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Virginia Governor Dem Candidate Terry McAuliffe’s GreenTech Auto: small eco-car, big green scam?

Posted by Christine Lakatos on September 29, 2013 at 4:00pm

Did you know that that there’s a competitive and contentious governor race going on in Virginia? The two contenders: the state Attorney General Republican Ken Cuccinelli vs. Democrat Terry McAuliffe, “whose controversial business dealings and past life as a party moneyman make him a walking negative ad," wrote POLITICO this month. 4063741318?profile=original

McAuliffe, with a modest lead, Wednesday night during a crucial debate in Northern Virginia each "cast the other as unfit for office, untrustworthy and wrong for the commonwealth," noted the Washington Post.

Blows were thrown, with McAuliffe attempting to cast Cuccinelli as a "right-winger," and Cuccinelli landing a right hook: “If Terry’s elected governor, we’re gonna have to change the state motto from ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis’ to ‘Quid Pro Quo.'" Still, most of the headlines portrayed this debate as uneventful, and there was very little "pounding McAuliffe over transgressions such as the current federal investigation of a “green car” company that the Democrat founded" –– the focus of today's Green Corruption File.

While this battle will end in just over a month, the controversy surrounding the "green car" in question won't, and it serves as another example of how green energy has been hijacked and deceptively used. Even Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal, a while back had this to say, “Green crony capitalism is proving to be one of the more politically toxic stories of our time…” 

This green energy story has connections all the way from the Clinton's to the Obama White House, as well as other interesting ties, including a Republican governor, and plenty of taxpayer subsidies. Worse, besides "Chinese capitalism" at the helm, political influence, and a flop to boot, it involves exaggeration at best, deception at its worst, all wrapped up in a pile of mystery, and possibly bundled with a "green cards for sale" scheme. Meanwhile, this particular green project "has led to two federal investigations — one by the Securities and Exchange Commission to determine whether company officials improperly raised money and one by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general to determine whether appeals to obtain visas for foreign investors were improper," reported TribLive News in August. 

 The only difference in this tale, other than the potential threat to national security, and that President Obama is not at the center (although there are ties), is the fact that GreenTech is overly sensitive, even when facing facts. Case in point: sometime in April, GreenTech filed an $85 million lawsuit against an online government watch dog for libel, taking issue with two online stories, of which "detail the woes of the government immigration program, called EB-5. In one article, a financial expert criticized the EB-5 program as “a fraud," explained Watchdog.org.

Later I'll dig into the EB-5 program, but at this juncture it is important to point out that Watchdog.org, who has provided a 63-part series on "Terry McAuliffe, gubernatorial candidate and car mogul," stands by its reporting. "Jason Stverak, president of Watchdog’s parent company the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, said the lawsuit is baseless," and many on the right have since expressed their outrage over what they deem as an attempt to intimidate and suppress the truth from being exposed.

"Hustler" on the move

Interesting enough, the politically connected heavyweight (a close friend and adviser to both former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary) and former Democratic National Committee Chairman, Terry McAuliffe is aligned with President Obama's "war on coal," and he also has the backing of "climate change radical," Big Oil investor, Obama bundler and billionaire buddy, Tom Steyer. I've addressed Steyer's footprint inside this Green Corruption scandal a few times, but now we see that just a bit ago he "has directed his political operation to spend heavily in the Virginia governor’s race in support of Democrat Terry McAuliffe," as reported by POLITICO

Wall Street Journal's Strassel, in covering GreenTech this past April –– “McAuliffe's Solyndra” –– nailed it in her statement, “Turn over any green-energy rock, and wiggling underneath will be the usual creepy mix of political favoritism and taxpayer-funded handouts. Add to this the Clintons, Mississippi and a murky visa program, and you've got a particularly ripe political embarrassment for Terry McAuliffe.”

It all started a few years ago: After losing the 2009 Democratic primary for governor in Virginia, McAuliffe bought a Chinese electric-car company, moved its headquarters to Northern Virginia and tried to set up a manufacturing base in the United States.

 

In July 2012, Mr. McAuliffe unveiled his signature MyCar at a rock-star event attended by the former President Clinton and then-Gov. Republican Haley Barbour, who is also personal friends with McAuliffe –– an electric car, by the way, that has recently received "awful" reviews by some auto industry experts. Four months later, November 2012, McAuliffe announced his plans to run for Virginia governor in 2013 and he stated in an email, "It is absolutely clear to me that Virginians want their next Governor to focus on job creation..."

McAuliffe has "made his private sector experience a cornerstone of his campaign" and is betting that his slogan, "McAuliffe for Governor: Putting Jobs First," will resonate with the folks. Still, prior to officially beginning his second attempt to be the governor of Virginia (although it seems he never stopped campaigning), sometime in 2009, he began a traveling road show, bragging about GreenTech, and using it as an example of how he was a big job creator, promising hope, hundreds of thousands of green cars and thousands of green jobs.

Due to the fact that Virginia denied access (for various concerns and doubts) to McAuliffe's electric-car dreams, he found a willing participant: "In October 2009, GreenTech Automotive Inc.'s owner, Chinese businessman Xiaolin "Charles" Wang [President and CEO] unveiled four prototype cars during a flashy ceremony and promised to build a $2 billion [some report it as $1 billion] plant in Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S.," wrote Phys.org News. With the support of then-Governor Barbour, GreenTech was in line and has already received "public loans and grants that total more than $8 million, with millions more in tax exemptions and rebates."

At that time, GreenTech "promised it would create 1,500 jobs. McAuliffe predicted at least 10,000 cars a year would be manufactured by 2011," as documented by Politifact.com last month –– with another 2009 report stating, "the plant will produce 150,000 vehicles annually in phase one."


 Considering that there are conflicting reports on the number of green cars and green jobs –– promised, claimed and actual –– I'll attempt to tackle that part of this tale a bit later. But to give you a hint, Politifact.com also noted, "GreenTech has not met those expectations, undercutting McAuliffe’s claim to be a proven job creator. The New York Times, in an Aug. 9 article, said GreenTech employs 80 people and that company officials would not say how many cars will be built this year."

But being a master job creator is not the only declaration made by McAuliffe: Breitbart.com busted him when he claimed that he was a founder of this start-up long after it existed. In May 2011, he told a Democrat audience, "I'm a founder of a company called GreenTech Automotive, a very ambitious project. I'm building 5 cars .... we have 3 hybrids and 2 electrics." However, Breitbart.com documented a chronological timeline on how GreenTech evolved by Mr. Wang, "a Chinese national, who first became involved in the project that would become GreenTech Automotive, Inc." –– and it all dates back to March 2008.

Mr. McAuliffe, who became chairman of GreenTech Automotive in March 2010, when things began to heat up, he mysteriously left his green car company sometime in late 2012. McAuliffe's "carbon footprint" may have been scrubbed from the GreenTech website, and all the while as hardball questions, serious accusations and ongoing criticism are hurled his direction, McAuliffe response is to distract and deflect: "Don’t ask me about GreenTech, I was just the Chairman."

Needless to say, evidence has emerged that as of March 2013, McAuliffe is still a GreenTech Exec, and is found to be the largest individual shareholder. This all came to light in a September 21 article by the Washington Post, divulging that McAuliffe "is listed in a recent confidential memorandum to prospective investors." His position, writes Breitbart.com, is described as "Chairman Emeritus of the company," noting that the document states McAuliffe "will have such duties and responsibilities as designated by the Board of Directors from time to time." The Post also notes that "the company’s confidential March memo implies to investors that he would remain involved" even if McAuliffe wins his race for governor. Basically, the memo says, that he would “resign all positions with [GreenTech] and appoint a representative to vote his shares.”

Additionally, the pitch to lure potential investors, touted the Democrat heavyweight's political connections, savvy, and McAuliffe’s past promotion of electric vehicles on “national television news programs.” It also included another PROMISE: GreenTech "will enjoy billions in government subsidies and tax credits."

What's quite fascinating is that The Post, in its 2013 analysis of what I am calling "McAuliffe's formula for success" (methodology that has made him a millionaire many times over), while giving an array of examples, concludes: "The prospectus, along with other documents reviewed by The Post, shows how GreenTech fits into a pattern of investments in which McAuliffe has used government programs, political connections and access to wealthy investors of both parties in pursuit of big profits for himself."

However, The Post wasn't so kind in 2009: "McAuliffe is, at his core, a salesman -- and described himself as a hustler in his [2008] autobiography [What A Party!: My Life Among Democrats...]" –– a label that at best is deemed a "go-getter," but has many other negative connotations. I'll keep that to your imagination, but The Post, a paragraph earlier wrote, "He is a deal maker who made millions from investments. And many of his biggest deals came in partnership with prominent donors and politicians, creating a portrait over the years of a Washington insider who got rich as he rose to power within the Democratic Party." In fact, one of the most disturbing references to his methodology is this: “McAuliffe has made a fortune investing -- sometimes in companies that went bust, laid off thousands and drained investors' and employees' savings."

The "Alleged" Corruption 

Special money 

Before he resigned as chairman in December 2012 –– although as documented earlier, we know he's still quite active –– McAuliffe helped raised plenty of private money from foreign investors, but GreenTech Auto also received its fair share of government assistance.

With GreenTech's 2009-promise to build a $2 billion plant in Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S, "some 100 acres were donated by Tunica County's economic development foundation, at a cost of $1.8 million, and in 2011 the state gave a $3 million loan toward site preparation," as documented by the Huffington Post. 


"Breitbart News confirmed with the Mississippi Development Authority [MDA] on July 22 [2013] that these loans have been completely disbursed." However, Mississippi’s Economic Development Authority says the taxpayer subsidies are contingent on GreenTech raising $60 million by Dec. 31, 2014. If GreenTech fails to meet the capital requirement and hire 350 full-time workers, local and state authorities can “claw back” their investments. Good luck with that...

What's not widely reported is that the MDA got stimulus funds: The Mississippi Development Authority, Energy Division received approximately $40 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding from the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Also, I have found conflicting reports on how much taxpayer money GreenTech snagged: it ranges from $5 million to $8 million, and even McAuliffe himself puts the price tag at $18 million. Not to mention for every car purchased, taxpayers again pay –– for example the MyCar NEV states, "...find state and federal incentives to make your MyCar even more affordable."

But the worst part comes from the fact that the private funds for GreenTech involves a program here in the USA called the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as “EB-5,” which was "created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors." What's relevant here is that "GreenTech has sought overseas investors through [this] federal program that allows foreigners to gain special visas if they contribute at least $500,000 to create U.S. jobs," documented The Post last month.

The other twist here is that "GreenTech partners with Gulf Coast Funds Management (GCFM), a company that is authorized by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to collect EB-5 investments for GreenTech." And, Anthony Rodham, a close friend of McAuliffe who also happens to be the brother of the former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, is the President and CEO of GCFM. According to an August 12, 2013 report by the Washington Free Beacon, "GCFM has collected at least $45.5 million from foreign investors for GreenTech through the program."

Special political favors

With so many numbers floating around –– $37.5 million in cash investments, says Breitbart.com, with $32 million from the "green cards for sale program" –– it's difficult to track just how much foreign cash McAuliffe and Co. raised for GreenTech Automotive. However, there is strong evidence –– not yet proven beyond a reasonable doubt –– that the USCIS gave them special treatment.

At the core is Alejandro Mayorkas, who currently serves as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS), an agency within Homeland Security, and is also the Obama administration's nominee to become the next Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. This is where it gets even more convoluted. As stated earlier, this "visas for sale" program has caused quite the controversy. Last month, the National Review Online reported that "the Homeland Security Inspector General is investigating to see whether officials gave special treatment to GreenTech because of McAuliffe’s political connections," of which NRO notes that "McAuliffe was central to GreenTech’s effort to get DHS to reverse decisions on visas."

That accusations was preempted by the Daily Beast July report: "in December 2010, McAuliffe wrote to Napolitano on behalf of GreenTech and asked her to expedite the company’s EB-5 requests and reopen consideration of requests that had been previously denied."  Moreover, we find via the New York Times: "Frustrated by government red tape slowing his electric car company, Terry McAuliffe repeatedly sought a meeting at the Department of Homeland Security."

The Times gives a few more details...

He and his lawyers sent a stream of e-mails to a senior official in charge of approving foreign investments that Mr. McAuliffe sought, and he went up the chain of command to Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security... Finally, a 2011 meeting took place, and Mr. McAuliffe and Mr. Wang met with Alejandro Mayorkas [my words here]... As their meeting was wrapping up, Ms. Napolitano popped into the room to say hello, Mr. Wang said. Later, Mr. Mayorkas issued a favorable ruling that cleared the way for GreenTech to recruit more foreign investors.

The Times goes on... "In 2011, Mr. Mayorkas overruled two lower officers in his department, Citizenship and Immigration Services, which allowed GreenTech to recruit more Chinese investors."

In the Daily Beast piece we also discover that "this past January, Rodham wrote to Mayorkas directly and pressed him to speed up approval of EB-5 visas for GreenTech."

This past July NBC News reported that this particular IG investigation, "was opened in September 2012 based on a referral from an FBI counterintelligence analyst," and they gave some key points:

The probe is based on allegations that Mayorkas personally intervened to win an approval for Gulf Coast Funds Management, a financing company headed by Clinton’s brother Anthony Rodham, after USCIS officials rejected its application, according to an aide to GOP Sen. Charles Grassley, who had received internal USCIS emails about the matter from a department whistleblower.

During the course of the probe, the email states, the inspector general learned of other allegations "involving alleged conflicts of interest, misuse of position, mismanagement of the EB-5 program, and an appearance of impropriety by Mayorkas and other" officials within the UCSIS.

By the end of July, Republican senators, due to the ongoing IG investigation, boycotted the confirmation hearing set for Mayorkas, "Obama’s nominee to become the deputy secretary of Homeland Security, a job that could result in him running the department" since Secretary Janet Napolitano stepped down in September," wrote the Daily Beast. Mayorkas' confirmation has since been put on ice, but that was after the hearings proceeded in July without Republican participation, giving him an opportunity to plead his side of the GreenTech case: "I have never in my career used undue influence to influence the outcome of a case," Mayorkas testified in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Even so, according to TribLive News, Senator Grassley, who is pressing for more information on Homeland Security's handling of the EB-5 program, recently charged, "We absolutely gave special treatment to Green Tech at the directive of D1" (“D1″ is an apparent reference to Mr. Mayorkas
). In an August letter, "Grassley told Alejandro Mayorkas that he has received a torrent of whistleblower reports that Mayorkas interfered continuously on behalf of GreenTech."

But a "homeland invasion" is not the only thing hampering McAuliffe and his eco-car's reputation: "in May [2013], the SEC subpoenaed documents from GreenTech Automotive and bank records from a sister company, Gulf Coast Funds Management of McLean," reported the Washington Post last month.


 Even though The Post admits that "the full focus of the SEC investigation into GreenTech and Gulf Coast is not known, we do know that "in recent months, the SEC has stepped up its scrutiny of companies that use the visa program, largely over concerns that investors may have been misled or defrauded by the companies seeking their money. The visa program has also raised national security concerns from some lawmakers worried that suspect individuals are using it to gain entry into the country."

More GreenTech Cronies

Detailed thus far in this Green Corruption File has been some influential pals of McAuliffe: former President Bill Clinton, who appeared at a company launch party, Hillary Clinton’s brother Anthony Rodham, who runs the firm’s foreign-investor outreach, as well as former Republican National Committee chair and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who not only "helped the company secure millions in state incentives," but stood by Terry's side, even for photo ops.

Watchdog.org has also exposed Levar Stoney, a former director of the Virginia Democratic Party (2008 to 2009), who served as GreenTech's director of public and government affairs from May 2010 until December 2012. Then this past August we learn via the Washington Free Beacon that the former Virginia Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine, who is now a U.S. senator, in December 2009, "sent a letter to an official at the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), detailing Virginia policies that would benefit Gulf Coast Funds Management (GCFM)" –– and we've already established that GreenTech's sister company is GCFM, and where we find Terry's pal and Hillary's brother Anthony Rodham (President & CEO). 

Considering all that clout, there's a former Obama cabinet official by the name of Rick Wade, whom as Tori Richards (author at Watchdog.org and Human Events) puts it, "might be the insider who carries the most weight." Mr Wade, whose history includes "a founding partner of the Axelrod-Wade Group, a global business development firm," joined GreenTech Automotive in 2011, whereas his bio brags that he is currently the "Senior Vice President & Head of China Operations, following a distinguished career at the Department of Commerce."

Wade, while at Commerce, was involved in President Obama's trillion-dollar stimulus spending spree, yet he also had many other key Democratic positions, both during and after his time with Team Obama (see bullet point presentation). And as of late, Wade is planning on getting back into politics, and will be running for the United States Senate against Tim Scott, of which according to the Grio, "He is expected to announce his candidacy early next month." 

  • 2008: Senior adviser role for then-Senator Obama’s 2008 campaign
  • 2008: Wade chaired Obama’s successful South Carolina primary in 2008 against Hillary Clinton
  • 2009: Wade was a member of the White House task forces on Automobile Recovery (a $25 billion effort to prop up the failing U.S. auto industry), which was led by former treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers.
  • 2009: Within Commerce, Wade served as interim chief of staff during the presidential transition, and he contributed to all major policy and personnel decisions. 
  • 2009 to 2011: Wade was also the Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff for Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who served that role from March 24, 2009 until October 2011. Gary Locke resigned as the 36th Secretary of Commerce on August 1, 2011 to become the U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China. And then John Bryson, who became Obama’s Secretary of Commerce in October 2011, is another player inside some of this clean-energy dirt. Bryson resigned in June of 2012 following a series of mysterious auto accidents, and now we have Penny Pritzker, the mega-rich pal of Obama, who raised mega-bucks for both of his presidential campaigns and was a member of his so-called jobs council, whereas she is “related” to at least two large Green Corruption stories.
  • 2009-2011: Additionally, while at the Commerce Department, "Wade worked diligently to ensure President Obama’s business and economic programs, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, were implemented effectively and efficiently." Some say that Wade even helped craft President Obama's massive stimulus package, of which $100 billion was earmarked for renewable energy. These taxpayer funds have been the centerpiece of the entire Green Corruption scandal, of which I've been tracking and reporting on since 2010 –– even the fact that billions of "green" tax dollars have been shipped overseas to aid production of green ventures in foreign countries. 
  • 2009-2011: According to Watchdog.org, "The Commerce Department job also allowed Wade to hone a skill that might explain his value to GreenTech: he became a U.S. envoy on Chinese and Asian trade."
  • 2012: Wade, a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), was also a Senior Advisor to the Obama for America presidential campaign and the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which means that he helped run the president’s 2012 campaign while simultaneously serving as a Democratic Party executive and vice president of GreenTech
    Automotive.
  • Wade is (was) also part of the Advisory Board for Volt Energy

Now, I haven't found any clear evidence at this time whether Mr. Wade helped in any of the GreenTech dealings, but it's awfully convenient that Wade was not only involved in the 2009-Recovery Act, but worse, since joining GreenTech in 2011, he was actively part of President Obama's re-election bid –– thus he had "access and influence."

And, if you've been following any of my work, you'd know that I've published a series entitled "The RAT in the Recovery and the Gang of Eight”: those individuals and groups that were involved in crafting the energy sector of the 2009-Recovery Act, and who ultimately financially benefited from the $100 billion that was earmarked for renewable energy (with a summary installment coming in the near future). Keep in mind too, as mentioned earlier, the Mississippi Development Authority, Energy Division, –– the one that awarded GreenTech millions in state subsidies –– received approximately $40 million from President Obama's stimulus package.


"Fast Terry": Master Job Creator or Con Man?

Even though many news organizations, watchdog groups, and online forums have exposed the empty promises and debunked the claims in regards to GreenTech's factories, green cars and green jobs, I'll attempt to do my part, starting with a challenge: take the time to view "Fast Terry," a documentary by Citizens United. Besides being informed and infuriated, you'll discover that during the course of his traveling electric-car road show that began in 2009, McAuliffe promised hope, hundreds of thousands of green cars and thousands of green jobs –– all made in America


 Two GreenTech Factories: 

The Horn Lake Facility in DeSoto County, Mississippi and The Tunica Plant in Tunica County, Mississippi

According to the New York Times, in 2011, while presenting GreenTech as a catalyst of American job creation, McAuliffe was adamant, “I am sick and tired of seeing our jobs go to China...” Ironically, GreenTech has two manufacturing facilities in Mississippi, where the company has received state subsidies, and one in China, as well as some office locations. 

  • GreenTech Automotive Corporate Office: McLean, VA
  • Tunica Office: Tunica, MS
  • Horn Lake Assembly Plant: Horn Lake, MS
  • Dongguan MyCar Electric Vehicle Technology Limited: located in China

Besides grants and loans from the state of Mississippi (totaling either $5 million, $8 million, or $18 million), GreenTech sometime in September 2011, received a sweetheart land deal as part of their location compensation: "The Tunica County Economic Development Foundation, a group in Mississippi headed by Tunica County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Lyn Arnold, worked out a strategy to secure land [100 acres] for GreenTech without going through the state’s legislative approval process," reported The Daily Caller this past July  –– which also emphasized that "Richmond’s Action News 5 recently reported there is no evidence GreenTech has produced any cars, green or otherwise." 

Meanwhile GreenTech's website (GTA), with a grand picture of their plant –– the Horn Lake Facility in DeSoto County, Mississippi –– claims, "With 380,000 square feet under roof, GTA's first plant will be used for the production of GTA's first vehicle, a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) named MyCar. They also claim, "In late 2013, MyCar production will move to GTA's all-new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located approximately 20 miles away in Tunica, MS," and that the "groundwork has already begun..." for the Tunica Plant –– again promising "5,000 new direct and indirect jobs in Mississippi and the vendor base nationwide."

It turns out that for more than one year (July 2012 to July 2013), the Action News 5 Investigators have been asking questions about GreenTech Automotive, "and its promise of hundreds of new jobs in North Mississippi." Action News also gave us another McAuliffe promise, followed by evidence that something is wrong...

"If I can be successful and make 10,000 cars over the next 12 months here in Horn Lake and ship them over to Denmark, that's a huge win for me, the company, and most importantly, Mississippi," said McAuliffe in July 2012.

Twelve months later, the Action News 5 Investigators have uncovered no evidence of any major car production and a former Greentech employee raises new questions about the company's operation.

"We were told, you know, when we first went in the fall of '11, we were going to build a 100 by Christmas, didn't happen," said the former employee, who asked to remain anonymous. "Then we were told we were going to build X amount through the year 2012 and that didn't happen." 

The employee says workers built cars then deconstructed and rebuilt them over and over again to appear as though they were working.

What was GreenTech's response on reassembling of cars? "Both the plant manager Trey Agner and GreenTech Vice President Marianne McInerney said workers break down and re-assemble the cars for training and quality control," reported Action News.

Action News, in the same report said, "McInerney refused to release the number of vehicles actually made at the facility or sold last year because GTA is a private company. She would only say there are pending orders for the new 2014 MyCar," and McInerney told them that they "would create 350 jobs by the end of 2014 and those are direct jobs."

This investigation also uncovered the fact that GreenTech "told its employees in Northern Mississippi to pretend to build cars to fool foreign investors."


Furthermore, in April of this year, Watchdog.org made a visit to the GreenTech office located at a Tunica strip mall, whereas their investigators exposed quite the encounter, "Silence, secrecy, cops follow GreenTech’s China deal." One of the most interesting conclusions came from a local police officer stating, “They’re pretty secretive,” he said. “Just like the Russians.”

In that same April 25, 2013 article, Watchdog.org documented the following Intel, which coincides with, and adds another layer to what I just highlighted from the Action News investigation: 

Next door, in the Desoto County city of Horn Lake, it’s a different story — except for the secrecy and apparent lack of actual manufacturing. Locals said workers almost daily drive GreenTech’s tiny MyCars — two-seater, all-electric vehicles with a 25-mile range — around the facility in what looks like a test-drive caravan.

While some say that "Terry McAuliffe’s GreenTech has tried to import more Chinese Nationals than it has sold cars," on August 12, 2013, the Washington Free Beacon shed some light into what's going on: "Five Things You Need to Know About GreenTech Automotive." The number one issue being that GreenTech has fallen "short on job promises multiple times..." 

