Posted on 06/28/2023 3:10:15 AM PDT by george76
Electric Vehicle maker Lordstown Motors Corp. (LMC) announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday despite receiving millions in taxpayer funding through tax breaks and grants.
LMC received $4.5 million from JobsOhio, a private nonprofit that collects funds through a government-mandated monopoly on spirituous liquor sales, according to Cleveland.com, and $20 million in tax credits to be paid out over 15 years by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, according to Business Journal Daily. LMC also received a $40 million loan from the previous owner of the plant, General Motors, who received $60 million in subsidies from the state of Ohio, giving back only $28 million after a settlement was reached due to the stipulation that the plant was supposed to be open until 2039.
In 2009, the plant received $60 million from Ohio to build fuel-efficient and inexpensive cars when it was under the ownership of GM, but it was shut down in 2019 and sold by GM to LMC, according to Reason.
Foxconn, a multinational electronics manufacturer, announced it was investing $170 million in LMC in 2021 to build and fund the plant, which LMC alleges was not fully delivered, according to a press release from LMC, prompting the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and a suit being filed against Foxconn.
“Despite our best efforts and earnest commitment to the partnership, Foxconn willfully and repeatedly failed to execute on the agreed-upon strategy, leaving us with Chapter 11 as the only viable option to maximize the value of Lordstown’s assets for the benefit of our stakeholders,” LMC CEO and President Edward Hightower said, according to the press release.
Foxconn denied the allegations in statements shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Other automotive manufacturers have also received huge subsidies from the government for electric vehicle production. Ford Motor Co. plans to lay off at least 1,000 employees, The Wall Street Journal reports, less than a week after receiving a $9.2 billion loan from the Biden administration to invest in three electric vehicle factories in the southern U.S.
The move for more funding for electric vehicles comes as the Biden administration pushes for 50% of all vehicle sales by 2030 to be zero-emission vehicles, according to the White House. The White House also designated $370 billion in funding for climate initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Lordstown was a mammoth GM plant which produced cars. Lordstown Motors took over the plant which GM had idled due to the fact that they only produced crap which nobody wanted to buy.
What, again??
Just as the government has made not working a vocation for individuals, it has bankruptcy a lucrative pursuit for corporations. For example, Solyndra that received $535 million from the Obama administration then turned around and declared bankruptcy, and even then continued to loot the company by obtaining bonuses for the corporate officers from the bankruptcy court. Then the feds went in and seized the company records to see that there was no wrongdoing and, finding no malfeasance, destroyed them. It’s just happenstance that the owners of the operation were huge bundlers that bankrolled the Obama campaign.
One can be certain that, if it were not for the federal government’s (aka: insane left-wing ‘climate change’ democrats) mandates and arm-twisting, that there would be no auto-maker manufacturing EVs. Perhaps Tesla would be the only one, but with sales way below what they are now.
I love how the Government has conditioned a mindless drone society to believe that tax breaks = receiving millions in tax payer funds. To the Government, all of YOUR money is their money and tax breaks are “subsidies” on your own money that Government grants you to have.
“SOMEBODY got rich thanks to my “contributions” AGAIN!”
Spot on observation. EVs, Green Anything, etc are nothing more than scams that transfer taxpayer monies to a select few. As with just about everything the communists do these days it is totally unethical but unfortunately not illegal ... yet.
The absolute lack of any moral standards on the left is dis-heartening. Negotiating mutually beneficial solutions to any issue is futile when one starts a negotiation knowing that the left has no intention of ethically honoring any solution reached.
We're taking it up the rear end two ways - government stealing our money to subsidize the scam, and consumers paying a premium to subsidize Ford's (and others') boondoggle.
It's almost like an endless loop, this EV bullshite!
The management of the Ohio Tax Credit Authority and other government officials responsible for this waste of taxpayer funds need to be brought to justice through trials and convictions.
Deep States all over the globe are deliberately going about the extermination of their middle classes.
Deep States’ frontmen are stupid.
Deep States are not.
And the people hiding behind their useful idiots are students of history.
They know that a thriving middle class is a threat to their continued control.
It’s them or us.
In the US we have Trump standing between us and them.
Thank God for Pres. Trump.
During the disastrous Obama administration someone wrote an article that was posted on FR about the huge number of green enterprises that had been backed by the administration that had failed. In it, they tracked the political donations of the companies and the individuals involved. All of them went to the Democratic party. One thing that caught my eye was how relatively small the donations were. Just a few percent. But in the political realm that amount was significant because of the colossal amount of money involved. The other observation was how personally rich the principals in these failed businesses became. Another observation was the China often came in and picked them up for pennies on the dollar. In the ultimate analysis, and from the perspective of the principals involved, the principals made far more money from failure than they stood to make from success. I think they were all failures by design. Everyone involved made out very well except the taxpayers.
UAW? I wonder what percentage was “skimmed”. We’re talking the Youngstown area, after all.
Ain’t Communism wonderful.
This is what protectionist trade policy looks like in 2023.
“In the US we have Trump standing between us and them.”
Unfortunately, as Drago pointed out above, Trump was fully on board with this one. He understandably wanted to save jobs in the Mahoning Valley region, but this particular venture just didn’t work out the way he’d hoped.
Foxconn is Chinese linked, I understand.
I think Freeper Liz did some similar financial analysis links.
Hmmm...EV manufacturers keep asking for bailouts & then fail & of course Biden is just smart enough not to see through it, so then the taxpayers are on the hook. Sooner the country is rid of that monkey & his bunch, the better off the nation will be. We shouldn’t have to deal with him even in the time he’s got left. It’s a wonder we still have a nation(if we do, really).
Yeah, but when Politically Connected Company A gets “tax breaks” while unconnected Company B doesn’t, then there’s a problem.
No one shelled out anything, the government stole the money at the end of a gun and gave the money away to its peeps.
Owned Fords all my life, here’s what I say. Buy a Toyota.
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