Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 09/14/2011 8:47:54 PM PDT by meadsjn
Crony Capitalism on Steroids from GE to Solyndra.
by Sarah Palin on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 9:25pm .
In my recent speech in Iowa, some eyebrows were raised when I took on our government’s enormous economic problems caused by crony capitalism. As if on cue, just days later President Obama selected someone who exemplifies a major crony capitalism problem to sit next to the First Lady when he delivered his “jobs plan” speech before Congress. He selected General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt as his honored guest.
Having grown up with great respect for GE thanks to stories my grandfather shared with us about his days working for the company and even meeting GE spokesman-at-the-time Ronald Reagan during a company event, I am saddened at GE’s leadership evolution. This corporation is now the poster child of corporate welfare and crony capitalism.
This icon of American industry is a company full of good employees who make some good products (and is the parent company of a huge media outlet), but GE is also a large American corporation that pays virtually no corporate income taxes despite earning worldwide profits of $14.2 billion last year, $5.1 billion of it in the United States. In fact, they claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion, meaning they received more of our hard earned tax dollars than they contributed. How is that possible? It’s because not only do they shelter their money from taxes, but they also get many tax credits, loans, government grants, and other benefits from the federal government that our smaller businesses couldn’t even imagine being able to profit from.
Joining GE in the pantheon on crony capitalism is another Obama favorite that has been in the news of late: Solyndra. The President hailed this “green energy” company in a speech last May as “the true engine of economic growth.” When he announced the $535 million guarantee to Solyndra, Vice President Biden said that investments like this are “exactly what the Recovery Act is all about.” (Dear God…If the failed Solyndra venture has been what it’s “all about,” then that explains a lot.) As I pointed out in my speech at the Reagan Ranch Center last February: “History has proven again and again, when government picks the winners and losers, we’re stuck with the losers, and we the taxpayers subsidize failure!” And that’s what we’re seeing now, as the FBI raids the solar energy company’s headquarters to glean more information after the company was handed half a billion dollars in “green energy” Stimulus funds from the American taxpayer only to later declare bankruptcy. More than one thousand Solyndra workers lost their jobs. Now as the truth comes out, we discover that the White House was heavily involved in the Department of Energy’s rushed decision to give the Stimulus funds to Solyndra, and they tried to move the money through so quickly they seem to have ignored concerns that the company was not viable. Why would they do this? Perhaps it’s because a large investor in the company (about 35%) is Obama campaign bundler George Kaiser. And with the way the deal is structured, Kaiser will get his debts paid before we the taxpayers see any relief. That is sickening. And that’s how it works: workers lose their jobs, wealthy political cronies stand a good chance of getting their money back, and the U.S. taxpayer gets the shaft. Again.
President Obama has his sights set on raising $1 billion for his reelection campaign. Raising that money won’t be easy. But if you can hand out other people’s money to friends, it must get a whole lot easier. This crony capitalism and government waste is at the heart of our economic problems. It will destroy us if we don’t root it out. It’s not just a Democrat problem or a Republican problem. It’s a problem of our permanent political class. This won’t stop until “we the people” say enough is enough, and we retire the permanent political class that votes for this.
- Sarah Palin
From Sarah Palin, 16 minutes ago.
Tesla Motors, copied from another reprised thread from 2009
Tesla gets long-awaited government loan
San Francisco Business Times ^ | June 23, 2009 | Lindsay Riddell
Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 11:08:22 PM by artichokegrower
Tesla Motors, makers of the first electric car that can travel more than 200 miles between charges, got its $465 million loan guarantee from the government Tuesday. Tesla has been banking on the guarantee for more than two years. The guarantee essentially insures the San Carlos-based company can borrow the money from financial partners to build a factory to produce for Tesla’s next-generation sedan, the Model S. The sedan will sell for around $45,000, that’s with a $7,500 tax credit from the government, and is about half the price of its first production vehicle, the high-end Tesla Roadster.
Tesla had struggled to raise money this year as banks essentially stopped lending amid the credit crisis and recession. Tesla Chairman Elon Musk essentially bankrolled the company with his own money through the beginning of the year. Tesla then signed a deal with Daimler AG, which took a 10 percent stake in the company in May. The Department of Energy had indicated that strategic partnerships with credit-worthy companies would be a major advantage as it evaluated to which companies it would award loan guarantees.
Whoo boy. Sarah Palin could clean house in Washington, DC. And the house in DC needs some cleaning.
With just one deal like that, what could a redneck NOT do?
No mention of Rick Perry in this Facebook post?
Sarah, call me. I can actually give you a winning strategy.
She right on Solyndra, but wrong on GE. “In fact, they claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion, meaning they received more of our hard earned tax dollars than they contributed.”
Tax benefit does NOT mean GE received our hard earned tax dollars. That’s just financial reporting speak. It’s not a tax refund.
And the voters will agree with you.
You should email your strategy to Gov. Perry.
Right away.
.
O.K. I will say it this time....
“RUN, SARAH, RUN”!
Porkulus did allow actual cash payments for losses... but in the traditional sense, a company could claim a tax benefit in loss years to offset profit in future years. But here is the kicker, some of those tax benefits are the result of "Profit difference between accrual and tax reporting"- meaning, yous showed Wall Street a profit but showed Uncle Sam a loss. So ultimately, the company gets a payment in the form of lower taxes in profit years.
Doesn’t this part of her article justify her statement “How is that possible? It’s because not only do they shelter their money from taxes, but they also get many tax credits, loans, government grants, and other benefits from the federal government that our smaller businesses couldn’t even imagine being able to profit from.”?
Tell us how tax benefit is calculated so that we can fairly judge her statement. I interpreted her statement to mean that GE was bringing in more money from the government through grants than it is paying out in taxes.
If she is wrong she is wrong, but please explain precisely how she is wrong. I am not trying to be snarky I just want to know.
Do you thimk the whole world revolves around t/rick perry? You just came off an over 300 post thread which YOU started ro trash Sarah Palin. Why don’t you just stop it? It’s old. It’s tiresome. And you sound like a ten year old. Gah!
I wouldn’t give GE the glowing accolades Sarah gives them. They’ve been in the tank for any corrupt administration or despotic regime where they can profit handsomely for at least a century, all the while manipulating US national security interests, and equipping our enemies with the latest and greatest. Now they’re in China, tooling them up for the next backstabbing. The more things change...
Sarah isn’t wrong. GE and Immelt enjoy many, many perks with this administration above and beyond taxes. Consider msnbc, or that all of our medical records will be catalogued by GE, or the lightbulb ban. ALL these things favor GE. And of course Immelt is part of obama’s jobs advisory staff, even as he is moving entire plants to China. Magritte supports perry. She/he won’t give Palin credit anyway.
Agreed. Giant corporations like GE have the most convoluted financial and tax statements and it is almost impossible to discern what really is going on with them. The $3.2 billion number CANNOT be called “Taxpayer money” however.
I missed your cool post before asking my question. Thanks for an informed response to the issue.
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