The Beacon goes on...

At this point it is unclear whether GreenTech is producing any jobs. 

GreenTech is still operating at what was supposed to be a temporary facility in Horn Lake, Miss. 

Although McAuliffe claimed that ground was broken at the company’s planed permanent facility, local investigators found that there was nothing but overgrown grass covering the plot on which it is supposed to be located.

(NOTE: Both photos are by Dustin Hurst –– one of the GTA office and the other of GTA's proposed production facility at the site in Tunica County, Mississippi, which I wrote about in this section ––  can be found at Watchdog.org, yet I placed them on my blog as well.) 

GreenTech Jobs 

As many are still pondering when GreenTech will build (or even begin to break ground) at their proposed $60 million Tunica plant in Mississippi, GreenTech jobs are even more puzzling. I must reemphasize that tracking both the number of cars and jobs –– promised, claimed, or even saved for that matter, versus reality –– has been a difficult task. It seems to be a moving target and depending on the day, what con tactics Terry has up his sleeve, or what the folks at GreenTech are smoking, it changes.

Now, I briefly covered this topic early on, but here is my bullet point presentation of what I found during my two-week crash course research project on GreenTech and all its shenanigans. (NOTE: big shout out to Bearing Drift: Virginia's Conservative Voice, for their list as well). 

  • October 6, 2009 / Memphis Business Journal: "Tunica County will become home to a new hybrid automobile development and manufacturing facility that will initially employ 1,500 with a $1 billion investment. The [Mississippi] plant will produce 150,000 vehicles annually in phase one."
  • 2009: "McAuliffe predicted at least 10,000 cars a year would be manufactured by 2011," as documented by
    Politifact.com this past August 
  • May 18, 2010 / Terry's Newsroom: “McAuliffe has announced his intent is to eventually create 4,500 new jobs for the electric auto manufacturing firm in Virginia as well as Tennessee and Mississippi.”
  • May 20, 2010 / EVWorld.com: "GTA plans to create thousands of “'green collar'” jobs across Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia. At full production, GTA will create over 4,000 new US jobs." 
  • October 7, 2010 / Bloomberg News: "GreenTech plans to buy parts abroad and assemble the cars in the U.S., creating around 5,000 jobs in economically depressed areas. Besides Mississippi, McAuliffe is looking at sites in Tennessee and Virginia and says he will go to the state offering the best tax breaks and other benefits." 
  • October 7, 2010, as written by Watchdog.org in Dec 2012: "In a 2010 interview, McAuliffe predicted that his company’s first-generation NEV would go on sale mid-2011. GreenTech initially pledged to hire thousands workers to assemble tens of thousands of vehicles a year at its new Tunica, Miss., plant by the end of 2012." At that time, "None of those projections has come close to fruition. The Tunica plant is still under construction, and the payroll barely tops 100 workers. 
  • February 2011 / You Tube clip (R): “I’m going to announce another major plant this year, which is going to be about 3,000 – 5,000 jobs.” – Terry McAuliffe 
  • August 6, 2011, but reported on September 5, 2011 / Automotive News: “We can achieve two important goals at once. We can provide China with clean technology and help reduce carbon emissions in the country,” said McAuliffe, chairman of GreenTech, in an Aug. 6 press release about the China factory. The China project will create 2,000 jobs for Americans, he said.
  • November 2011 / Charlottesville Tomorrow: “Denmark has bought GreenTech’s first year of production, about 110 cars, which will be manufactured at a temporary plant in Horn Lake, Miss. McAuliffe is opening a permanent factory in nearby Tunica, which will eventually employ 350 workers." 
  • 2012: "Terry McAuliffe claimed in 2012 that the plant would be churning out 10,000 electric cars this year," reported by the Washington Free Beacon June 18, 2013
  • July 2012 statement by McAuliffe and reported by Action News 5 (July 2013): "If I can be successful and make 10,000 cars over the next 12 months here in Horn Lake and ship them over to Denmark, that's a huge win for me, the company, and most importantly, Mississippi." 
  • July 6, 2012 when GreenTech Automotive unveiled its environmentally friendly, energy efficient vehicle, MyCar / HR Professionals: “Former President Bill Clinton and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour were on hand to help celebrate GTA’s relocation to the U.S. The company is expected to create 426 new jobs and support about 7,400 more.”
  • July 9, 2012 / HybridCars.com: “Production of MyCar and its derivatives, plus the all-new vehicles to be added to the product portfolio will lead to the formation of 5,000 new direct and indirect jobs in Mississippi and the vendor base nationwide,” GreenTech boldly says on its Web site.
  • April 12, 2013 / Mother Nature Network by Jim Motavalli: "I also talked to McAuliffe, and he said the company was planning on at least 400 employees in Tunica, Miss., with 3,500 indirect jobs. (The company launched with a temporary facility in Horn Lake, Miss.) “We have 14 job openings right now,” he said. “These cars will be made by American workers.” The 300,000-square-foot plant was supposed to be pumping out cars in mid-2013, which is now, isn’t it? 
  • July 6, 2012 / Wheels Blogs @ the New York Times: “Mr. McAuliffe said the venture would employ 900 workers in Mississippi by the end of the year, as well as create many jobs indirectly.”
  • July 15, 2013 / TimesDispatch.com: McAuliffe promised GreenTech Automotive would create 2,000 American jobs and produce cars
  • July 17, 2013 / PR Newswire: designed to have an annual production capacity of 30,000 vehicles in Tunica, Mississippi 
  • July, 2013 / Action News 5: GreenTech Vice President Marianne McInerney "refused to release the number of vehicles actually made at the facility or sold last year because GTA is a private company. She would only say there are pending orders for the new 2014 MyCar," and that the plant "would create 350 jobs by the end of 2014 and those are direct jobs."
  • August 12, 2013 / Phys.org News: The company says it will be producing cars by April, but its plans have changed dramatically, from a goal of 250,000 a year to 30,000...

Quite the track record, but in an effort to simplify, here a few of the latest stats that I could find on GreenTech jobs, starting in July of 2012 with HR Professionals Magazine, which stated, "As of July, GTA has more than 840 employees enterprise-wide, and they are on track to employ more than 900 more by the end of 2012." Later they add, "As of July [2012] there were 67 employees in the northern Mississippi sites (Tunica/Horn Lake) and eight employees in the McLean, Virginia office."

And July of this year, when Action News 5 Investigators attempted to get back inside GreenTech to check into the Horn Lake operation and its staff, the "GreenTech Vice President Marianne McInerney denied their requests each time, but claimed that 78 employees worked inside."

We also have (as presented earlier in this post) the New York Times, and its August 9, 2013 article that said, "GreenTech employs 80 people and that company officials would not say how many cars will be built this year."

Small Eco-car; Big Green Scam? 

At what stage each of the two GreenTech plants are and how much money they snagged from the taxpayers of Mississippi ($5 to $18 million), is still unclear. Neither do we know the exact status of both investigations, and what they will conclude: the Securities and Exchange as well as the Department of Homeland Security IG. But as the residents of Virginia buy into his campaign slogan, "McAuliffe for Governor: Putting Jobs First," how many green jobs GreenTech has created in the state of Mississippi as well as the number of green cars they've assembled here in the United States remains a mystery.

Since Terry is leading the Virginia governor race, I can only assume that Virginians haven't done their homework or maybe they just don't care, because GreenTech has left many of us in the dark: instead of hope, cars and jobs, McAuliffe and his electric-car dream has perpetuated nothing but confusion and frustration for the folks at Tunica County and many in the state of Mississippi. 

Obviously, GreenTech produces a small eco-car –– we've seen the flashy prototypes after all; like a high-end golf cart. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind getting one for my teenage daughter (that way she can't go over 25 MPH); but the most critical question remains to be answered...is this a big green scam?

 

We report, you decide....

UPDATE, September 29, 2013: Marita Noon followed my research and this 9/28/13 post, adding her flair, personal experience as well as her take on what's going on with this small eco-car, and can be found at her Townhall.com column: Terry McAuliffe's MyCar Isn't Even a "Real Car": Car and Driver. 


Two Women –– one Citizen & one Energy Columnist –– join forces on One Mission: to expose one chunk of the Green Corruption Scandal at a time.


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Americans Bothered By the Way our Government Spends Taxes: Billions burned on Obama's green energy

Posted by Christine Lakatos on May 11, 2013 at 8:30am

4063694634?profile=originalSPECIAL NOTE: This was first published at Townhall.com as
"On Earth Day, Let's Waste More Money," and at the Heartland Institute on April 24, 2013, by Marita Noon –– my cohort in exposing President Obama's clean-energy dirt. However, considering additional taxpayer-funded green energy issues have emerged, I'll make be some adjustments as well as updates.

Following Ms. Noon's column I'll be amending our 2012 list of taxpayer-funded green energy failures, of which at that time I had documented 52 (23 bankrupt and 29 troubled) ––  at least $15 billion of green taxpayer money either gone or at risk. With additional research, by the summer of 2013, we may hit a new total of 60, marking the billions burned on Obama's green energy agenda as outrageous! 

                 Americans Bothered By the Way the Government Spends Taxes

 Every year, April 15 is tax day, and that day has come and gone –– with most Americans feeling the sting. A while ago, the morning’s news shows featured last minute tax tips and other tax-related information. In case you missed the new poll that was discussed... When asked: “Thinking about paying taxes, which one of the following bothers you the most?” Surprisingly, “What you pay” received the lowest response, while the “Way the government spends taxes” was the highest. “Feeling that some don’t pay fair share” was near the top and “Complexity of system and forms” was near the bottom.” So people understand that it takes money to run the government and generally don’t object to paying their taxes. It is what the government does with that money that frustrates us.

When asked about the way government spends taxes, responders were likely thinking of the green-energy crony-corruption spending on flawed ventures like Solyndra and the, now, fifty-plus other green-energy embarrassments that received taxpayer dollars as a result of President Obama’s 2009 Stimulus Bill (as well as other green-energy funds) that poured nearly $100 billion into the pet projects of his donors.

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in September 2011. It was just the bellwether; the first of many to come.

A year later Christine Lakatos and I profiled nearly 20 green-energy stimulus-funded companies that had gone bankrupt. The next week, we highlighted the other bookend: “companies/projects that received funding from various loan guarantee programs (LGP), grants, and tax incentives. These are projects that are still functioning, but are facing difficulties.” One of those troubled companies was A123 Systems. One week after our report, A123 filed for bankruptcy. Nearly two months later, A123 waspurchased by a large Chinese auto parts maker that has renamed the lithium-ion battery company B456.

Update: A123/B456’s biggest customer is another company on our troubled list: Fisker Automotive—manufacturer of the $100,000+ electric sports car made in Finland—is now facing bankruptcy itself after efforts to find a Chinese investor “stalled.” And we covered the April 24, 2013 Congressional Hearing: Failing Fisker Auto Finally Faces House Oversight Hearing: Chairman Jordan Exposes Another DOE Junk Loan, Declares, "Fisker should have never received taxpayer money”

Wait. In his 2008 campaign, didn’t Obama promise to “create five million new energy jobs over the next decade––jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced”? But our taxpayer dollars created jobs in Finland and have benefited a Chinese company—Obamanomics outsourced. No wonder the “way the government spends taxes” tops the list. And most have no idea that the Obama administration is responsible for steering billions of our tax dollars from the stimulus and other clean energy programs to foreign-owned entities, of which big chunk was doled out in the form of free cash via the 1603 stimulus grant program.

But there’s more—new news the poll respondents probably didn’t even know about.

One day after the poll was taken, CNN Money reports: “China’s Suntech Power has put its largest subsidiary into bankruptcy.” What they don’t mention is that China’s Suntech Power benefited from Obama’s 2009 Stimulus Bill—receiving a $2.1 million credit from the Energy Department’s stimulus-funded Advanced Energy Manufacturing (48C) Tax Credit. (Suntech was included in our 2012 “troubled” list.) In her blog, The Green Corruption Files, Lakatos states: “according to the Heritage Foundation, in November 2012, Suntech shed some employees, claiming that it was the ‘U.S. International Trade Commission’s 35.95% tariff on Chinese solar panels that was partially responsible for the 50 impending layoffs at its Arizona production facilities.’” Suntech was even blamed for the Solyndra debacle. In December 2011, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported: “China’s major solar panel companies—whose low-cost products led some American factories to close, helped create the Solyndra controversy, and spawned talk of a trade war—were bankrolled in the United States by the world’s largest investment banks.” Those “investment banks” include some the same ones we have profiled in our previous reports that have deep ties to the Obama campaign and administration, and many green-energy projects that received loans, grants, and special tax breaks representing billions in stimulus money.

