obama has done during his past four years. And if Obama really cared about working people, why did he continue to tax hard working people's earned wages living in our nation’s inner cites, and transfer their earned wages to his pals running a green energy industrial scam which suck this money up and then go bankrupt?

Your partisan politics adds nothing productive to the people’s fight to take back their country from the Washington Establishment!

JWK

"To lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow upon favored individuals, to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes [Obama’s Solyndra, Chevy Volt, Fisker, Exelon swindling deals] is none the less a robbery because it is done under forms of law and called taxation."____ Savings and Loan Assc. v. Topeka,(1875).

Oh Oh........one more...won more here....Bush didit...Bush didit.....right Matt?
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/target_8/Volt-no-jolt-LG-Chem-employees-idle

LG chem.:
Volt no jolt: LG Chem employees idle
Factory has yet to ship out a single battery

Published : Thursday, 18 Oct 2012, 4:58 PM EDT

HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) - Workers at LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell Target 8 that they have so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games, reading magazines or watching movies.

They say it's been going on for months.

"There would be up to 40 of us that would just sit in there during the day," said former LG Chem employee Nicole Merryman, who said she quit in May.

"We were given assignments to go outside and clean; if we weren't cleaning outside, we were cleaning inside. If there was nothing for us to do, we would study in the cafeteria, or we would sit and play cards, sit and read magazines," said Merryman. "It's really sad that all these people are sitting there and doing nothing, and it's basically on taxpayer money."

Two current employees told Target 8 that the game-playing continues because, as much as they want to work, they still have nothing to do.

"There's a whole bunch of people, a whole bunch," filling their time with card games and board games," one of those current employees said.

That employee says some workers are doing odd jobs around the building, including cleaning and maintenance, while others hang out in the cafeteria playing video games, Texas hold-'em and Monopoly or doing Sudoku or crossword puzzles -- all on company time. The employee said some watch movies.

"There's no work, no work at all. Zero work," another current employee said. "It is what it is. What do you do when there's no work?"

They told Target 8 they didn't want to talk on camera or be identified because workers signed a confidentiality agreement.
Randy Boileau, a Holland-based public relations specialist who was spokesman for LG Chem , says he no longer represents the company.

Target 8 left a message at the plant's security station and left a message with the company's receptionist. The receptionist would not transfer the call to a company manager.
The Target 8 investigation has led the Washington, D.C.-based Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board -- an oversight agency for the federal stimulus program -- to take action.

"We are sending this to the Inspector General, Department of Energy, for his review," said Ed Pound, spokesman for the board. The Inspector General's Office would decide whether to open an investigation. Pound refused further comment.

Some workers at the Holland plant have quit or are looking for jobs. Others have started helping local non-profits on company time.

"I thought it might be a decent place to start a career, lots of places to move up," said one former employee, who left the job this summer.

"You can only do nothing for so long. There were days, sitting around all day doing nothing. ... I didn't play a whole lot of cards," said the worker, who added, "I bailed out of a sinking ship."

Those left behind are on furlough -- one week off without pay every four weeks.

The plant all started with such great hope, and a presidential groundbreaking in July 2010.

"This is a symbol of where Michigan is going, this is a symbol of where Holland is going, and this is a symbol of where America's going," President Barack Obama told a crowd at the groundbreaking.

Nicole Merryman was among the first in line for a job.

"It was something exciting, and I thought it would be better for the family, more overtime, more money," said Merryman, who said she worked on a line that folded the battery cells.

The company's goal: 300 employees pumping out 15 million battery cells a year. Its biggest customer: The Chevrolet Volt.

The U.S. Department of Energy provided a $151 million grant, part of Obama's Recovery Act.
The Korea-based company recently said it has 200 employees, and the company's most recent federal filing shows 100 of them are funded through the Recovery Act grant.
The company has spent $133 million so far, most for construction and equipment, records show. About 40% has gone to foreign companies -- mostly to Korea, a Target 8 analysis shows.

