Sunday, September 4, 2011

US Taxpayers Burned by Solar Stimuloot

Government didn't provide you with a sun block?

"US-backed solar firm files bankruptcy" September 01, 2011|By Globe Staff and Wires

WASHINGTON - A California solar panel manufacturer once touted by President Obama as a beneficiary of his administration’s economic policies - and a half-billion-dollar federal loan - is laying off 1,100 and filing for bankruptcy.

Solyndra LLC of Fremont, Calif., had become the poster child for government investment in green technology. The president visited the company in May 2010 and noted that Solyndra expected to hire 1,000 workers to manufacture solar panels.

But hard times have hit the nation’s solar industry. Solyndra is the third solar company to seek bankruptcy protection in August. Officials said yesterday that the global economy and unfavorable conditions in the solar industry combined to force the company to suspend its manufacturing operations. 

Yeah, keep that in kind for later.

In Massachusetts, Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early in August, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy.  

Related:  Evergreen Solar files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Slow Saturday Special: Evergreen Turns Brown

Evergreen Grows Tall in China

State Keeps Watering Evergreen

Executive Payday: Evergreen Excesses

No More Evergreen in Massachusetts

Slow Saturday Special: Evergreen Solar Burns Massachusetts

That $un sure is hot, taxpayers. 

The Marlborough company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent.

When the company filed for bankruptcy, Evergreen spokesman Michael McCarthy said Evergreen just couldn’t respond fast enough as its Chinese competitors built cheaper products.

The price for solar panels has dropped by about 42 percent this year.

Republicans have been looking into the Solyndra loan for months. The House Energy and Commerce Committee subpoenaed documents relating to the loan from the White House Office of Management and Budget. GOP representatives Fred Upton of Michigan and Cliff Stearns of Florida issued a joint statement yesterday saying it was clear that Solyndra was a dubious investment.  

Like everything the government throws YOUR MONEY AT!

It was clear shortly after the company’s disclosure that its bankruptcy would serve as further ammunition to criticize an economic stimulus bill that provided seed money for solar start-ups....

I'm sure the million-dollar salaries for CEO and the like had nothing to do with it.  

That's really what is was all about, huh? Stealing chunks of change right out in the light.

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Related: Obama’s Enron

Who the sun is shining on these days:

"US solar industry fades, but China’s shines" September 02, 2011|By Keith Bradsher, New York Times

HONG KONG - Loans at very low rates from state-owned banks in Beijing, cheap or free land from local and provincial governments across China, huge economies of scale, and other cost advantages have transformed China from a minor player in the solar power industry just a few years ago into the main producer of an increasingly competitive source of electricity....

I hope he WARS for EMPIRE and ISRAEL were WORTH IT, America!

Besides the bankruptcies in the United States, solar power companies in Germany, another big producer, have been laying off workers and retrenching....

Meanwhile, demand has been somewhat weak in the United States and Europe.

Costs for electricity generated by utility-scale solar installations now approach costs for natural gas in some markets, like California’s, when subsidies of as much as 30 percent of the price are included. However, costs remain well above the cost of electricity from coal.

The United States and the European Union have tried to build demand for solar power by subsidizing the buyers of solar panels. But increasingly those subsidies are being used to buy solar panels from China 

Are those the same subsidies that shipped your job there, American?

The Chinese government has pursued a different policy course. Instead of subsidizing the purchase and use of solar power, China has focused on building the competitiveness of the country’s manufacturers. As a result, China exports 95 percent of the solar panels it produces.  

That COULD HAVE BEEN YOU, America!

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Related:

"Last year, China invested about $34 billion in solar panels, wind turbines, and other alternative energy technologies, nearly twice as much as the United States, where spending fell sharply" 

Yeah, the US is too busy spending it on wars, banks, and Israel.  

Also see: Earth Day: Let the $un $hine In

So THAT is WHO your TAX DOLLARS are SUBSIDIZING, 'eh?