Suntech has more interconnections. Arizona’s Mesquite Solar Project, which received $337 million in taxpayer money despite its non-investment grade rating by Fitch, was to be built with Suntech’s solar panels and the power was to be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric—which has strong political presence in Washington, DC, and connections to billions in stimulus funds. California’s PG&E, a company with “an extensive network of former high-ranking employees holding influential positions in government agencies at the federal and state level, has benefited handsomely from government financing of green energy projects.” The most controversial former PG&E employee to hold an influential government post is Cathy Zoi, a former energy analyst for the company, who we profiled in our report on George Soros.

There is much more that can be found in Lakatos' Suntech report.

Another sparsely reported solar-power embarrassment was covered by Fox News on the same day the aforementioned poll was taken. “SoloPower, which makes thin-film solar panels at a new plant in Portland, OR, opened September 27 with an upbeat ribbon-cutting ceremony. Local and state politicians gushed about the company eventually operating four production lines and creating 450 well-paid green jobs.” After its grand opening just months ago, SoloPower’s power is waning: “The first production line was never completed,” and “in January, the company had a round of layoffs.”

This is not a surprise to those of us who watch the green-energy crony-corruption scandal. SoloPower was one of the worst-rated loans. One month before it received a $197 million loan guarantee to “support the retrofit of an existing building to operate a thin-film solar panel manufacturing facility in Portland, OR,” Standard and Poors (S&P) gave SoloPower a credit rating of CCC+.

As uncovered and exposed by Lakatos on April 1st regarding SoloPower, the March 2012, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report titled “The Department of Energy’s Disastrous Management of Loan Guarantee Programs” which states: “S&P predicted that SoloPower will fail to meet its debt obligations.” DOE emails, released on October 31, 2012, reveal that James McCrea, Senior Credit Advisor at the Loan Programs Office, called SoloPower “a completely uninspiring project.”

Yet, in addition to the $197 million of US taxpayer money SoloPower was given from the DOE through the 1705 LGP, this European firm also received $40 million from Oregon taxpayers. Then in December 2012, “despite unfulfilled job and production promises and signs the Portland solar panel factory was sliding even further behind,” Oregon officials tripled the “taxpayer’s stake,” said the Oregonian. Business Oregon approved a $20 million tax credit for SoloPower—which SoloPower then exchanged for $13.5 million in cash. After a management shake-up, Fox News reports, SoloPower is “trying to raise money by selling some of its equipment through a third party and is attempting to restructure its $197 million federal loan guarantee.”

Update: On April 22, the Oregonian’s headline read: “SoloPower moves to power down Portland factory, gut remaining workforce.”

With the bad credit rating, the “uninspiring” label, and poor performance, why did SoloPower receive federal, state, and city funding—ultimately paid by the taxpayers? Because as the Oversight Committee report states: “What SoloPower lacked in economic value, it made up for in political connections.”

Suntech and SoloPower are just two recent stories; part of a long list of bankrupt and/or “troubled” politically connected green-energy projects.

When President Obama released his FY2014 budget, it included new spending of nearly $1 billion “to support deployment and long-term development in the clean energy industries.” Renewable Energy World appears gleeful. “It’s been said before and it bears repeating that Obama has done more for solar than any previous US President.” And: “The support of the federal government has led to an explosion in the amount of solar across America.” Do you think?

In contrast, Tom Pyle, President of the American Energy Alliance, pointed out that the budget “represents the administration’s desire to double down on bad energy policy.” And, “calls for fast-track permitting for renewables” while never mentioning the Keystone pipeline. Pyle concludes his comments by saying: the President “hopes that the American people will forget the failures of the past four years, higher gasoline prices, skyrocketing electricity rates, bankrupt renewable firms, and billions in wasted taxpayer money on politically connected industries.”

No wonder the “way the government spends taxes” tops the list of taxpayer’s frustrations. Perhaps if “government’s inability to learn from its mistakes” had been on the list, it would have been the number one choice.



                                             OBAMA'S GREEN ENERGY BANKRUPTCIES
                                                               as of May 2013 
Our 2012 Green Alert: taxpayer-funded green energy failures list placed the total at 52 –– 23 bankrupt and 29 troubled, with at least $15 billion of "green" taxpayer money either gone or at risk.
Today I will only be updating our green energy taxpayer-backed bankrupt list, and over the summer I'll be evaluating the 29 projects or firms, which I had documented as having issues: financial, project delays, environmental, corruption probes, and otherwise. This will ensure that we give an honest assessment, tally and dollar amount. But at this point in time, while I can remove a few –– some into the bankrupt column, others are doing worse, and some are doing better –– there are more to add.

We can now remove Suntech out of the troubled category and place them in our bankrupt list. Meanwhile we can't officially add SoloPower and Fisker to our bankrupt list, but we've moved them to our new category: "On the Verge of Going Bust and Bailouts," which includes taxpayer-funded companies that were financially struggling to stay alive, and eventually got "bailed out" (the majority by foreign companies).
Then there is the story of how "America's most storied Fortune 500 corporation, Honeywell, "created a mere 10 jobs with a $25 million grant (to be used by Honeywell's UOP subsidiary to build a biofuels technology demonstration plant in Oahu, Hawaii) under President Obama's economic stimulus program in 2010" –– a cost of $2.5 million per job. And why is the DOE "withholding records on a Wyoming carbon-capture project that snagged almost $10 million in economic stimulus grants from the DOE?" It's undergoing a legal investigation.

Additionally, we can give more data on my list of taxpayer-backed green energy companies that were in distress. One in particular is Bloom Energy, which I had reported received $5 million in taxpayer money, but it was more like $70 million in federal grants and $200 million in funding from the state of California. It turns out that in February of this year, they were "fined for illegally paying employees in pesos."


While GM's Chevy Volt, "the poster child for President Obama's push to electrify America's auto fleet," is still suffering from a poor performance, there is a more positive case to share. This past February, Telsa Motors made an encouraging announcement at an event, "Tesla will pay off our Department of Energy (DOE) loan five years early, twice as fast as required by the original 2010 loan agreement signed by Tesla and the DOE."

This came despite reports that have painted a different scenario and grim future for Telsa. In October 10, 2012: The DOE restructured its loan to Tesla and in December 20, 2012, Market Watch reported, "Tesla will need more loans to stay afloat in 2013." As of late, Forbes noted another key issue; "The problem with putting $465 million of taxpayer money at risk to back Tesla is that producing this particular toy for the rich does absolutely nothing to further the ostensible goals of the program, which are fighting climate change and achieving energy security."

We'll give Telsa the luxury of removing them from our troubled category, but they'll stay on our radar –– after all this is Steve Westly's investment, the Energy Department's buddy, and Obama's "Green bundler with the golden touch." So it shouldn't be too difficult to track.

Our new numbers as of May of 2013 reflect 25 bankrupt, three about to go under, and if we keep those that are having issues the same (at 29), then by the time I complete my new investigative report, the latest taxpayer-funded green energy failure list could hit 60 –– with almost half bust.

What a difference six months makes...

If you are one of those Americans "bothered" by the way our government spends your taxes, then you may want continue reading this post. You'll be able to view the documented details of President Obama's billions in green energy failures, which includes more bankruptcies, billions going overseas, the green jobs gimmicks and expense, plus much more –– visit the Green Corruption Files.
Read more…

Newly Bankrupt Chinese Solar Producer Suntech, Stimulus Grant Winner and Contractor to Energy Department’s $337 million Junk Loan: a Tiny Fraction of Obama’s “Green Outsourcing"

Posted by Christine Lakatos on April 14, 2013 at 6:37am

A jaw-dropping revelation came to light in December 2011 by the Trib Total Media, yet it was ignored by the media and even missed by those of us watching the solar world unfold. 4063686434?profile=original

China's major solar panel companies — whose low-cost products led some American factories to close, helped create the Solyndra controversy and spawned talk of a trade war — were bankrolled in the United States by the world's largest investment banks.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, USB Investment Bank and others raised $6.5 billion for seven young Chinese solar panel makers in the mid-2000s by underwriting their securities on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, a Tribune-Review investigation has found.

 

The Trib goes on, "It's not clear how the idea of using offshore tax havens to get listed on U.S. exchanges developed. But the Trib learned through SEC reports how Chinese solar companies grabbed onto the idea." The first was Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., now the world's largest solar company. It began operating as a Chinese company in May 2002, and by 2004 reported sales of $85.3 million..."

 

However, Bloomberg News reported last week, "Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP) [was] forced to put its Chinese solar unit into bankruptcy last month, "becoming the latest casualty of a painful slump in the global solar industry,” wrote Townhall.com. But Bloomberg noted that Suntech "began that slide into insolvency in 2009 when customers linked to the founder couldn’t pay their bills and the company booked the sales as revenue anyway, regulatory filings show."

 

What most don’t know is that Suntech is a tiny fraction of "Obamanomics Outsourced," whereas his administration is responsible for steering billions in stimulus funds (and other "green" money) to foreign companies and shipping green jobs overseas. This is clearly a broken 2008 energy campaign promise, but worse, a violation on how the 2009 trillion-dollar stimulus package was sold –– to create jobs and grow the economy here in America.

And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade –– jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That's how America can lead again.

Senator Barack Obama, October 27, 2008

 

Oh NO, he didn't...

 

Last fall, Marita Noon (energy columnist at Townhall.com and my cohort in unearthing the massive amount of clean-energy dirt) and I debunked the president's 5 million energy jobs target as well as the his administration’s labor department's ludicrous claims on what constitutes a green job –– from oil lobbyists, to bus drivers, to garbage men, and so on.

 

Furthermore, if you've been following my blog (now the Green Corruption Files), you know that since 2009 I've been tracking President Obama's trillion-dollar stimulus spending spree, of which at least $90 billion was earmarked for renewable energy and energy efficiency, and doled out through various programs and agencies.

 

For a year now I've been covering the Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Program, more specifically the stimulus-created 1705, whereas over $16 billion of taxpayer money was used to fund 26 alternative energy projects; of which 23 were junk rated –– as revealed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March 2012.

 

The DOE’s "junk bond" portfolio (the entire $34.4 billion loan guarantee program for that matter) is where you’ll discover that 96 percent of the firms representing these projects have meaningful ties (bundlers and donors) to President Obama and other high-ranking Democrats; or both –– with five to Senator Harry Reid alone.

 


 The Mesquite Solar Project and the $337 Million DOE "Junk" Loan 

 

Over a week ago, I submitted an update, noting that we've covered all but three out of the 26 DOE "junk bond" portfolio, which included the Mesquite Solar project. What's interesting is that this was the ONLY DOE excessively risky loan that I could not locate a direct connection to the Obama White House or any "green crony."

 

But once again, we find that despite the fact that the Mesquite Solar I, LLC (Sempra Mesquite) project received a non-investment grade rating by Fitch in August 2011, our Energy Department went ahead and awarded them a $337 million loan guarantee for a solar power plant in Arizona that is scheduled to be up sometime in 2013, which projects that it would create more than 300 construction job and 7 operating jobs.

 

Hold up…

 

Let's go back to early 2010 when Suntech had been awarded a $2.1 million credit from the Energy Department’s stimulus-funded Advanced Energy Manufacturing (48C) Tax Credit, and according to the Heritage Foundation, in November 2012 Suntech shed some employees, claiming that it was the "U.S. International Trade Commission’s 35.95% tariff on Chinese solar panels was partially responsible for the 50 impending layoffs at its Arizona production facilities" –– thus Suntech ended up on my 2012 Green-Energy Failure Alert List, in the troubled category.

 

But a year before Suntech's troubles were made public (remember their slide into insolvency began in 2009), and in the midst of the September 2011 solar hoopla, Bloomberg News reported that the Mesquite project (with $337 million of taxpayer money), would be purchasing its solar panels from the China-based Suntech Power Holdings Co. Also, Sempra Energy, California’s third-largest utility (a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2012 revenues of approximately $10 billion), will sell electricity from the Mesquite Solar 1 plant to California’s largest utility, PG&E Corp., under a 20-year contract –– adding two more to our list of BIG ENERGY (General Electric, NextEra Energy and NRG Energy) that are making big money at the "green" Bank of Obama.

 

Pacific Gas & Electric Packed with Green Cronies and Invested Interest in $7.7 Billion of Stimulus Funds 

 

PG&E maintains a strong political presence in Washington, D.C., and is actively involved in California politics as well.  We’ve already highlighted their Democratic "cronyism footprint," of which much of it was exposed by the Washington Free Beacon last March: “Pacific Gas & Cronyism: Politically connected utility plays corporate bully, makes bank on green energy...”

 

It turns out that "former PG&E employees currently hold, or previously held, high-ranking government positions at the state and federal level, furthering the company’s influence," of which we know that Peter Darbee, then-CEO and chairman of PG&E, wasn't shy about using his leverage with President Obama on at least the $1.6 billion BrightSource Energy DOE deal.

 

The most controversial former PG&E employee to hold an influential government post is Cathy Zoi, a former energy analyst for the company, who also served as chief of staff for environmental policy under President Clinton and was CEO of Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. Zoi was the former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, and oversaw the disbursement of more than $30 billion in green-energy stimulus funds in her DOE position at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) –– a post which began in April 2009, and later she briefly filled the role of Acting Undersecretary for Energy.

 

We've already labeled Zoi as one of the “DOE dirty dozen" –– those inside the Energy Department with ties to tens of billions of clean-energy stimulus funds. However, in March 2011, Zoi jumped the DOE ship to work for left-wing billionaire George Soros, Obama’s "Agent of Green," whom just last month I chronicled his dark money and how he has bankrolled Obama victories since 2004. After discovering Soros' part in crafting the 2009-Recovery Act and his early 2009 series of regular private meetings and consultations with White House senior advisors, as usual, I followed the money.

 

Soros' suspicious 2009-first quarter stock-buying spree was a huge winner –– a big portion (that we know of) benefited from the federal stimulus, including twelve alternative energy and utility companies. Add in more Soros clean-energy investments, and I concluded that his "green tab" exceeds $11 BILLION of stimulus (taxpayer) money, with the entire Cathy Zoi Green Corruption story still left to tell.

 

PG&E may have gotten the "cold shoulder" on the their smart-grid grant requests, but with their high-powered connections all the way up to the president and inside the DOE, PG&E won a significant amount of stimulus money: at least seventeen transactions to date and over $55.4 million. Better yet, PG&E has an invested interest in "six solar projects that will sell power to PG&E, which have received a combined $5.5 billion in taxpayer-backed DOE loans," as exposed by the Washington Free Beacon, however, I found $7.7 billion.

 

#1. Agua Caliente Solar Power Project located in Yuma, Arizona, of which "PG&E will purchase the project’s power and deliver it to customers in California." Project by NRG Solar: $967 million loan guarantee

 

#2.  BrightSource Energy development located in Baker, CA, of which "electricity from the project will be sold under long-term power purchase agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison Company (SCE)." Project by NRG Energy, Inc. (BrightSource): $1.6 billion loan guarantee

 

#3. California Valley Solar Ranch of which the 250-megawatt is under construction in eastern San Luis Obispo County, and "is generating clean, reliable solar power for transmission over PG&E’s utility grid." Project by NRG Solar and SunPower is still involved: $1.237 billion loan guarantee

 

#4. Desert Sunlight Project located in Riverside, CA, with the PPA (purchase power agreement) listed as Southern California Edison and PG&E. This is a First Solar Project that is co-owned by NextEra Energy Resources, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo Corporation of America: partial guarantee of $1.46 billion

 

#5. Genesis Solar Energy Project located in Riverside County, CA of which "power from the project will be sold to Pacific Gas and Electric Company." Project by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC: partial guarantee of $852 million loan

 

#6. Mesquite Solar 1, LLC located in Maricopa County, AZ, of which Bloomberg News had reported at the time the DOE loan was approved, "Sempra will sell electricity from the Mesquite Solar 1 plant to California’s largest utility, PG&E Corp., under a 20- year contract." Project by Sempra Mesquite: $337 million loan guarantee

 

#7. Mojave Solar located in San Bernardino County, CA, of which at the time of the DOE loan approval (September 2011), "Abengoa signed a power-purchase agreement with PG&E to buy the energy produced by the project for a period of 25 years." Project by the Spanish firm Abengoa Solar, Inc.: $1.2 billion loan guarantee

 

Suntech, Bankrolled by Early Goldman Sachs and other Big U.S. Banks

As revealed in the beginning of this story, Goldman Sachs and other Big Banks here in the United States bankrolled Suntech, and this year in my January post on Kleiner Perkins (John Doerr and Al Gore), I highlighted some of Goldman Sachs' "green."

 

But old information came to light by the Trib Total Media, leading to more "Wall Street Solar" corruption: "Goldman Sachs (Asia) was with Suntech all along. A branch of the investment bank bought 10.8 million shares of Suntech BVI for $2.31 a share. When Suntech switched to the Cayman Islands to go public, Goldman Sachs (Asia) followed, grabbing an 8.66 percent ownership share of the solar company."

 

In 2010, along with old PDF file (April 2011) of Goldman Sachs Environmental Markets (link no longer valid), I had alerted to the fact that Goldman Sachs was cashing in on the "green" stimulus, and as my research developed, I found their DNA all over this green-energy scheme.

 

Then in 2012, I dug deeper I chronicled the Kleiner Perkins and Goldman Sachs connections as well as various renewable energy stimulus winners including, "The First Solar Three Billion Dollar Swindle," which involves three of the DOE's junk loans.

 

Besides their investment in First Solar, Goldman Sachs received two large loans from the 1705 DOE "junk bond" portfolio: Cogentrix of Alamosa, LLC for $90.6 million and U.S. Geothermal, Inc for $97 million –– the former a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs.

 

While U.S. Geothermal snagged millions more in green subsidies, through the Cogentrix transaction, Goldman Sachs cashed in every step of the way –– and their "green cronies" too. This was a striking detail that I found when reviewing the June 19, 2012 House Oversight Hearing, where the CEO of Cogentrix Mr. Robert Mancini testified.

 

Even without extensive research, we find that Goldman Sachs is tied to many other clean-energy projects that received loans, grants and special tax breaks from the Obama administration, and what I've tracked so far are billions of stimulus money that go beyond the four listed above. They are also credited as the “exclusive financial adviser” for the highly publicized bankrupt Solyndra, and in 2010, handled the IPO of both Tesla Motors and Amyris. Other than Solyndra, we find more Goldman stimulus winners that have gone bust: SpectraWatt, Nordic WindPower, and now we place Suntech into the bankrupt category –– all taking millions of taxpayer money down the drain.

 

Also, with a quick glance at that PDF file, there are many more, of which you can find more details in my January post, and all but two (Cogentrix and U.S. Geothermal) that I've personally tracked are on my 2012 Green-Energy Failure Alert List.

 

But it seems, that Goldmanites are not done, and in May 2012, they announced their plan "to channel investments totaling $40 billion over the next decade into renewable energy projects, an area the investment bank called one of the biggest profit opportunities since its economists got excited about emerging markets in 2001," wrote Reuters. This mean that Goldman Sachs will be pursuing more government aid, and they have a "friend" in the White House that is willing to oblige...

 

Despite, the rhetoric and deception, President Obama has his fair share of "Wall Street Buddies," which gave him $16 million for his successful 2008 campaign and dished out more in 2012.

 

We've already established that Goldman Sachs was a top Obama donor (#2 as a matter of fact), giving more than $1 million dollars to his 2008 campaign coffers. Also, two Goldman executives sat on Obama's 2008 Finance Committee, Bruce Heyman and David Heller, while Jennifer Scully and Bruce Heyman were 2008 bundlers.

 

Even though Goldman Sachs turned "red in 2012," supporting Mitt Romney, Goldman employees participated as top donors for President Obama's re-election, and Heyman bundled for Obama again in 2012.

 

Moreover, according to Open Secrets, "47 out of 51 Goldman Sachs lobbyists in 2012 have previously held government jobs." And now find that the infiltration of Goldman Sachs and Citigroup executives inside the Obama administration is extraordinary, even shaping his economic policy, however, more amazing is their footprint inside green energy and the tens of billions of taxpayer money that followed.

 

And “the "Too-Big-to-Fail" Citigroup –– the nation's third-largest bank that snagged the largest amount of federal bailout money, was the #7 top donor to candidate Obama with a few executives lined up as campaign bundlers, and Cit's massive 'Green' Money Machine is even too big to list here, but I unleashed it this past February, which tie them to approximately $16 billion of clean-energy money paid for by the taxpayers.

 

 

Sempra: More Solar, More Taxpayer Money 

 

As mentioned, the Mesquite solar project is owned by Sempra Energy of San Diego, a Fortune 500 Company, and one the “big-three" utility companies in California, and in 2011, I had noticed Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, of which their "Energy Solutions" have projects in solar, wind and natural gas.

 

Other than the Mesquite Solar Project and its $337 million DOE loan, in December 2010, Sempra announced the completed construction on the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in the U.S. called the Copper Mountain Solar facility, located in Boulder City, Nevada, of which the usual Green Corruption culprits are involved: PG&E and First Solar.

 

Delen Goldberg of the Las Vegas Sun had this to say in April 2011, "The federal government gave Sempra Generation about $42 million in tax credits, 30 percent of the price tag for Copper Mountain," which cost $141 million –– and the stats at that time on Copper Mountain were as follows:

  • Temporary construction jobs created: 350. Not bad.
  • Nevadans employed: 262. That’s a good share.
  • Solar power coming to Nevada: 0. Zip.
  • Parts manufactured in Nevada: 0. Zilch.
  • Permanent jobs created: 5. That’s not a typo.
  • State incentives developer Sempra Generation received: $12 million. That’s not a typo, either.

About a year later (March 21, 2012 to be exact), President Obama made a special visit using Copper Mountain as "an impressive backdrop" –– now at 10 jobs –– to celebrate his green energy efforts, whereas even Reuters had to cede that "the millions of green jobs Obama promised have been slow to sprout, disappointing many who had hoped that the $90 billion earmarked for clean-energy efforts in the recession-fighting federal stimulus package would ease unemployment –– still above 8 percent in March" –– not much better now at 7.7 percent, yet as I predicted, the president is demanding new "green" spending.

 

Sempra in Cahoots with BP, another Top Obama Donor: Where We Find More "Green" Taxpayer Money 

 

Now, "formerly known as entities Sempra Generation, Sempra LNG and Sempra Pipelines & Storage have now been realigned under Sempra International." But after a few hours of digging in 2011, I found that Sempra is in cahoots with British Petroleum (BP) on a number of green ventures, more specifically, all five of their wind projects, and of course the majority are using GE wind turbines, another Big Energy White House buddy, making bank off of "green” stimulus money.

 

Like the entire Big Wind industry, BP subsidiary BP Wind Energy took advantage of the then expiring "provision that had previously been extended by President Obama’s politically unpopular 2009 stimulus" (AKA the 1603 Grant Program), reported the Los Angeles Times in early October 2011. This was for the Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm, located in a wind-rich region near Wichita, Kansas, and is a joint venture of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and BP Wind Energy, of which Sempra says, "The 419-megawatt (MW) project will be the largest wind farm in the state of Kansas when complete."

 

As you probably know, Congress’ January “Fiscal Cliff” bill renewed the PTC for 2013, and tweaked it so that money would be available to any project breaking ground by the end of the year. And to give you an idea on how BP will make out on the Kansas project alone, "Each of BP’s turbines will receive a 2.2 cent tax credit for every kilowatt-hour generated during the first 10 years of operation –– about $1 million per turbine –– adding up to $274 million for BP," recorded the Reactor.

 

Just last week, Big Wind got an early Christmas present: "The Internal Revenue Service adjusted the Wind Production Tax Credit for inflation — an increase that will cost taxpayers $545 million dollars, according to the Institute for Energy," reported the Daily Caller.