The company also spent more than $533,000 of that federal grant for the groundbreaking, records show.
A Target 8 analysis of federal records shows taxpayers spent $7 million to train workers and have paid more than $700,000 for workers' health and dental insurance.

There's millions of dollars more at stake for LG Chem if it doesn't keep hiring, or if its job numbers fall. The state approved a $25.2 million job-creation state tax credit over 15 years, and a battery cell state tax credit worth $100 million over 4 years. Both are tied to job creation.

LG Chem has yet to file claims for that money, state officials said.

The City of Holland created a Renewable Energy Renaissance Zone, allowing LG Chem to operate free of property taxes for 15 years -- if it reaches 300 employees within 5 years. That's another $48.5 million.

The city expected the plant's payroll to pump $270 million into the local economy over 15 years, and to create up to 1,500 spin-off jobs.

But sales of the Chevy Volt, while recently growing, aren't meeting GM's expectations. In September, GM temporarily idled the Detroit-area plant that makes the Volt.

An LG Chem spokesman recently told reporters that workers at the Holland plant continue to train and prepare for battery production.

However, workers told Target 8 they haven't trained for months.

They say the last of the materials needed to make battery cells, including chemicals, was shipped back to Korea. It's not clear if that includes any of the $1.8 million in materials paid for with that federal Recovery Act money.

Workers say they made test battery cells, starting late last year, perhaps 100,000 or more, and that they did a good job. They say they produced perhaps 4,000 a week. But, they say, that worked ended for the most part last December.

"Never produced a battery for shipment; still to this day, they're not," Merryman, the former employee, said.

Workers say they shipped out those test batteries last spring, apparently for recycling.

"It seems like every time that we thought we were going to have a start of production date, something would happen, and it would get pushed back again," Merryman said.

Workers say the last target date was July 2, but that it was put off indefinitely.

Finally, workers told Target 8, they pushed LG Chem to let them do some good with their company time and have started helping out local non-profits.
They've helped rebuild a burned-out home for Habitat for Humanity in Holland.

"They've been helping out a lot here," said Rob DeHaan of Habitat for Humanity.

They work at Felt Mansion near Saugatuck, at the Critter Barn in Zeeland.

The Noah Project, a no-kill animal shelter in Muskegon, was facing a possible shutdown by the state, until three LG Chem workers started working there five days a week this summer. They fixed cages, painted walls and floors, have worked outside.

"The call came out of the blue; we were praying, and it happened," said Noah Project's Rose Casperson. "They're a godsend."

As many as 30 at a time have spent their work days at Holland's Outdoor Discovery, cutting down invasive trees, painting homes for birds of prey, building docks.

"It's a tremendous help," said Travis Williams, executive director of Outdoor Discovery Center in Holland. "We've had the work of two or three summers worth of activity that has been completed by this group in two months."

"It's unfortunate that those folks aren't able to work in the company where they were hired to work, but given the economy and given what's going on, we understand there are challenges that face all businesses these days," he added.

We don’t know what Romney would do if elected. But we do know what Obama has done during his past four years. And if Obama really cared about working people, why did he continue to tax hard working people's earned wages living in our nation’s inner cites, and transfer their earned wages to his pals running a green energy industrial scam which suck this money up and then go bankrupt?

Your partisan politics adds nothing productive to the people’s fight to take back their country from the Washington Establishment!

You misunderstand. Its not partisan at all. Both democrats and republicans support this. Your mistake is thinking a new President and VP will change anything.

“Green” Graft: After Receiving “Green Energy” Stimulus Money, Tesla CEO Buys $17 Million Mansion

http://dustinstockton.com/2013/01/green-graft-after-receiving-green-ener...

"One of the notable characteristics of the Soviet Union before it fell was the increasingly-noticeable divergence of laws and policies that affected “connected” people versus the lowly, regular Soviet citizens. Before its predictable collapse, high-ranking Party members and their friends enjoyed perks that reached far beyond the masses were afforded.

"