Obomination: Bankrupt Energy Firms Get Millions In Tax Dollars, Execs Rake It In...

[paulitician]

Many new green energy companies that received enormous loan guarantees from the Department of Energy in 2009 are in trouble — with some even going bankrupt. Their multimillion-dollar loans, written courtesy of American taxpayers, may never be paid back.

But according to the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and ABC News, top executives at many DOE-loaned companies received huge bonuses and payouts while their firms dealt with dire financial situations.

When CPI and ABC confronted the Department of Energy about this practice, the agency responded, saying it was troubled by the practice and would convey this to loan recipients.

Jen Stutsman, an Energy Department spokeswoman, said, “We don’t begrudge companies or their executives for their success, but it is irresponsible for executives to be awarded bonus compensation when their workers are losing their jobs.”

While the DOE doesn’t set the salaries and the benefits of the companies it funds, the Obama administration argues that the green energy movement is a way to stimulate the economy and aid the environment.

The administration does, however, admit that some investments in new “game-changing” technologies don’t work out.

This is a more optimistic outlook than one from the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.

Giving a bonus to the executives under these circumstances is rewarding failure with our money with no chance of getting it back,” said the group’s spokeswoman, Leslie Paige.

“Taxpayers need some representation here. They didn’t really get it.”


Read more: Green Energy | Bankruptcy | Bonuses | Tax Dollars | The Daily Caller

 

[paulitician]

All big Campaign donors. Bet on that.

 

[Zoom-boing]

This the same type of thing as all those bailed out Wall Street CEO's getting big assed bonuses.

Rewarding failure . . . how's that working out for everyone?

 

[paulitician]

This the same type of thing as all those bailed out Wall Street CEO's getting big assed bonuses.

Rewarding failure . . . how's that working out for everyone?

Not too well.

 

[Dr.House]

This will be promptly ignored by the left...

Mainly because it has nothing to do with birth control or Rush Limbaugh... Their attention span is limited to two topics at a time...

 

[Dr.House]

Apparently it's ok to squander money in failure as long as rich liberals get richer...

 

[paulitician]

Who's standing up for the Taxpayers these days? Seems like their out in the cold and all alone at this point. Big Government is just pissing it all away. What a sad travesty.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

This is actually a pretty old story - but worth repeating.
As with Solyndra...the White House fast-tracked these loans through - complete with language that protected the business executives should the business fail.
It is absolutely unheard of in any business loan of any kind to purposely write into the loan agreement that if the business falls into bankruptcy - the executives are the first to be paid from sale proceeds.
Unheard of.
Until the Obama administration did this exact thing.
The Obama administration specifically and deliberately protected these business executives bank accounts before protecting American taxpayers.

 

[paulitician]

This is actually a pretty old story - but worth repeating.
As with Solyndra...the White House fast-tracked these loans through - complete with language that protected the business executives should the business fail.
It is absolutely unheard of in any business loan of any kind to purposely write into the loan agreement that if the business falls into bankruptcy - the executives are the first to be paid from sale proceeds.
Unheard of.
Until the Obama administration did this exact thing.

Cronyism at its worst. All of these idiots were big Obama Campaign donors.

 

[WillowTree]

the common every day democrat is an asswipe.

 

[paulitician]

Apparently it's ok to squander money in failure as long as rich liberals get richer...

Yup, and thanks Dr.

 

[Syphon]

so as a fix to this, does this mean that the right would support putting limits on CEO pay of companies that receive government funding? either through loans or grants?

 

[paulitician]

so as a fix to this, does this mean that the right would support putting limits on CEO pay of companies that receive government funding? either through loans or grants?

I would prefer the Government not be involved with it at all. No more Corporate Welfare. That time has now passed.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

so as a fix to this, does this mean that the right would support putting limits on CEO pay of companies that receive government funding? either through loans or grants?

Your dodging the point completely.

The Obama administration wrote into the contract of the loan that the business owners and executives would be the first to be paid $millions through the sale of the business/equipment/real estate ordered by the bankruptcy court.
This is unprecedented. Has never happened.