 

Hold up...

 

Ironically April has been a very energetic month so far, because also last week more wind blew up the airwaves. With quite the "wind portfolio" (16 wind farms across nine states), BP is abandoning wind –– a story Marita Noon covered in her Sunday column at Townhall.com.

On April 3, BP announced that it was selling its US wind assets — estimated to be worth $1.5 to 3.1 billion. The announcement stated that BP has decided sell the US wind energy business “as a part of our continuing effort to … re-position the company for sustainable growth” and that it would “unlock more value for shareholders.” 

Surprised?

 

Apparently, speculation has been surfacing that BP "is slowly losing faith in the renewable energy sector," and according to the Christian Science Monitor, "[BP] exited the wind sector in Europe, and then near the end of last year announced that it would also sell its solar business." Yet, the motivating factors behind this BP move are "part of a continuing effort to become a more focused on oil and gas, and in part, "by the company's need to sell about $38bn of assets to help finance the costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010."

 

 

Climate Change Radical,  Big Oil Investor, Obama Bundler and Billionaire Buddy, Tom Steyer


 Still, BP's renewable energy ventures won plenty of green-government subsidies from the Obama administration, and they have an advocate close to the White House, "Climate  Change Radical" Tom Steyer, of which last September I took notice and wrote a blog entitled, Obama’s Green Cronies Made DNC Cameo: Beneficiaries of Billions of Taxpayer Money," highlighting Obama bundler and billionaire buddy, Tom Steyer.

 

As divulged by the Washington Free Beacon in September 2012, "Steyer is reportedly one of the backers of Greener Capital, which invests in alternative fuel companies that benefit from the anti-oil policies of the Obama administration. Steyer is also the founder and senior managing partner of Farallon Capital Management, a $20 billion hedge fund that ranks as one of the largest of its kind in the world," and they stand "to profit from government policies that increase consumption of natural gas."

 

The Beacon goes on to give more interesting tidbits about Steyer being a Goldman Sachs protégé of Robert Rubin, but what caught my attention was this: "a successful investor, Steyer knows to hedge his bets. His fund owns millions of dollars worth of shares in Big Oil companies such as BP [970,000 shares as of the end of 2013]."

 

Hold up...

 

Did I mention that Mr. Steyer retired from Farallon Capital Management at the end of 2012, and according to Forbes, "sold his stake in the hedge fund firm to his partners?" And did you know that Steyer is also anti-keystone? So much so that early this month Politico reported, "The former hedge fund trader-turned-philanthropist is bankrolling a far-flung political operation pushing environmental causes and candidates, including his pricey effort to torpedo the Keystone XL oil pipeline."

 

OK, so we have a ferocious "greenie" that invested in Big Oil, and besides BP, "among the oil and gas companies that Steyer and Farallon financed and got rich from were Energy Partners, Ltd., Link Energy LLC, Halcon Resources Corporation, Devx Energy, Inc., and a gold mining company named Global Gold Corporation," recently recorded by Darwin Bond-Graham at CounterPunch.org.

 

This reminds me of a vegan –– and activist against meat eaters –– who gains their wealth by investing in slaughterhouses. Too graphic, but definitely we see a hypocrite here, and possibly now Captain Planet meets Robin Hood.

 

Steyer's firm may only be a BP shareholder, but they have plenty of "green" that stand to benefit from Obama's radical and expensive climate change agenda, and already have. Besides Steyer's money raising efforts, he has "considerable influence in the White House," as pointed out by the Washington Post. From Steyer's wealth and political connections that have "played a critical behind-the-scenes role in helping shape the country’s national energy policy” to the fact that "he has spoken with President Obama about how to pursue climate and energy policy in a second term." Steyer was even considered as a replacement to outgoing Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

 

Mr. Steyer also has strong and expensive connections to the left-wing think tank Center for American Progress (CAP), who is closely aligned with Obama and has taken over key White House positions. CAP is heavily engaged in this green-energy scheme, and they have been on my radar since 2010, which I've mentioned in several of my Green Corruption files –– most recently in my post: Left-wing Billionaire George Soros: Obama’s "Agent of Green," however, the entire CAP Green Corruption piece of this scandal has yet to be exposed.

 

In the meantime, Steyer's bundling bucks never ended, and even though Obama won a second term, this month Steyer hosted a high-dollar fundraiser for our "Campaigner in Chief," even defending the president's efforts to save our planet.

 

Moreover, despite President Obama's anti-oil and gas rhetoric, he doesn't seem to mind taking their cash. Because according to Politico in 2010, Obama was the biggest recipient of BP donations over the past twenty years.

 

Obviously, BP has invested big in clean energy, and it is not limited to their wind projects with Sempra. BP Alternative Energy has other projects and companies in their portfolio that have raked in tons of stimulus funds –– at lease six that I know of.

 

GMZ Energy that received $8 million from the DOE's Vehicle Technologies Program funded by the 2009-Stimulus, and $11 million from the DOE and DARPA. But the big catch was BrightSource Energy, of which BP is an investor, and we've shed light on BrightSources' $1.6 billion shady deal quite a few times, including my recent "George Soros post" with much more dirt to share in the near future. [#1 and 2]

 

Still, as exposed by California Watchdog in August 2010, "The federal government is giving a joint venture involving oil giant BP millions of dollars in stimulus money to build a power plant on farmland near the tiny Kern County town of Tupman."[#3]

 

BP is also "benefiting from a $308 million federal grant over several years for the cutting-edge power plant on cotton and alfalfa fields seven miles from the western edge of Bakersfield. More than half of the money, $175 million, is coming from stimulus funds. The rest is coming from another federal program." Apparently, the DOE gave this grant in 2009 to Hydrogen Energy California, a joint partnership of BP and the multinational mining firm Rio Tinto –– a project considered by the Right as a waste of taxpayer money, with mixed reviews by environmentalists. [#4]

 

The Goshen North Wind Farm is a 50:50 joint venture between BP Wind Energy and Ridgeline Energy, LLC. BP Wind Energy is operator with a site location approximately an 11,000-acre site located some 10 miles east of Idaho Falls, Idaho. It seems that this Idaho wind farm listed as Goshen Phase II LLC on March 17, 2011 snagged 78,055,029 1603 cash grant [docket #2641]. [#5]

 

BP Solar unit of BP PLC (based in London) received $11.7 million in 48C credits, despite the fact that this project is creating jobs overseas, aligning them to others greenies that are outsourcing so called green jobs –– promoting more "Obamanomics Outsourced." [#6]

 

Obamanomics Outsourcing More Green

 

Now, Sempra may have chosen Suntech, the Chinese solar producer as their contractor, and we can't directly blame the president, however, Suntech is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Obamanomics Outsourced...

 

Back in February, we said good-by to President Obama’s Jobs Council –– a panel full of "deep-pocket Democratic donors and high-profile financiers" of Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, noted ABC News in 2011. Meanwhile several were Obama campaign bundlers and it included its share of union representatives like AFL-CIO’s left-wing "elitist" Richard Trumka.

 

I’ve already unraveled the series "Spreading the Wealth to Obama's Ultra-Rich Jobs Council," exposing the five panel members that have raked in tens of billions of “green” funds (directly and indirectly), the majority coming from the 2009-Recovery Act. More insulting is the fact that this fired Jobs Council is "packed with outsourcing companies."

 

Also, as emphasized in my Big Wind Story "A Hurricane of Carnage, Cronyism and Corruption," the Energy and Commerce Committee “in-depth report on its ongoing investigation into the implementation of President Obama’s green-energy stimulus spending,” states that as of December 5, 2012, nearly $16 billion in federal funds has been awarded under the 1603 Grant Program –– which does not factor in regional or state funding –– “approximately $10.8 billion (68%) of the total amount in Section 1603 grants awarded was for wind and another $3.8 billion (24%) was for solar projects.”

 

Nevertheless, the most shocking aspect is that "despite skyrocketing debt, and the "Obama green and recovery promises," the committee found that approximately one out of every four dollars of $16 billion spent on “Section 1603” Renewable Energy Stimulus Program" went to foreign-owned entities.

Just this week we find out that despite the sequester, the DOE awarded "more than $1.2 billion in cash payments to renewable energy projects by the Department of Energy and the Treasury" –– more free money through the 1603 grant program. However, the expensive 1603 program is not the only place where we find that the Obama administration has been outsourcing clean-energy stimulus funds, energy money, and green jobs.

 

NOTE: This list is compliments of the GOP, created sometime in July 2012, and reflects duplications of the foreign entity owned wind projects that I just outlined above, however it looks like they missed British Petroleum (BP). I also took the liberty of placing the list alphabetical order, and made some additions and updates for those transactions that are familiar to my research*.

 

In keeping with my green energy topic, non-renewable energy outsourcing transactions have been deleted.

 

Hold up...

GOP, what's up with ALL THE CAPS?


 China:

STIMULUS FUNDS

North Carolina-Based LED Maker Cree Inc. Received Over $39 Million Through The Stimulus And Later Opened Its First Plant In China. Over Half Of The Company's Employees Are Now Located In China And Cree's CEO Says The Company's Strategy Is "Cree Chip, China Heart."

 

LOAN GUARANTEES

Sempra Received A $337 Million Loan Guarantee For An Arizona Solar Plant. The Solar Panels Will Be Supplied By SunTech, A Chinese Solar Panel Manufacturer.

 

JOBS COUNCIL

  • General Electric Cancelled An Order From Wind Turbine Manufacturer ATI Casting In Order To Get The Parts Cheaper From China. After ATI Offered To Match The Price, GE Still Refused The Order. ATI Was Forced To Layoff 302 Workers Due To The Move.
  • General Electric Has Also Been Criticized For Using Chinese Made Wind Towers Over American Towers At The Stimulus Funded Shepherds Flat Wind Farm In Oregon.

STIMULUS FUNDS

Solar Power Industries Received A $5.4 Million Stimulus Grant Before Laying Off American Workers Based On An Increased Reliance On Imports From China.

 

STIMULUS GRANTS*

A123 Systems received $390 million, of which $249 million of it was a Recovery Act Grant, and filed for bankruptcy October 16, 2012. In January of this year, China's Wanxiang Group Corp. won U.S. government approval and acquired A123 Systems Inc. for a $256.6 million bid.

 

Smith Electric Vehicles –– another Obama touted green investment –– received $32 million in federal grants from the stimulus package. However, since 2009 they have "racked up $128 million in losses," and in February 2011, Smith Electric Vehicles announced a potential partnership (signed a letter of intent) with Wanxiang Group, one of the largest non-government owned companies in China that was on a "green USA buying spree." Then in September 2012, struggling, and "short on cash," Smith Electric scrapped its IPO to “pursue private financing opportunities.” Not sure if they are China-owned yet, but the USA is.

 

CLEAN ENERGY TAX CREDITS*

MiaSolé received two Advanced Energy Manufacturing tax credits totaling $101.8 million from the Obama Administration in January 2010, see my Summer 2010 report on Kleiner Perkins, yet it also a VantagePoint investment. In October 2012, "struggling" and "desperate" MiaSole agreed to be sold to China's Hanergy Holding Group for $30 Million, which is considered to be dirt cheap.

 

Recently, the Washington Free Beacon added more outsourcing to this story, which is coming from another taxpayer-funded program that not only hands out tons of "green loans" but also instigates more corporate welfare and crony capitalism.

 

"The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is financing the purchase of solar panels from a manufacturer now owned by the Chinese that had previously attracted investments from prominent Democrats..." "Ex-Im approved a loan to an Indian developer who wants to buy solar panels from MiaSolé, a California-based solar panel manufacturer. A bank spokesman said the loan amount has not been issued yet, as the financing terms are still under negotiation."

 

Denmark:

STIMULUS GRANTS*

Subsidiaries of Danish wind mill maker Vestas received $51.6 million in stimulus grants to build U.S. based factories, and they have announced plans to layoff 180 U.S. workers and possibly another 1,600 by the end of the tear. Well, it seems Vestas kept their promise, because in October 2012, "[they] cut more than 800 jobs in the United States and Canada this year and may be forced to lay off another 800 employees in North America."

 

STIMULUS GRANTS

The Windy Flats Project Began Construction Before The Stimulus Was Passed, Received A $218 Million Stimulus Grant And Used Wind Turbines Assembled By Seimans In Denmark.

