Free Republic

President Barack Obama sought on Saturday to sustain momentum from Vice President Joe Biden's strong debate showing by touting the benefits of one of his signature actions, the rescue of the U.S. auto industry, as he prepared for his next debate with Republican Mitt Romney. "We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt," Obama said in his weekly radio address. "We bet on American workers and American ingenuity, and three years later, that bet is paying off in a big way."

Players big and small in the state's rapidly growing industry worry a Romney win will strip them of federal subsidies they say are key to clean energy's future. SACRAMENTO — On 7,300 isolated acres in eastern Kern County, a plan for dozens of wind turbines 20 stories high to generate enough electricity for tens of thousands of homes may hinge on who is elected president. Millions of dollars have been spent laying the groundwork. Permits are in order, contractors are lined up, government planners are on board. But like many other green energy efforts in California, the Avalon Wind Project...

The Internal Revenue Service urged a bankruptcy judge to reject solar panel maker Solyndra LLC’s bankruptcy plan Wednesday, saying it amounts to little more than an avenue for owners of an empty corporate shell to avoid paying taxes. “The undeniable conclusion is that tax benefits drive this plan,” attorneys for the IRS wrote in a bankruptcy pleading. What’s more, government attorneys said that as far back as 2010, owners had “planned meticulously” to be able to use Solyndra’s net operating losses to offset future tax liabilities. “The only reason for the shell corporation to exist post-confirmation is to enable its...

Robert Ferguson, named today by General Motors Co. to the new position of “vice president, global Cadillac,” is not a “car guy,” in the Detroit parlance. He’s a government guy, and before that, a deal guy and a phone guy. This is a sign of how things are changing at GM as it tries to rebuild itself post-bankruptcy. Mr. Ferguson, 53, joined GM in 2010 and until today was GM’s vice president for public policy, aka chief lobbyist in Washington. He led GM’s negotiations with Obama administration officials over the details of the president’s plan to nearly double the fuel...

This grant was brought to you by the letters “A” and “R” — as in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the “stimulus bill.” Sesame Workshop, the independent nonprofit corporation that produces the popular childrens’ program Sesame Street, received a $1,067,532 stimulus bill grant in August 2010, via the Department of Health and Human Services. The funding was to promote healthy eating according to the federal Recovery.gov website: SW [i.e., Sesame Workshop] will carry out an expansion of its highly successful Healthy Habits for Life initiative, which promotes improved nutrition and increased physical activity, targeting low-income preschool-aged children and their...

Misuse of the FHA Preforeclosure Sale Program may have cost the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) over a billion dollars for claims that did not meet program according to an audit released this week by the HUD's Region 7 Office of Inspector General (OIG). OIG initiated the audit after noticing significant deficiencies in borrower qualifications during an audit of program claims at one large lender. The Preforeclosure Sale Program allows borrowers in default due to an adverse an unavoidable financial situation to sell their home at fair market value and use the proceeds to pay off an FHA-guaranteed...

The Federal Reserve fulfilled expectations of more stimulus for the faltering economy, taking aim now at driving down mortgage rates. The Fed said it will buy $40 billion of mortgages per month in an attempt to foster a nascent recovery in the real estate market. The purchases will be open-ended, meaning that they will continue until the Fed is satisfied that economic conditions, primarily in unemployment, improve. There's strong hints that they'll do Treasurys next," Joe LaVorgna, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Advisors, said in a phone interview from London."They're pulling out all the stops to try to get this...

Otter Tail Corp. said Thursday that it has sold its wind tower manufacturing business, DMI Industries, to Trinity Industries of Dallas for $20 million. The Fergus Falls, Minn.-based conglomerate, which also owns Otter Tail Power Co., said it closed on the sale of the property, plant and equipment at its Fort Erie, Ontario, plant on Thursday, Sept.6. The sale of its DMI plants in West Fargo, N.D. and Tulsa, Okla., plants will close in November and December respectively. Trinity Industries makes wind towers, rail cars and other products that require heavy metal fabrication, Otter Tail spokesman Michael Olsen said. Otter...

The solar energy systems manufacturer has missed the first two payments of a $1.5 million state loan to build a factory on the Iron Range last year, but state and company officials say they're optimistic the business can still thrive if a state rebate program are extended. Silicon Energy failed to make $80,000 in schedule quarterly payments earlier this year, and it has reduced its workforce at its Mountain Iron, Minn., assembly plant from 15 employees to 11, Tony Sertich, commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, said Wednesday, Sept. 5. Silicon Energy, based in Washington State, has...

TOLEDO, OH -- President Barack Obama decried Republican opponent Mitt Romney's opposition to the 2009 auto industry bailout before a crowd full of autoworkers gathered here for Labor Day. Surrounded by some 3,000 supporters - many of whom were sporting United Auto Worker t-shirts - in a high school gym, Obama said he had made sure to stop in Toledo, a major auto industry hub as part of his campaign across the country in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. "I wanted to stop here in Toledo to spend this day with you," he said as the...

