There are actually many companies out there that may become little Solyndras, companies that were given smaller amounts of Stimulus money and have failed/look to fail. And let’s not forget the billions of taxpayer dollars just given to even more “green” companies at the end of September, companies which, like most of the rest, will probably never make a profit, will need continued government backing to survive, and will probably close up and move to China. Then there are the companies who received huge “loans” from the Stimulus
(Washington Post) An electric car company backed by more than a half-billion dollars in Department of Energy loan guarantees has missed early manufacturing goals and has gradually pushed back plans for U.S. production and the creation of thousands of jobs.
This week, Fisker delayed until 2013 the production of the moderately priced family car it plans to build in Delaware. It also learned that its Finnish-produced luxury model, the $96,000 Karma, which is two years late in reaching U.S. markets, failed to meet a promised energy-efficiency standard.
Anyone shocked? And what, exactly, will be “moderately priced”? The batteries cost $12-15k alone. Oh, and Fisker is known for building “luxury hybrid plugins.” This is the company that Obama gave over half a billion dollars of our money. $529,000,000 to be exact. Gotta love looking at all those zeroes.
“Without any excuses, yes, we did have some delays,†company co-founder Henrik Fisker said during a stop in the District this week to show off his company’s sleek new Karma. “But this is completely different. You can’t compare at all.â€
We’ll see. But, you’ll simply love a few of their excuses for the delays. I’d love to excerpt from the Washington Post, except they changed their story this morning to not include the reasons. I guess they are embarrassing to the Regulator In Chief. But, if you search “fisker regulatory hurdles” on Google News, you find the original
Agency officials attributed Fisker’s delays to regulatory hurdles and issues beyond the company’s control. Henrik Fisker said in an interview Wednesday that….
So, the typical problems that so many other companies have due to The Government.
Shockingly, there’s a crony capitalism socialism component
The Fisker commitment was questioned by some from the start, partly because of the company’s political connections. A key investor is a venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, whose partners include former Democratic vice president Al Gore. The investment house raised $2 million for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
How many times have we seen big Obama donors being rewarded with huge government “loans”? Why aren’t you protesting this in front of the White House, Occupiers?
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. Please sign the drill now petition.
The administration and Fisker insist that none of the guaranteed loan money went to the Finnish production. Given the fungibility of money that argument is pretty hard to swallow. I saw only one report on this on FNC which should be part of every report on this story, a GAO study finds that the accounting processes in the Dept of Energy are in such disarray that they are incapable of determining where and how these funds are being spent.