 

STIMULUS FUNDS

Danish Catalyst Company, Haldor Topsoe, Received A $25 Million Stimulus Award For The Construction Of A Demonstration Scale Biorefinery.

 

Dominican Republic:

STIMULUS FUNDS

Parago Used Stimulus Funds to Hire Hundreds of Workers in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic to Administer a Renewable Energy Appliance Rebate Program.

 

El Salvador:

STIMULUS FUNDS

Parago Used Stimulus Funds to Hire Hundreds of Workers in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic to Administer a Renewable Energy Appliance Rebate Program.

 

Finland:

LOAN GUARANTEES*

After receiving over $500 million loan guarantee (from the ATVM program), Fisker Automotive is producing their $100K luxury electric sports car in Finland. However, Fisker, which has been having issues for a while, just this month was reported that "160 Fisker employees were let go, and 53 employees will stay on to manage further negotiations with the Department of Energy and a potential sale of assets."

 

Furthermore, according to Gigaom.com, "The news follows reports that Fisker has hired a law firm to advise it on bankruptcy options. It owes a loan repayment to the Department of Energy this month, and has been cutting costs and furloughed its employees last month. The company hasn’t made a car since the summer of 2012."

 

However, it seems that Gigaom has their GPS on Fisker, and in February 2013, they too (like many of Obama-selected green firms), were seeking Chinese assistance, "Fisker Automotive is reportedly weighing investment and acquisition offers from Chinese auto tech companies. Bloomberg reports that there’s a $350 million offer for 85 percent of the company from Chinese state-owned car maker Dongfeng Motor Corp, and Reuters reports that China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (which owns Volvo) has another offer for a majority stake with a deal between $200 million and $300 million."

 

We'll keep our eye on this one because "Congress set hearing on Fisker troubles for April 24, 2013."

 

France:

CASHING IN

French Wind Farm Developer EnXco Pulled In Over $69 Million In Cash Grants Through The Stimulus' 1603 Program.

 

LOAN GUARANTEES*

In May 2010, the DOE offered AREVA Enrichment Services, LLC a conditional commitment for a $2 billion loan guarantee to support the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho. This loan was part of the 1703 loan program, and while AREVA is a France-based company that offers technological solutions for nuclear power generation with worldwide presence, at least the jobs are here in the USA. We think...

Germany:

STIMULUS GRANTS

E.ON Climate & Renewables Received Over $440 Million In Stimulus Grants For Wind Farms That Began Construction Before The Stimulus Was Passed.

 

STIMULUS GRANTS

At Least 25 Wind Turbines For Stimulus Funded Projects Were Supplied By German-Based Nordex.

 

Great Britain:

STIMULUS FUNDS

$39 Million In Stimulus Funds Went To Navistar For Electric Delivery Trucks That Are Manufactured In Coventry, England.

 

STIMULUS GRANTS

British Private-Equity Firm Terra Firma Received Over $40 Million In Stimulus Funds Through An American Wind Consortium It Bought Just Days Before The Stimulus Funds Were Awarded.

 

India:

STIMULUS GRANTS

India-Based Suzlon And Its Subsidiaries Installed Over 200 Wind Turbines Under Obama's Stimulus Grant Program With Most Of The Materials Coming From Its Operations Overseas.

 

Indonesia:

STIMULUS FUNDS

The EPA Gave A $1.5 Million Grant To Indonesia To Reduce Air Pollution In Jakarta.

 

Italy:

STIMULUS FUNDS

Brevini Wind Was Given A $12.75 Million Tax Credit To Build A Facility To Manufacture Wind Turbine Gearboxes In Indiana. Over Two Years Later The Company Has Only Hired 70 Of The 450 Workers Promised And The Company Has Announced They Do Not Expect To Be Operating The Facility Until Late-2013.

 

CASHING IN

Italian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Pulled In Over $84 Million In Cash Grants Through The Stimulus' 1603 Program.

 

Japan:

STIMULUS GRANTS

Japanese-Subsidiary Eurus Energy Received $91.4 Million In Stimulus Grants For A Wind Farm Completed Before The Stimulus Was Passed And Used 180 Turbines Manufactured Overseas By Mitsubishi.

 

Luxembourg:

STIMULUS FUNDS

Luxembourg-Based ArcelorMittal's Subsidiary Received $31.5 Million In Stimulus Funds For A Waste Heat Recovery Unit.

 

Malaysia & Germany:

STIMULUS LOAN GUARANTEES*

First Solar was privy to $3 billion through the 1705 loan guarantee program for three projects, plus suspicious Export-Import bank funding. Then during the May 16, 2012 House Oversight Committee hearing, CA Representative Darrell Issa surmised that First Solar (Germany 560, Ohio 280, and Malaysia with 1680 jobs) is "not an American company." It turns out that the numbers don't lie because CEO Michael Ahearn admitted, "in sheer numbers, most of our full time [employees] are outside the US."

 

Mexico:

STIMULUS LOAN GUARANTEE*

SunPower admitted that some of the solar panels for the $1.2 billion stimulus backed California Solar Valley Ranch would be manufactured at their facility in Mexico rather than their facility in California.

 

UPDATE: Despite SunPower's well-known financial issues, and the fact that it was under a shareholder suit alleging securities fraud and misrepresentations, just days (September 2011) before the 1705 Loan Guarantee Program’s deadline, along with four other solar companies, its $1.2 billion loan guarantee from the DOE was approved.

 

SunPower never directly got the DOE cash because they sold the California Valley Solar Ranch to NRG Energy, a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 Index company, of which NRG and its subsidiaries was the recipient of most of 1705 stimulus loans ($5.2 billion of taxpayer money and counting). But SunPower is still involved in this project and stands to profit if it succeeds.

 

STIMULUS FUNDS

ABB Inc. Received Over $16 Million in Stimulus Funds to Create Green Energy Manufacturing Jobs, the Company Has Laid Off Workers in the U.S. and Transferred Work To Mexico.


 Russia:

STIMULUS FUNDS

Ener1 Received Over $118 Million In Stimulus Funds To Produce Vehicle Batteries. After Going Bankrupt, It Was Acquired Outright By A Russian Investor, Sparking Security Concerns Surrounding The Company's Work for The U.S. Military.

 

South Korea:

STIMULUS FUNDS*

Two South Korean companies –– LG Chem and Dow Kokam –– were given $303 million to produce car batteries in the U.S., but then brought in foreign workers. Local unions have criticized the company for filling jobs with foreign workers. The DOE has admitted that 11 of the 18 contractors on site are Asian firms.

 

STIMULUS GRANTS

The Gulf Wind Project Received A $179 Million Stimulus Grant And Sourced The Parts From South Korea, As Well As Japan And Mexico.

 

Spain:

STIMULUS LOAN GUARANTEES*

The Spanish company Abengoa received more than $2.8 billion in loans and grants, making them the second largest recipient of the $16 billion doled out through the DOE 1705 loan guarantee program.

 

STIMULUS FUNDS

Spain-Based Iberdrola Renewables Received $1.5 Billion In Loans And Grants And Claimed It Created Over 15,000 American Jobs But The Company Only Has 850 U.S.-Based Employees

 

STIMULUS GRANTS

Madrid-Based EDP Renewables Received Over $100 Million In Grants For Their Wind Farms and Announced In September 2011 That They Were Planning To Lay Off 10% Of Their North American Workforce.

 

Switzerland:

Swiss-Based Landis+Gyr Received Over $50 Million In Stimulus Contracts For Their Smart Grid Meters. Cathy Zoi, A Former Obama Energy Department Official, Held Over $250,000 Worth Of Stock In The Company As They Profited From Her Department's Policies. Zoi Had Previously Served As An Executive Director At Landis+Gyr Before Joining The Obama Administration.

 

Thailand:

BAILOUT FUNDS

After Taking A Taxpayer-Funded Bailout, General Motors Opened A $200 Million Plant In Thailand To Supply Diesel Engines For The Chevrolet Colorado Pickup Truck.

 

Vietnam:

JOBS COUNCIL

General Electric Opened A $61 Million Factory In Hai Pong To Produce Wind Turbine Components. GE's CEO Jeffery Immelt Chairs The President's Jobs Council And The Company Has Received Over $1.2 Billion In Stimulus Funds.

 

In closing...

If we dug deeper, we'd find much more, however, I'm sure you get the point. But is this just another tally in Obama's long list of broken promises? 

It's much worse than that. Whether the Obama administration is sending green jobs to Finland, Malaysia, or Mexico and billions of our tax dollars to Spain, Britain, and even China, it's more evidence that this administration –– Congress for that matter –– doesn't give a damn about our economy. Obviously, the president's clean-energy dirt has fueled corporate welfare and crony capitalism, and the massive amount of "green outsourcing" is pure deception and an insult to American taxpayers and those of us seeking jobs.

Stay tuned for more Green Corruption Files...

Two Women –– one Citizen & one energy columnist –– join forces on our "mission" to expose one piece of the Green Corruption scandal at a time.

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Sly Chu Widens Entrance to “Great Green Rat-hole”

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on March 19, 2012 at 7:30pm

 

 

 

               You’ve heard of “Honest Abe” and “Gorgeous George” – let’s introduce you to “Sly Steven” Chu, American Energy Secretary.  And while we’re at it, move over Solyndra, Chevy Volt and Ener1, Inc., according to documents uncovered by the House Oversight Committee it appears Arizona-based Obama-supporting business leaders of First Solar, Incorporated received at least $3.1 billion of its total of $4.5 billion in loan guarantees based largely upon “adjustments” made to First Solar’s loan application by Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s personnel suggesting falsification of documents and/or corner-cutting by the Energy Dept. itself was required to get the loans approved.  According to an ABC News story, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (a Republican from California) accused the Department of Energy of “manipulating analysis, ignoring objections from career professional scientists and business people and strategically modifying” loan evaluations in order to “force project funding out the door.”   The Energy Dept. vehemently denied the charges, “The Department backed loans for two innovative solar projects that will support hundreds of jobs and provide clean power to tens of thousands of homes,” according to spokesman Damien LaVera.

          The roughly 3,250 permanent green energy jobs created in three-plus years across the whole nation by the Obama administration’s green-tech emphasis has thus far cost taxpayers $38 billion or more than $1.15 million for each permanent job, 90% of which pay less than $15/hr.

          Energy officials insisted to ABC News that the department followed a rigorous process to evaluate each applicant, and the two projects being scrutinized by Issa's committee are some of the most exciting solar ventures underway in the United States. If successful, the massive generating facilities would be by far the largest of their kind in the world -- comprised of more than five million solar panels and 35,000 metric tons of steel.  Note the confusion between newness and excitement and solid business decision-making.  Meanwhile Issa and his committee say they sifted through tens of thousands of pages of internal records turned over by the Energy Department in response to their requests.  The granting of multiple loans to First Solar, a solar energy giant based in Arizona to create Agua Caliente in Arizona and the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch in California and then turn these facilities over to utility companies is unusual (First Solar also received a separate $1.5 billion loan).  The standard for the loans was not “viability” and not “potential profit” but rather merely providing evidence that the projects “would employ new and innovative technologies to generate energy.”  It appears that Energy Dept. officials “adjusted” First Solar loan documentation to fulfill this requirement.  It appears that First Solar did not qualify even upon this narrow requirement.  Among the documents the Oversight Committee cites is an email from a top technical expert inside the department, written well before the loans to First Solar were approved, in which the scientist argues one of the supposed advances -- use of a "single axis tracker" -- was actually not new at all.

          "Be clear this is not an innovation," wrote Dong K. Kim, the director of the loan program's technical division. "The record will show we did not grade this as an innovation."  Kim also wrote that "someone keeps changing" internal documents to hold out the tracking technology as innovative. And he warns that "whoever continues to make this change needs to understand that Technical does not support” emphasis of the trackers as an actual innovative component the Energy Department itself has identified their use in over 200 units in Europe, according to the internal documents.

          "These facts make clear DOE substantively failed to fund innovation, and instead gambled with $3 billion taxpayer dollars on a single firm, First Solar," said Becca Watkins, an oversight committee spokeswoman.  Meanwhile despite the positive spin put upon matters by company officials, First Solar is not proving profitable and only the huge government loans so far have kept the company afloat.  .

