In an October 2008 speech, Obama said “I Will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create 5 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 10 years and help save the planet in the bargain. That’s how American can lead again.”
So How Did That Go?
The $787 billion American Recovery and Renewable Act (stimulus) funded millions to companies that shipping American jobs overseas. Even the far left Senator Charles Schumer from New York expressed his anger to the falsely advertised stimulus bill Obama gave Congress. “In all due respect, I remind the Secretary (of Energy) there is a 4 letter word associated with the stimulus – JOBS. Very few jobs here, lots of jobs in China. that is not what I intended or any other legislator who voted for the stimulus intended.”
$8.5 billion was spent for wind farms of which over half went to foreign developers of foreign wind turbines creating thousands of jobs overseas. Hundreds of millions went to existing wind farms either started, in production or completed before the stimulus was passed. The wind energy industry lost over 10,000 jobs just last year. $2.3 billion went for clean energy manufacturing tax credits, of which $880 million went to foreign firms operating in America. Some of these recipients are now closing up shop and shipping jobs overseas. Then there were the loan guarantees – Solyndra is already bankrupt leaving taxpayers on the hook for $400 million in stimulus loan guarantees.
Beacon Power received $43 million in stimulus loan guarantees – bankrupt.
ABound Solar received $70 million of its $400 million stimulus loan before filing for bankruptcy protection.
A123 received $249 million stimulus grant – they are now laying off workers.
The Spanish firm Abengoa received $2.7 billion for three projects. Abengoa imported foreign made solar panels.
Nevada Geothermal received $98.5 million in loan guarantees for an energy project in Nevada. They are having financial problems and auditors question its viability to stay in business.
U.S. GeoThermal received $97 million in loans in 2011 even though they haven’t made a profit in the last 4 years. They took a 9 month net loss of $4.7 million.
Landis+Gyr received $50 million from the Department of Energy under Cathy Zoi for smart grid meters. Zoi was former Executive Director of the company and held $250,000 in stock.
Cree Inc., a North Carolina based LED maker received $39 million. They later opened their first plant in China which employees over half of the companies workers. The Company motto: “Cree Chip, China Heart.”
Sempra received $337 million in loan guarantees for an Arizona Solar Plant which used solar panels supplied by SunTech, a Chinese manufacturer.
Solar Power received $5.4 million in stimulus money just before laying off American workers because they could get Chinese imports cheaper.
Evergreen Solar received $5.3 million in stimulus money before filing bankruptcy. They owe credits $485.6 million.
Spectra Watt got $500,000 in stimulus grants only to file bankruptcy.
Raser Technologies got $4.4 million in Treasury Department grants only to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Amonix Inc., a California based solar company received $5.9 million stimulus tax credits before laying off 2/3’s of its North Las Vegas manufacturer plant jobs.
Fisker Auto received $500 million to manufacture their $100,000 electric car in America. Fisker claimed they couldn’t do the work here and started building their cars in Finland.
General Electric who got over $1.2 billion in stimulus money opened up a $61 million factory in Hai Pong to produce wind turbine component. GE cancelled an order for wind turbine manufacturing ATI to get parts cheaper from their China plant and even though ATI offered to match China’s price, GE refused the order and ATI was forced to lay off 302 workers. At the Shepherds Flat wind farm in Oregon, GE also used Chinese wind towers.
Vestas, a Danish manufacturer received $51.6 million to build a factory in the U.S. They have already announced plans to layoff 180 American workers with the possibility of another 1,600 by the end of the year.
Windy Flats Wind Project received $218 million in grants for an existing project. The wind turbines were assembled in Denmark.
Haldor Topsoe, another Danish Catalyst company received $25 million in stimulus for construction of a Demonstration Scale Biorefinery.
$2.4 billion went to support electric battery production by Korean firms L.C. Chem and Dow Kokam. They received $300 million to build an electric battery plant in Michigan. The unions claim that the company brought in foreign nations to do the jobs. Even the Dept of Energy had to admit that 11 our of 18 contractors on site were Asian firms.
The Gulf Wind Project got $179 million. They sourced parts to Korea, Japan and Mexico.
Melanoma Institute of Australia got $162,ooo in stimulus money to supply the National Cancer Institute with tumor samples.
California Solar Valley Ranch got $1.2 billion in stimulus money. SunPower received the loan guarantee 3 weeks after announcing that they were opening a new plant in Mexico to build the panels for the project.
ABB Inc got $16 million in stimulus funds to create Green Energy Mfg jobs. The company laid off U.S. workers and transferred jobs to Mexico.
Parago received stimulus money to hire hundreds of workers in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic to administer the Renewable Energy Appliance Rebate program.
$817,000 of stimulus money went to New Zealand’s Connexionz to install bus monitors for the City of Santa Clarita.
