Posted on 09/29/2011 6:27:55 AM PDT by Shery
As Tina wrote yesterday, Americans still favor government subsidies to companies unable to otherwise compete in the green-tech industry. That may be especially true of Nancy Pelosi and her family, but not exactly for reasons of environmental improvement. Let’s start with this report from The Hill, via Gateway Pundit and Instapundit, on the latest approved green-tech loan from the Department of Energy:
DOE announced a $737 million loan guarantee to help finance construction of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a 110-megawatt solar-power-generating facility in Nye County, Nev. The project is sponsored by Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve.
The Energy Department said the project will result in 600 construction jobs and 45 permanent jobs.
Forty-five permanent jobs? That puts the cost per permanent job at over $16 million, a figure that could employ perhaps a hundred people had the capital remained in the hands of the private sector that produced it. Whatever else these green-tech loans are, they certainly are not job-creation stimulus.
But that’s not the best part. As both Gateway Pundit and American Glob discover, one of SolarReserve’s “investment partners” is Pacific Corporate Group, through its Clean Energy and Technology Fund. And PCG’s executive director is Ron Pelosi — brother of Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Suddenly, this deal makes a lot more sense than spending $737 million for forty-five jobs.
This surely is just a coincidence … in the same way that the push by the Obama administration to approve a loan to a failing Solyndra backed by one of his big campaign bundlers was just a coincidence. Recall Reason TV’s excellent video yesterday on the urban-renewal movement, in which governments seized property ostensibly to improve neighborhoods but parsed out the spoils to the politically connected ? That’s exactly what’s going on with this program, and with Barack Obama’s demands for more blank checks for stimulus. The only thing Obama’s stimulating is the pockets of his cronies.
Crony Socialism
In Harry Reids state, too. Oh, what a coincidence! (NOT)
It only generated power for a half day on average.
The mirrors were very difficult to keep aligned.
The mirrors were almost impossible to keep clean.
So now they're going to do it again, but with more money, which will surely make it work /sarc off
There are s-o-o-o-o-o many ways to launder govt money...limited bandwidth prevents my posting them all.
THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR A $737 million govt loan guarantee supposedly went "to help finance" construction of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a solar-power-generating facility in Nye County, Nev......sponsored by Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve. One of SolarReserve’s “investment partners” is Pacific Corporate Group, through its Clean Energy and Technology Fund......PCG’s executive director is Ron Pelosi — brother of Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
L/E needs to look at this circuitous deal for evidence of government fraud. The principals may have integrated money-laundering schemes such as:
(a) misusing reserve accounts, (b) concealing losses, (c) inflating asset values and (d) improperly accounting for transactions, as well as (e) diverting monies into reserve accounts, (f) improperly shifting govt funding to other projects to hide illegal payments, (g) engaging in money laundering schemes, (h) evading IRS, FEC, and US banking laws, and (i) engaging in illegal conversions)
FBI TIP PAGE http://tips.fbi.gov/ (you may remain anonymous)
IRS TOLL-FREE 1-800-829-0433 Tax evasion goes hand in hand with money-laundering. The IRS should relentlessly determine if all income was reported and whether all relevant taxes were paid (stolen money is taxable).
Blatant, in your face action by Obama..could mean that they expect to lose next year, so they’re determined to reward their friends as much as possible..
The Secret Government Bank That's Financing More Solyndras
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Excellent point.
This is what the Third Way "public-private partnership" political movement is all about - using public money to enrich the cronies of politicians and the government employees.
The solution is for Congress to significantly reduce the budget and the scope of power of DOE (and similar political agencies, i.e., "watch the watchers" and "regulate the regulators") so they can't spend money on these "loans" or "investments" that, in reality, are crony socialism "projects." It's a political money supply chain designed to enrich Democratic donors so they will fund political campaigns and provide high-paying jobs for their political hacks. There is not even a comparison between this and Enron or Halliburton which the Democrats demagogued ad nauseam.
The Phony Solyndra Scandal (Big government SUPPOSED to take risks the private sector won't) - FR / NYT, by Joe Nocero, 2011 September 24
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