I challenge you to address this event without trying to turn the argument into something else.

I expect crickets.

 

[francoHFW]

Meanwhile, Big Oil gets BILLIONS they don't need. These are start ups that have to compete with highly subsidized foreign firms...

But thanks for the BS Pubspin from greedy corporations...You have to scroll through pages and pages of BULLSHYTTE for the dupes to get the real story..."plenty of money to be made..." off the ignorant...

 

[Syphon]

so as a fix to this, does this mean that the right would support putting limits on CEO pay of companies that receive government funding? either through loans or grants?

Your dodging the point completely.

The Obama administration wrote into the contract of the loan that the business owners and executives would be the first to be paid $millions through the sale of the business/equipment/real estate ordered by the bankruptcy court.
This is unprecedented. Has never happened.

I challenge you to address this event without trying to turn the argument into something else.

I expect crickets.

im not dodging the point, im providing an option as a solution. we can go back and forth about whether the contract was good or bad all day and get nowhere. im asking if the right would accept this condition as a solution to the problem...

@paulitician - so you are against government funding to private sector on all levels? then lets reject the loans for construction of the 2 nuclear reactors in GA . they should be able to get funding on their own to build those.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

im not dodging the point, im providing an option as a solution. we can go back and forth about whether the contract was good or bad all day and get nowhere.

So in other words you have no problem with government officials giving $millions to businesses...and then if they fail...they get the $millions still instead of the proceeds going back to the taxpayers.

 

[Syphon]

im not dodging the point, im providing an option as a solution. we can go back and forth about whether the contract was good or bad all day and get nowhere.

So in other words you have no problem with government officials giving $millions to businesses...and then if they fail...they get the $millions still instead of the proceeds going back to the taxpayers.

you mean like the banks and wall street?

i was against it then and im still against it. the idea of loans isnt bad, the implementation of the loan is what was bad in this situation. why was the GOP for it back then, but now they are against it? they defended the banks and their big bonuses and golden parachutes back then saying that this is how the industry works. now when it happen with a Dem in the WH all hell breaks loose and they have congressional hearing about it..

so you want a system which when the government provides a loan, they can dictate how that company does business and how much they pay their people? isnt that socialist? i thought the right was against socialist ideas.

so a company went bankrupt, the factory they built still contains value and the government can either sell it off as a whole or piece it out and get some of the money back. this is what happens in bankruptcy. there were plenty of private investors who lost money as well. There are many other companies that can be considered successes from the DOE loan guarantee program.

The DOE Loan Guarantee Program and Finding Success through the Marketplace « Georgetown International Environmental Law Review

DOE’s Loan Guarantee Program was first authorized by a Republican Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and signed into law by President George W. Bush

Some of the programs’ current investments include a conditional commitment of $344 million to the Solar Strong Project to install 374 megawatts of photovoltaic panels on up to 160,000 rooftops at 124 military bases in 33 states; a $1.4 billion loan guarantee for Project Amp to install 733 megawatts of solar panels on commercial rooftops in 28 states; loan guarantees for the world’s largest wind farm in Oregon and the world’s largest solar thermal plant in California; and guarantees for a host of innovative projects such as $150 million for the Massachusetts company 1366 Technologies to support a new manufacturing process that promises to cut the cost of silicon wafers by up to 50%. At $344 million for Solyndra and $43 million for Beacon Power, the total value of the two guarantees constitute less than one percent of the Department of Energy’s $40 billion clean-energy portfolio; even were the government to be unable to recover any of the value of these loans, over $2 billion would still remain in reserve in the program fund.

The DOE Loan Guarantee Program and Finding Success through the Marketplace « Georgetown International Environmental Law Review

now answer my question and stop avoiding the conversation.

 

[paulitician]

Time to end Corporate Welfare. The Taxpayers have been abused enough.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

*Syphon*
Haha...look at this guy...yet to address what happened here...three times attempts to move the conversation to something else - then says I am avoiding the topic of the thread.
Gotta love the Kool Aid kids.