General Motors, after being bailed out with taxpayer money, opened a $200 million plant in Thailand to supply Diesel engines for their Chevy Colorado truck.
Brevine Wind got $12.75 million in tax credits to build a plant in Indiana to manufacturer wind turbine gearboxes. After only two years, they have only hired 70 American workers and have said they do not expect to have the facility open until late 2013.
Italy’s wind turbine manufactures pulled in over $84 million in cash grants through the stimulus’ 1603 program.
EnXco. a French firm, received over $69 million in cash grants through the stimulus’ 1603 program.
Ener1 received $118.5 million in stimulus to produce vehicle batteries. They filed bankruptcy but not to worry, a Russian Investor purchased the firm. Ener1 does work for the U.S. military.
E.ON Climate and Renewables got $440 million in stimulus grants for existing wind farms began before the stimulus was even passed. Some of the wind turbines were supplied by German based Nordex.
Luxembourg based ArcelorMittal’s subsidiary got $31.5 million in stimulus for a waste heat recovery unit.
$39 million went to buy electric delivery trucks manufactured by Navistar. The trucks were made in Coventry, England.
Terra Firma, another UK private equity firm got $40 million in stimulus money through an American Wind Consortium they purchased just days before the stimulus funds were awarded.
Suzlon, based in India, installed over 200 wind turbines under Obama’s stimulus grant program with most of the materials coming from overseas operations.
Iberdrob Renewables, a Spanish firm, got $1.5 billion in loan guarantees and grants. They claim to have created over 15,000 American jobs but their records only show that 850 are American based jobs.
Madrid based EDP Renewable got over $100 million in grants for wind farm projects. They announced in September of 2011 that they planned to lay off 10% of their North American workforce.
The EPA give $15 million in grants to Indonesia to reduce air pollution in Jakarta.
Eurus, a Japanese firm got $91.4 million in stimulus grants for wind farms completed before the stimulus passed. Over 180 of their wind turbines were manufactured overseas by Mitsubishi.
I guess you could say that Obama’s redistribution of wealth is well under way. American taxpayers are on the hook for millions in taxpayer money and interest to China and Japan for loans that will never be recovered. Give him another 4 years and we won’t have two nickles to rub together!
The White House is pushing the theory that the entire purpose of the Recovery Act was to grow the American economy and jobs and that’s exactly what it did. “It’s widely recognized to have broken the back of the recession.” Where? In China?
Blaming Obama for how these companies spent the money is ludicrous! How can one person be to blame how the private sector spent the money! Why are we blaming him, and not the unscrupulous businesses! If he tried to oversee it, republicans would scream that government is the problem, and Obams was trying to over-regulate private business with government. That is still their main message, they want MORE deregulation.
Americans have such a short memory. We were perilously going towards a huge depression..way worse than anything before. They had to pick things that were shovel ready, and also made the mistake of making 1/2 of the stimulus tax credits. Yet when you ask average Americans, they think their taxes were raised, when in fact they have had their taxes reduced more by Obama than any other president.
The only problem I see is trusting business to do the right thing… and look what you get. They tried to make the stimulus money dependent on u.s. jobs, but were backed down because of the republicans argument over a “global economy”. More deregulation will not give these corporations a heart. Given the choice of profit before the welfare of the u.s. economy, profits always win. Greed is good, and celebrated now.
Now, corporations are given tax breaks to move overseas, just see how Mitt Romney has made his money..cayman islands, switzerland. Trusting him with this economy will certainly not help the regular folk, in fact, 95% of us will pay approx. $2000 more in taxes under his plan.
We need to make every corporate tax break dependent on keeping jobs here in the U.S. But it is impossible to pass that because republicans in congress are bought and paid for by corporations. What we can do is demand more from our representatives. Big government is not always the problem..we need to start looking more at big corporations, because they are currently in charge.
Obama spent taxpayer money, or should I say wasted taxpayer money on green energy companies that he knew were not viable, therefore he is to blame.
It is apparent you have fallen for the Democratic campaign rhetoric about Romney and Bain. If you would do a little reading you would find out that Obama’s charges against Romney have been proven a lie by several liberal newspapers and even Bill Clinton. The big difference between Romney and government is that Romney made his money in the free market (He worked for it). Government, on the otherhand does not make money – they may print some of it but the majority they steal from hardworking American citizens.
It is also apparent you have fallen for the Democratic public envy campaign. Other people’s money is not the cause of the world’s ills. It was both Democrats and Republicans that passed the laws that made it profitable for companies to move their operations overseas so I don’t blame the corporations for taking advantage of the tax breaks. They are after all in business to make money and it is that investment in the economy that provides jobs.
Get your head out of the sand. Both career Democrats and Repubicans are guilty of selling us out to the highest bidder for personal profit and power. Unfortunately the process has accelerated under Obama’s lead. Government can not continue to spend money they don’t have.