Breaking news: The Fishwrap of Record has finally discovered that the Obama administration gives its Chicago corporate pals special access to power and regulatory favoritism. On Thursday, The Not-So-New York Times published an A1 story titled "Ties to Obama Aided in Access for Big Utility." Everyone, put on your shocked faces! "With energy an increasingly pivotal issue for the Obama White House," the Times intoned, "a review of Exelon's relationship with the administration shows how familiarity has helped foster access at the upper reaches of government and how, in some cases, the outcome has been favorable for Exelon." You mean...

We Can’t Wait: Obama Administration Announces Seven Major Renewable Energy Infrastructure Projects that Would Power 1.5 million Homes to be Expedited WASHINGTON, DC – Today, as a part of his We Can’t Wait initiative, President Obama announced that seven nationally and regionally significant solar and wind energy projects will be expedited, including projects in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Wyoming. Together, these job-creating infrastructure projects would produce nearly 5,000 megawatts (MW) of clean energy – enough to power approximately 1.5 million homes, and support the President’s all-of-the-above strategy to expand American made energy. As a part of a Presidential Executive Order...

A Chinese auto parts company, Wanxiang, has come to the rescue of cash-strapped A123 Systems, an American high-tech lithium-ion battery maker and centerpiece of the Obama administration’s “green jobs” revolution. Wanxiang can acquire up to an 80% of the company in return for an investment of up to $450 million. The recipient of a $249 million “green technology” grant from our federal government, A123, believing their own (and everyone else’s) hype about the millions of electric vehicles that would soon be filling the nation’s highways (it will happen, but not soon) set about proving an old adage: stupidity and waste...

A123 Systems Inc., a struggling, U.S. government-backed manufacturer of advanced batteries for electric vehicles, is turning to one of China's largest auto parts makers for a bailout. A123 was the first company to open a factory in the U.S. using funds from an Obama administration program to encourage domestic production of advanced batteries. The Wanxiang investment may allow the A123 to move forward with plans to build a second facility and draw the remainder of a $249 million Energy Department grant. The company, partially owned by General Electric Co., likely would keep its U.S. headquarters and operations while giving the...

If you believe, as I do, that the macro economy is the sum total of all of its micro parts, then stimulus spending really doesn't make much sense. In essence, it's when government takes additional resources beyond what it would otherwise take from one group of people (usually the people who produced the resources) and then gives those resources to another group of people (often to non-workers and non-producers). Often as not, the qualification for receiving stimulus funds is the absence of work or income—such as banks and companies that fail, solar energy companies that can't make it on their...

A federally-funded solar production facility in Nevada has ceased operations, according to a former employee at the facility. The closure could prove troublesome for the company’s political allies. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the North Las Vegas production facility for solar panel manufacturer Amonix has not operated since May. The plant was backed by $21.5 million in federal green energy “investment” – in the form of a grant and a package of tax credits – and touted at length by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Review-Journal reports: Rene Kenerly, a former material and supply manager at Amonix, said...

The Obama administration allowed millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds to go to foreign companies, despite recent statements by President Barack Obama that he opposes “shipping jobs overseas." “I want to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs and factories overseas,” Obama said in a speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday. “As long as I’m president, I will keep fighting to make sure jobs are located here in the United States of America,” said Obama. However, Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus spending law--the $787 billion American Recovery and Reivnestment Act--gave millions of federal dollars to foreign companies...

Vice President Joe Biden today will kick off the Obama administration’s “Recovery Summer,” a six-week-long push designed to highlight the jobs accompanying a surge in stimulus-funded projects to improve highways, parks, drinking water and other public works. David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, said: “This summer will be the most active Recovery Act season yet, with thousands of highly-visible road, bridge, water and other infrastructure projects breaking ground across the country, giving the American people a first-hand look at the Recovery Act in their own backyards and making it crystal clear what the cost would have been of...

Bureau Of Land Management Gives Advice On Finding Bigfoot Last week we reported on how the U.S. National Ocean Service publicly denied the existence of mermaids in response to a joke documentary on Animal Planet. Meanwhile, another federal agency has taken a different course. The Bureau of Land Management in Oregon & Washington has released this video titled "Bigfoot and the BLM." In it, people, who I assume to be BLM staff, are asked about their belief in Bigfoot and the narrator gives handy tips about where to go looking for the mysterious creature. Is this all just a bit...

DETROIT (AP) — Chevrolet is trying to pull more customers into its dealerships by offering a money-back guarantee on new cars and trucks. The General Motors brand said Tuesday that buyers can get refunds if they return their 2012 or 2013 vehicles for any reason. The guarantee lasts for up to 60 days from the date of purchase. Chevy Marketing Chief Chris Perry says research shows that customers like it when companies show confidence in their cars and trucks. Customers pay a set price equal to the discount GM offers to parts supply companies, including incentives. If they aren't satisfied with the vehicle,...