Democrats Doling Out Dollars Didn't Drive Development

Who'da thunk it?

Who could possibly have known that Democrats Granholm and Obama's push to pick winners and fund battery development in Michigan to show they were doing something while pushing a green agenda and enriching their donors would have led to wasted money, few jobs developed, and a lot of the technology that was developed being scooped up by the Chinese for pennies on the dollar?

Well, we this was a story back in 2012 with A123s demise, but it takes the in the tank Freep two more years to write about it.

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan battery companies fall short of job claims

A quick summary: billions of dollars wasted, few real jobs actually created, lots of ribbon cuttings to make Democrats look like they were doing something and an impressive make-work failure to make any work.

The massive surge of Michigan tax credits and federal stimulus dollars that charged up the state’s nascent battery industry five years ago failed to generate the thousands of jobs that were promised.

Today, Michigan has only a few hundred battery workers in four plants — despite $861 million in Obama administration stimulus grants and $543 million in Michigan tax credits awarded by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration in 2009.

Since the Freep doesn't like to do math and would hate for us to be underwhelmed by exactly how few "a few hundred" workers would be, let's be charitable and say 900.

With a total of 1.4 billion in taxpayer money laid, out that's $1,560,000 per job on the optimistic side, and it's likely an even more lopsided result than that.

Former Michigan Governor Granholm, of course, regrets nothing.

Granholm still doesn’t regard Michigan’s incentives for battery makers as wasted money.

“Just because the jobs haven’t happened ‘yet,’ it doesn’t mean that cracking the code to vehicle batteries was the wrong strategy,” said Granholm, who is teaching at the University of California, Berkeley

When you're playing games with taxpayer's money, it means never having to say you're sorry.

Obama Sure Can Pick Winners

Yet another Green Energy taxpayer investment touted by the Obama Administration is going under fast.

The Detroit News: Fisker Automotive lays off 160, struggles to find financing deal

Joining previous "winners" like Solyndra, A123, Beacon Power and Abouhnd Solar, Fisker Motors seems to be poised to go under, taking over a hundred million in taxpayers' dollars with it.

It wasn't all bad of course. 80% of these loans went to Obama donors so they got the green for giving the green.

Under this administration, the taxpayer gets the shaft as the Karma just ran over the Obama Dogma.

More Bad News from Obama's A123, Just In Time For The Debates

Sometimes, you just can't hold the bad news until beyond the election.

The Detroit Free Press: Battery-maker A123 Systems will miss a crucial bond payment

Battery-maker A123 Systems will miss a crucial bond payment that could push it into a bankruptcy filing, according to a filing the company made Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Waltham, Mass.-based manufacturer, which employs about 700 people at its plants in Livonia and Romulus and an Ann Arbor research center, told the SEC that it is exploring "strategic alternatives to address" its deteriorating financial situation.

"The company may not have sufficient cash to fund operations and may need to seek the protections provided under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to, among other things, obtain access to new financing and facilitate one or more of the transactions it is contemplating," A123 said. "No assurance can be given that the company will be able to avoid restructuring, reorganization, or a bankruptcy filing."

The filing adds to the uncertainty about the company's future just two months after Chinese auto supplier Wanxiang Group agreed to invest up to $450 million to acquire as much as 80% of A123.

Apparently President Obama is quite adept in picking winners and losers and consistently picking the losers.

It's also a potential political problem for the Obama administration, which gave the company a $249.1-million grant in 2009. A123, which once promised to add several thousand jobs in Michigan, also won more than $125 million in tax credits and grants from the State of Michigan in 2008 and 2009.

One certainly hopes the debate moderators will bring up this series of green job fiascoes by the Obama administration. Any bets?

A123 Systems, Obama's Next Solyndra To Be Outsourced?

Just in time for the foreign policy debates we have the following story:

A123 Systems, an electric vehicle battery maker having received a $249.1 million dollar grant from the Obama administration, not to mention $125 million in (Democrat controlled at the time) State of Michigan tax credits and grants, has lost $857 million since it began, and incurred $208 million in losses the first half of this year.

What's the foreign policy angle?

It's about to be sold to the Chinese.

The Detroit Free Press: Chinese firm positioned to acquire U.S.-funded battery maker A123 Systems.

New Year, New Green Power Fail

The Detroit Free Press: California company cancels $177M Saginaw solar plant

A California-based solar power company says it's canceling plans to build a $177 million solar panel factory in Saginaw.

San Jose-based GlobalWatt Inc. said the project would create 500 jobs when first announcing it in 2009. At that time, Saginaw was one of two communities in the running for the project.

But GlobalWatt chief executive Sanjeev Chitre tells WNEM-TV that the Saginaw project now is on hold. He says a struggling economy and overseas markets are reasons for the move and says the company might reconsider if the market expands.

The tax subsidy being offered was around $84,000 per job being claimed to be created by the project. Now, no jobs will result.

Yet more vaporware "green jobs", brought to you by tax subsidies galore.

Of course, its not like this wasn't predicted: MEGA Questions Surround GlobalWatt, Another Green Industry Failure

Apparently, Democrats really suck at choosing Green Energy Winners and Losers while being great at throwing away tax money in the process.

Speaking of Energy - Green Jobs to lay off 140 Michigan workers

Remember Granholm's multiple proclamations that Michigan would be a Green Energy mecca and that Green Energy = jobs for Michiganders?

Not so fast.

Energy Conversion Devices to lay off 140

From the Detroit Free Press:

Energy Conversion Devices said this morning that it plans to layoff 140 employees at one of its solar panel plants in Auburn Hills.

The layoffs are likely to occur in October when the Rochester Hills-based company plans to move some final assembly work to one of its underutilized plants in Tijuana, Mexico.

The affected Auburn Hills plant will not be idled and will employ 140 workers after the layoffs. But to reduce costs, only the first three steps in the thin film solar panel manufacturing process will occur there, said Martha Duggan, ECD’s vice president of government and regulatory affairs.

. . .

ECD is still proceeding with plans to retrofit its manufacturing line at the affected Auburn Hills plant with next-generation technology. In January, ECD had received a federal tax credit for making this investment, which is expected to create 600 jobs over time.

Glad to see those tax credits creating expected jobs while layoffs occur now isn't it. Anyone know the amount of that tax credit? Perhaps those 140 people laid off will be counted as jobs "saved or created" with the credit if they're rehired later.

It is certainly interesting that it is more cost effective for ECD to ship solar panels from Michigan all the way to Mexico for finishing and it still saves them money to do so. It must burn up a lot of carbon credits to ship them so far.