More millions of U.S. tax dollars down the green tubes.

[No Elephants]

When I first heard that new green jobs were going to get us out of the recession, my gut said, "I doubt it."

Then I heard how some garbage or trash removal company--the same kind that has operated all my life--got a green grant; and I really became suspicious. I thought, "Oh, great, now any garbage company or exterminator or whatever can slap a green label on his or business and get subsidized by us."

Then came Solyndra, a maker of photovoltaic (sp?) panels for which U.S. taxpayers guaranted a loan of over half a billion bucks, even though Solyndra had looked shaky. (There were federal and state tax credits, too, in the millions.)

Turned out that a bundler or fundraiser for, or donor to (forget which), the 2008 Obama campaign was involved in Solyndra, which made it look worse. Solyndra went bankrupt, meaning the U.S. taxpayer had to make good on the loan guaranty.

Then came Tesla, for another half a billion, involving an Obama fundraiser. Tesla has made its loan payments on time. However, its financial reports to the U.S. are showing signs of strain, so the D of E asked for the December loan payment to be made early.

Tesla has until October 31 to tell the D of E how it will do that. (Sounds like pure bureaucratic masturbation to me. By the time D of E and Tesla finish negotiating how and when Tesla will make the December payment early, it will probably be March.) Anyhoo, here's a link on that. http://green.autoblog.com/2012/10/03/tesla-will-have-to-pay-back-doe-loan-early-says-its-ready-to-do/

Then came Fisker Automotive, which was backed by a venture capital firm in which Al Gore held an interest, as did yet another Obama donor. I do not know how Fisker made out, either, but I do know that it decided to have its plant (and therefore its new green jobs) in Finland, instead of the United States. Because the point of the stimulus was supposed to have been new U.S. jobs, not more offshoring, this required the permission of the Obama administration, which Fisker amazingly got.

By this time, I was brave enough to post my concerns at DU (for all the good that ever does, either in the real world or the DU world).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=5033129&mesg_id=5033388

And many other posts by me and others on that thread.

Then ener1, which got a federal grant of $118 million, also went bankrupt, although it recently emerged.

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/7085-green-jobs-funding-recipient-ener1-exits-bankruptcy

The latest (that I am aware of, not being a big reader of the financial pages) is A123 Systems, a Massachusetts company, which apparently used the money to build a plant in Michigan. (Better than Finland, I guess). That was $249 million in federal money.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/obama-backed-battery-maker-files-for-bankruptcy/


http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21791527/battery-maker-a123-systems-recipient-249m-federal-grant

One source says that $2 billion in green grants were given out to 29 companies, but the ones mentioned about just about account for $2 billion. However, some of the above were grants, while others were loan guaranties. Once the borrower company goes bankrupt, though, the gurantie kicks in.

No mention in any of the stories whether any of the executives, who I am sure got wonderful salaries and benefits, had any personal liability or whether U.S. taxpayers were the only ones on the hook.

I'm guessing that, as usual when we deal with the 1%, we were the only ones on the hook.


President Obama had promised 5 million new jobs from these green grants, loans and loan guaranties. I think there are a few thousand.

Bottom line. I really do hate to say "I knew it all along" because I read the Greek legends about Cassandra and Sybil and I don't want to spend the rest of my days as a voice in a jar.

But sometimes, I just can't resist.