$400 Million Down The Drain In Another Obama Green Energy Failure

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Jarrett Skorup @ Michigan Capitol Confidential:

In the fall of 2010, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. — the state’s “corporate welfare” arm — uploaded a video to YouTube highlighting the battery manufacturer A123 Systems.

At the time, the company was promoted heavily by President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Since then, A123 has shed money, laid off half its workforce, recalled products and seen its stock price plummet to about 26 cents this week from a previous high of $26.

Now, just two years after the initial roll-out, A123 is being acquired by a Chinese company. Shortly after this deal was rumored a few weeks ago, the MEDC made all of its promotional videos “private.” This is not the first timequestions have been raised about the MEDC’s lack of transparency.

The company is a poster child of government subsidies for green energy initiatives. Michigan gave A123 Systems $100 million in MEGA tax credits and another $41 million in tax breaks and subsidies from a separate program. At the same time, the Department of Energy awarded A123 Systems a $249.1 million grant as part of the federal “stimulus program.”

The videos were previously covered by Michigan Capitol Confidential and referred to as “a playlist of crony capitalism failures.” Michigan Advantage, the MEDC’s (now defunct) YouTube channel, was intended to promote the success stories of Michigan companies that received state and federal dollars for their operations. The MEDC previously promoted dozens of companies, many of which have gone bankrupt or not delivered promised jobs while costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The MEDC now has a new YouTube page, minus certain videos.

All of the videos made private by the MEDC were saved by Michigan Capitol Confidential. Below is the A123 Systems video.

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Babe Ruth struck out hundreds of time before setting a home run record.

@Liberal1 (Objectivity): Your point?? America can not afford to 0-blama strike out anymore. BTW, 0-blama is playing with our security and money not a baseball teams.

@Liberal1 (Objectivity):

Babe Ruth struck out hundreds of time before setting a home run record.

Lib, ole boy, as usual you kinda missed the point, didn’t you? When the Babe struck out, the league didn’t reward all his ‘bundlers’ did it? These projects are conceived to fail. His bundlers get millions to ‘start a project’, the millions go into their pockets, the company goes bankrulpt. Surprise, surprise……

@Liberal1 (Objectivity):
Record? No one is asking for a record, how about a freaking base hit?

@Liberal1 (Subjectivity):
IIRC, Ruth’s strikeouts had no consequences for the taxpayers. And he DID manage to hit home runs along with the strikeouts, a record this administration can’t claim.

So far, your comments on this site have been either completely fact-free, completely unrelated to the subject, or just plain incoherent. Sometimes you manage all three.

I remember it well.
The year was 1927. The Babe was questioned about his salary. He was asked why he was earning more than the President.
Well, he said, I had a better year than he did.
Who got the fans to come watch the Yankees in such numbers that they had to build a new Stadium? It was called “the house that Ruth built”, if I recall.
Ruth would have been released had he not interspersed his strikeouts with home runs. Which he hit a lot of, despite playing in the dead ball era.
At least Ruth was at the plate, taking his turn in the lineup.
Last I heard, Zero was absent from Press Conferences, absent from Security Briefings, absent from the Oval Office, absent from Cabinet meetings, and when he was there his vote was “present”. Compare the official stats of baseball to the records of the White House Security Logs.
Who could not meet with world leaders at the UN, but made time for The View?
Who could not meet with Netyanhu but found time for the Pimp with a Limp?
Get a grip. The cost/benefit analysis does not work for “Green Energy.” The only thing green about it is the political contributions provided in exchange for government subsidies.