Contrary to its rhetoric, the Democratic party has presided over economic policies that have benefited Wall Street, not Main Street. A chief example is corporate-welfare king General Electric, which has strategically used the Obama administration’s attempted takeover of America’s energy economy to pad its bottom line.
“The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric $24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic ‘stimulus’ law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov,” reports CNS News. “Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009. According to Standard & Poor’s, GE took in $156 billion in revenue in 2009.”
Some of those lost employees used to make incandescent bulbs — jobs now shipped to China (don’t Democrats despise China almost as much as Wall Street? Is there an inverse relationship here? The more Democrats hate something, the more money they throw at it?). Shuttering American bulb factories was a small price to pay for increased profits on compact fluorescents, courtesy of a Washington mandate.
Why are taxpayers giving money to a $156 billion corporate fat cat? To save the planet, of course. GE makes “smart grid technology” where the company — along with utilities — stands to gain from Obama’s market-socialist plans that advance the electrification of the automobile. One piece of that electrification model is the Chevy Volt, a key reason the feds bailed out Government Motors with $50 billion in 2009. Subsidized infrastructure, subsidized cars, and now . . . subsidized alliances.
The Detroit News reports this week that “General Electric will convert half its 30,000 worldwide fleet of vehicles to electrics, including purchasing 12,000 cars from GM beginning with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. In all, the Fairfield, Conn.–based company, which makes charging stations, will purchase 25,000 plug-in electric cars by 2015.”
Yes, those charging stations — GE makes the GE Wattstation — are also subsidized by up to $2,000 of your tax money.
“It is . . . a vote of confidence in the Chevrolet Volt, which we will begin delivering to retail customers by the end of this year,” GM CEO Dan Akerson said of GE’s announcement. “We are pleased that the Volt will play a major role in this program, which will spur innovation and benefit our companies, our customers, and society as a whole.”
Akerson’s cynical take on GE’s buy assumes ignorance of the Iron Triangle between federal green subsides, GE and GM. Greased by taxpayer dollars, the corporations benefit from this false market.
“GE’s purchase will drive sales to help GM offset the vast investment it made in pioneering technologies.” said Edmunds.com analyst Michelle Krebs.
Um, yes, And it will also create a market for taxpayer-financed GE chargers. Small world, isn’t it?
Heh. Government Electric is buying cars from Government Motors. This can't end well, can it?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePetroleum is not just an environmental issue.
Our economy's total dependence on a commodity whose market is controlled by a price-fixing cartel means that our economy is at the mercy of that cartel. And when it jacks the price of oil too high as in 2008, or embargoes us as in 1973, our economy collapses, wiping out trillions in wealth and throwing millions out of work.
Furthermore, that same cartel's members MAKE WAR ON US by funding armed movements dedicated not only to attacking our soldiers in the field, but us civilians here at home.
Domestic drilling can't save us: we have only 3% of world oil reserves while OPEC has 78% and rising. Even non-OPEC oil enriches our enemies because oil is fungible; buying it from anyone removes it from the market, makes what's left more scarce, and enables our foes to charge more.
The only way out of this trap is to break petroleum's monopoly over transportation fuel. The Volt helps do that.
If the USSR had 78% of world oil reserves, and thus permanent and unfixable control of the world oil market, would NRO have been opposed to doing whatever it took to get us off oil?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe U.S. has 250,000,000 cars, light trucks and SUVs. There is no credible path to replacing this vast fleet with electrics or even plug-in hybrids like the Volt. Only in the realm of the IN-credible could we conjure a fleet of 250,000,000 electric vehicles which can deliver the utility and effectively infinite range that the internal combustion engine delivers. Finally, while 78% of the world's oil reserves may be owned by OPEC nations, at present 100% of the world's production of the rare earth minerals, on which EV and hybrid production depends, is owned by China. The national interests of most of the OPEC nations align precisely with the national interests of the U.S. China's national interests are consistently at odds with our own. If the viability of our transportation fleet must depend on imported raw materials, it is preferable that they depend on the whims of the OPEC nations than the whims of the Communist Party and the Red Army.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAmerica is lost - we have no one else to blame but ourselves.
When 47% of the tax payers pay no federal taxes Liberals have morally bankrupted us.
There is no easy way out - we face bankruptcy just like thousands of other companies have done - you know the ones, the ones paying huge salaries to themselves, bonuses, free dinners, etc - we did what they did.
What will bankruptcy look like for America?
1929 will be a fond memory....
Look for the rich and the smart to leave and a smart country somewhere will realize that they have the opportunity to profit from our debacle.
What do we do when the only ones left are the ones who always have their hands out?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe can talk about oil and all, but the issue here is "corporate welfare". Both GM and GE in this case.
Something that is supposedly opposed by BOTH conservatives and liberals but yet it happens.
This cronyism is costly for the taxpayer no matter your politics.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCarney - stop with the 3% canard already: External Link
The key is to boost our production. We have the reserves, just let us get at them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis reminds me of the unions buying all the copies of Texas Jim Wright's "book" (mostly blank pages) years ago.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe federal grants cited are for research to help support GE’s industrial businesses where GE has created thousands of new U.S. jobs. They have nothing to do with the EV purchase.
Jamie Loftus
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGE
Why is it every time I read something about "green" and/or corporate manipulation I feel the need to take a shower? ANY electric vehicle that won't go a minimum of 200 miles is useless in California or most western states for that matter. Battery packs that cost more than the gross income of a small nation fall into the same category of uselessness.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseChris - you said it perfectly. What I will add is this: one of the raps on the Volt was its meager sales. Tons and tons of taxpayer dollars wasted and all they could do was sell a few Volts - might as well be called the microVolt. So what does the Messiah come up with? A way to boost sales with his sycophantic, brown-nosing, slime-lizard to buy lots of them and thus undermine the criticism for the "benefit" of those not paying attention. This would be funny if it wasn't done with my money in the name of building a socialist 3rd world country. The only real mystery to me is this: why would GE knowingly want to turn America into a 3rd world country?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse