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From: Newt Gingrich <no-reply@gingrichproductions.com>
Date: April 26, 2013 5:17:09 PM GMT-06:00
To: bobbygmartin1938@gmail.com
Subject: Gullible Greens Throw Away Your Money
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Gullible Greens Throw Away Your Money
The green energy loan racket's biggest loss since Solyndra may come from a company that was bent on selling $100,000 luxury cars to people like Justin Bieber, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Al Gore.
The fact that hardworking taxpayers were forced to subsidize the Fisker Karma, a hybrid electric sports car catering to the super-wealthy, is a scandal in its own right. But such an expenditure is even more outrageous when you consider the administration's insistence this week that sequester cuts forced it to slow the nation's airports and air traffic control system to a crawl.
The FAA claimed it needed about $600 million in funding restored to prevent disruptions in aviation. Although Republicans repeatedly offered the administration the authority to make up for this shortfall with wasteful programs outside the FAA, the President has so far showed little interest, continuing to claim they can't come up with the money needed to prevent the delays.
Yet the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats are apparently unconcerned about the $529 million loan they made Fisker, which is expected to declare bankruptcy. The President's spokesman and House Democrats brushed off questions about Fisker earlier this week. The company had a CCC+ credit rating when the Department of Energy (DOE) chose to lend it more than half a billion dollars. Now, it is likely that decision will cost taxpayers $171 million.
The ultra-luxury electric car company will be the largest loss by the DOE loan program since Solyndra, the recipient of a $528 million government guarantee, went bankrupt in 2011.
The green energy loan guarantee program was a centerpiece of President Obama's first-term agenda. He told us in virtually every speech that these types of "investments" would create jobs and drive an economic recovery. The stimulus included billions of dollars for dozens of "green" jobs projects.
Yet just a few years later, the administration contends it doesn't have the money to keep the air traffic control system running smoothly. If only the FAA had thought to affix solar panels to the control towers, maybe it could have applied for a DOE loan to keep itself going.
The administration argues government "investments" to companies like Fisker are necessary to drive development of new and revolutionary technologies. But Fisker wasn't doing basic research; it was a commercial venture producing luxury vehicles, which had already raised more than a billion dollars of private capital. The federal loan guarantees did not enable any fundamentally new technology, and they weren't necessary for Fisker to produce cars.
What's almost as bad as subsidizing electric cars for the super-wealthy is that the loan program appears to have been so mismanaged that the government continued to shell out money to Fisker long after it missed important milestones which were supposed to be conditions for further funding. Evidence introduced at the hearing on Wednesday showed the Department of Energy continued to bankroll Fisker for a year after it was warned the company wasn't meeting these benchmarks, costing an extra $32 million the company should never have received.
It appears Fisker was never able to produce a car that was really suitable for sale. Bruce Simon, the CEO of Omaha Steaks, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal this week describing his $100,000 Karma:
"Mr. Simon says his car broke down four times over the span of a few months. Each time, Fisker Automotive Inc. picked it up and sent it by trailer from his home in Omaha, Neb., to a dealer in Minneapolis.
"The Karma was 'so vulnerable to software errors, and the parts used were of such poor quality that eventually I insisted they take the car back and return my purchase price, which they did,' he says. 'It's a real shame, the car itself was beautiful.'"Perhaps it is expenses like this that caused Fisker apparently to lose $557,000 on every car sold.
President Obama often speaks of the need for a "balanced approach" to reducing the deficit. But when his administration defends air traffic control disruptions and half-million-dollar electric lemons in the same week, you have to wonder about his sense of "balance."
Your Friend,
Newt
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