          First Solar, Inc. officials say they are forecasting more than $3 billion in revenue this year (revenue, NOT profits, you’ll notice) but acknowledged the company has suffered along with the rest of the solar industry. The company's stock has been sliding, and has become a favorite for so-called stock market "short sellers" -- investors who are betting on the company to fail.  While this Solyndra story might serve as a case-study in venture-socialism, this January’s failure of once highly respected Ener1, Inc., a huge maker of automobile batteries intended for green vehicles, provides a much more significant cautionary note.  Ener1’s financial collapse appears to have occurred NOT because their product is lacking in technological merit, but rather because there is no market for the recipient’s of Ener1’s batteries:  ultra-expensive, low-performance green autos. 

*          *          *

           In related news and relevant background:  Energy Sec. Chu, of course, who has come under attack for a long and repeated history of advocating letting American gasoline prices rise to European levels, last week on Capitol Hill, Chu said he “no longer” believes that way; President Obama, for his part has embarked upon a nationwide “gas-price-apology tour” aimed at denying any and all responsibility for gasoline price rises of $2/gallon (national average $1.83 in January, 2009; $3.85 today) and rising since he took office.  And even though the mainstream media won’t hold you accountable for it, you and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar were informed three weeks prior to the BP Gulf spill that big problems were in the works at the Deepwater Horizon site and were still ready to present BP with a national safety award . . . and then POUNCE!  Your opportunity came with the BP oil spill and you shut down drilling EVERYWHERE and put into effect a shameless foot-dragging policy of grudging approvals where you had no choice. 

           When I was a college student, one of the psychological principles I learned about was called “word magic.”   No, I’m not referring to the two magic words “Please” and “Thanks,” but rather to the childish use of words and labels (positive and negative) to seek to affect and change the world to our liking rather than dealing with it (the world) in a more adult fashion.  Mr. Obama used word magic in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle in 2008 which was never run (it’s still on the paper’s website and now found all over the internet, however) by the Chronicle or any other mainstream media (MSM) in which he pledged to “bankrupt the coal industry” and bragged that “under my environmental policies and cap and trade, electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket.”  Mr. Obama seems to believe that merely by saying “green energy” his words will create a viable reality.  Sorry, Mr. President but algae won’t make my car run presumably anytime in the next couple centuries.  The two top green energies are hydro-electric power and wood-burning just as they were back in 1940.  Wood-burning, of course, is renewable and not particularly clean . . . nevertheless, wood-burning provides 2.5% of America’s energy which is more than solar, wind, geothermal, and cold fusion combined.  Face the facts; you’re saying that oil is the “energy of the past” doesn’t make it true.  And your equating drilling to create lower gasoline prices with “snake oil” is a monstrous lie.  The only ones selling snake oil to the public is you, Barack Obama, and your progressive sycophants.

 

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

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Rajjpuut's Folly: Chaos, Spanish Socialists Admitted Green Jobs Program Killed Economy

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on May 20, 2011 at 10:30pm

 

 

 

     “The president of the United States, Barack Obama, doesn’t seem to have chosen the right model to copy for his “green economy,” Spain. After the government of José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero demonized a study of different experts about the fatal economic consequences of renewable energies, an internal document from the Spanish cabinet that it is even more negative has just been leaked. 

 

     PajamasMedia.com

 

 

 

Green-Tech Model Advocated by Obama

Destroyed the Prosperous Spanish Economy

Undisclosed Debt Revelations Startle Voters

 

 

     First Greece, then Ireland and Portugal, now Spain, next America?  Two reports by the every vigilant Pajamas Media (PJM); and numerous other revelations from Spain are painting an ugly picture of political corruption, stupidity and rampant cronyism in eastern Iberia.  The Spanish Socialist government has issued a secret report showing that their green-tech jobs program destroyed the country’s once prosperous economy. 2011’s 21.3% UNEMPLOYMENT  figure confirms their confession as did the PJM’s uncovering of the original story.

     In 1997, Spain was the most prosperous European economy and one of the strongest in the world:  unemployment stood at less than 4%.  The country’s most popular political power, the Socialist Party began movement toward a green economy at that time.  Today, unemployment is five and a half times as high.  The elections in Spain in 2010 sent the ruling Socialists out of power; but people are today none too happy with the traditionally weaker Conservative Party either.  Most people believe that all the politicians in Spain pass laws to benefit themselves and do little for the people.  The country’s tiny Moderate Party made big gains in the 2010 elections and is expected to do even better in the 2012 ones.  The Socialists, however, are truly under-the-gun since recent revelations of heretofore huge unacknowledged debt has dealt an angry surprise to the voters and may force the nation to follow in the footsteps of bankrupt Greece, Ireland and Portugal and require a bailout from the international monetary fund (which American voters largely finance).

     Piles of undisclosed debt in local government associated with the operation of the country’s green-tech jobs programs are shaking up a political scene that was pretty much in chaos to begin with.  Spain, which had been doing everything it could to avoid becoming the next European bailout recipient, is far worse off than its people had been led to believe.  The huge debt revelations in 2010 seemed to indicate that the Socialists were waiting for the Conservatives to discover it after the election so the voters might “shoot the messenger” in the next election.  Unfortunately for the Socialists, the truth emerged and anger has remained rampant along the Costa del Sol and throughout the Spanish countryside over the last year.   Even today Spain has had trouble eradicating the debt and regaining a firm economic footing because of contract disputes with green energy companies created by the Socialist’s green energy programs.

     It all began with the first “offseason” government change earlier in 2010 in Catalonia which revealed a budget deficit there more than twice what had been reported earlier.  Piles of “hidden debt” are still being revealed to the new government related to the green program and to health clinics and other suppliers . . . in short, economists and analysts and numerous anecdotal reports from companies that supply local governments in Spain indicate widespread, unrecorded debt.  Companies complained that the Socialists when in power pressured them to do business off-the-books rather than immediately bill for goods and services according to  Fernando Eguidazu, vice president of the Circulo de Empresarios business lobby group in Madrid.  This chicanery continues to add tens of billions of euros to the official debt figures reported by local and regional governments.

     Undermined by a 21.3% unemployment rate and a perceived slowness in reacting to the country’s economic crisis, the Socialists lost control of the municipal governments of Barcelona and Seville, the country’s second- and third-largest cities.  Young people are protesting everywhere including the main plazas of Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.  Unemployment among those in their 20’s and 30’s reached 50% in many areas at the height of the Spanish crisis. 

      Pajamas Media’s exclusive original story about the leaked Spanish government report in 2010 was confirmed later by several Spanish newspapers.   Yes, the very same Spanish “green economy” policies  that Barack Obama has modeled his administration’s green-jobs programs upon . . . have been cited by the Socialist government that created them as an “expensive, ineffective and unworkable disaster.”  The first Spanish newspaper on the scent was La Gaceta, a Madrid daily.  At about the time the story “went viral” the Socialist government came out with an admission that it was true. 

For Americans the shocker has to be that the headline in La Gaceta (the Gazette) seemed to be aimed squarely at a USA target audience as it screams out (English Translation Provided by Rajjpuut):

“Spain admits that the green economy

Sold to Obama is a disaster.”

 

  

http://pajamasmedia.com/files/2010/05/economia_verde_ruina.pdf

 

 

     The Spanish public is still up in arms.  An academic team in Spain revealed all this in 2007 and was treated monstrously by the country’s media and by the ruling Socialists trying to discredit the survey’s purpose as purely political and without merit (Americans will recall that when the results of the Spanis study were brought up in a press conference, Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made fun of the questioner).  Dr. Gabriel Calzada, the Spaniard who first exposed the disaster in 2007 was finally vindicated despite taking mountains of flack from the progressive academic establishment at his own and other universities across the country. 

     Professor Calzada is today often still  featured on all the nation’s most important news and business talk shows.  Despite all the nasty attacks he received, the good professor had enough integrity to stick by his guns these last four years and a year ago even wrote praise for “The dissection of ‘free-ice cream green jobs economics’” on the book jacket of Power Grab:  How Obama’s Green Policies Will Steal Your Freedom and Bankrupt America by American author Christopher C. Horner, a Pajamas Media watchdog whose book bears this enscription on the inside flap:  “Barack Obama’s ‘Green’ Policies Start With Controlling Your Energy…and End With Your Life.”

 

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Grab-Policies-Freedom-Bankrupt/dp/1596985992

 

 

     This scandal associated with deliberately villifying Calzada and covering up the truth for three years, however, pales in contrast with the undisclosed debt still popping up everywhere in the country.  But Spaniards and Americans would do well to remember that the problems associated with our own financial meltdown** and with Spain’s collapse began years ago with misguided and deliberate progressive policies (more later).  For now remember this, in Calzada’s study:

       A)   2.2 real jobs in the real economy were lost for each green-tech job subsidized by the Spanish government. 

       B)   The average subsidized green tech job there (although counted equally with all the lost permanent jobs in the real economy) lasted less than a year. 

       C)   Only 10% of all the Spanish green-tech jobs proved permanent.

       D)  So, in reality, 22 real jobs in the real economy were lost for every permanent green job created in Spain

       E)   The average green tech job there paid roughly $12.20.

       F)   The owners of Spanish solar plants make 12 times more than what they pay for the energy coming from fossil fuel combustion. The majority of this profit comes from subsidies charged to the consumer via taxes.

     The long-run numbers are even scarier for Spain.  The government itself in recent revelation says that the alternative energies sector are stil scheduled to receive 126 billion euros in the next 25 years.  And things bode very badly for America:   Pajamas Media put it like this: 

      “The president of the United States, Barack Obama, doesn’t seem to have chosen the right model to copy for his “green economy,” Spain. After the government of José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero demonized a study of different experts about the fatal economic consequences of renewable energies, an internal document from the Spanish cabinet that it is even more negative has just been leaked.

     To one of the authors of the first report, Gabriel Calzada, “the government has leaked it intentionally in order to turn the media against renewable energies and to be stronger in negotiations with businesses.”  On eight occasions, the occupant of the White House referred to the Spanish model as an example to follow.  Barack Obama wants us to enjoy the same success the Spanish have known from green energy.

 

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut 

 

 

** In America, the second wave of progressive sabotage began with the progressives in the Carter administration in 1977 passing the CRA ’77 legistlation that first forced private sector home lenders to make knowingly ill-advised loans to unqualified home loan applicants.  This travesty was multiplied four times by Bill Clinton (Bush, Sr. has a bit of the guilt on his resume as well); attacked this ridiculous law and exposed its weaknesses using Cloward-Piven Strategy by ACORN which controlled Bill Clintons electoral destiny for eighteen years.  Even ACORN lawyer Barack Obama did his part.  Overall the suspect loan rate in 1975 0.24%; became 0.51% in 1985; 14.2% in 1995 (after a Clinton regulatory expansion and two legislative expansions); and 34% in 2005. 

Thanks to ACORN many of these suspect loans after Clinton’s 1998 steroid version final expansion of CRA’77 put people without jobs; with abysmal credit ratings; with only food stamps to declare as “income” into $250,000 to $450,000 homes at zero downpament.  Bush, Jr. who is getting all the blame now . . . in January, 2005 (one of 19 such speeches and vote efforts) tried to repeal CRA laws and only succeeded thirty months later in getting a very weak version of his law passed in July, 2007.  It all proved too little too late, but did help some.  Today, much of the CRA legislation is still on the books waiting another ACORN push.  Of course, the mainstream media runs with the progressive line that “the conservatives and the free market put our economy into the ditch.”

By the way, the First Wave of sabotage ended when the federal government bailed out bankrupt New York City in 1975.  New York State and many states and other large cities were also driven near the point of bankruptcy and the stock market suffered its biggest losses (46%) since the Great Depression (sound familiar?) . . . thanks to the progressive-left’s implementation of Cloward-Piven Strategy and Alinsky tactics to deliberately double the welfare rolls from eight to sixteen million people in seven years and overload the system as promised. This also was a deliberate sabotage by the progressive left.  Rajjpuut has explained the matter in deep detail in numerous blogs.   Find another take on the Cloward-Piven Strategy history leading to the bankruptcy of NYC, here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

 

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