The Obama Crony Capitalism Thread

[boedicca]

Obama's Crony Capitalism is not just limited to Solyndra. Please add your examples to this thread.

Here's one:

The four-star Air Force general who oversees Air Force Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor.

The episode —confirmed by The Daily Beast in interviews with administration officials and the chairman of a congressional oversight committee —is the latest in a string of incidents that have given Republicans sudden fodder for questions about whether the Obama administration is politically interfering in routine government matters that affect donors or fundraisers. Already, the FBI and a House committee are investigating a federal loan guarantee to a now failed solar firm called Solyndra that is tied to a large Obama fundraiser.

Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone....


LightSquared: Did White House Pressure General Shelton to Help Donor? - The Daily Beast

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Crapitalism

 

[Polk]

Did you actually read the requested changes?

"And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days".

 

[Jarhead]

Obama's Crony Capitalism is not just limited to Solyndra. Please add your examples to this thread.

Here's one:

The four-star Air Force general who oversees Air Force Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor.

The episode —confirmed by The Daily Beast in interviews with administration officials and the chairman of a congressional oversight committee —is the latest in a string of incidents that have given Republicans sudden fodder for questions about whether the Obama administration is politically interfering in routine government matters that affect donors or fundraisers. Already, the FBI and a House committee are investigating a federal loan guarantee to a now failed solar firm called Solyndra that is tied to a large Obama fundraiser.

Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone....


LightSquared: Did White House Pressure General Shelton to Help Donor? - The Daily Beast

Cronyism is not evident with just this administration. It has been going on for decades.

 

[boedicca]

There's More:

Solyndra, the solar panel company whose highly publicized failure and consequent investigation by federal authorities has flashed across headlines recently, isn't the only business to go belly up after benefiting from a piece of the $800 billion economic stimulus package passed in 2009.

At least four other companies have received stimulus funding only to later file for bankruptcy, and two of those were working on alternative energy.

Evergreen Solar Inc., indirectly received $5.3 million through a state grant to open a $450 million facility in 2007 that employed roughly 800 people. The company, once a rock star in the solar industry, filed for bankruptcy protection last month, saying it couldn't compete with Chinese rivals without reorganizing. The company intends to focus on building up its manufacturing facility in China.

SpectraWatt, based in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., is also a solar cell company that was spun out of Intel in 2008. In June 2009, SpectraWatt received a $500,000 grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of the stimulus package. SpectraWatt was one of 13 companies to receive the money to help develop ways to improve solar cells without changing current manufacturing processes....

Solyndra Not Sole Firm To Hit Rock Bottom Despite Stimulus Funding | Fox News

 

[daveman]

So, capitalism is evil...unless the companies are Dem donors.

 

[Dr Grump]

Well there's Obama's ties to Haliburton and no bid contracts..oh, sorry that was Cheney.

Then there's Obama and the Enron debacle - oops, sorry, Kenny Lay was Bushs' buddy.

Then there was Obama's closed door meeting with energy suppliers to discuss what the govt's energy policy should be without revelling to the public the outcome of that discussion - oh, sorry that was Bush again.

Pathetic OP. Then again, look who started it....

 

[boedicca]

Go ahead and start a thread about other Presidents' crony capitalism. Knock yourself out.

This one is for Obama.

 

[Dr Grump]

Go ahead and start a thread about other Presidents' crony capitalism. Knock yourself out.

This one is for Obama.

Nah. I love pointing out neocon whackjob hypocrisy...

 

[uscitizen]

More of those no bid contracts?

 

[Oddball]

Well there's Obama's ties to Haliburton and no bid contracts..oh, sorry that was Cheney.

Then there's Obama and the Enron debacle - oops, sorry, Kenny Lay was Bushs' buddy.

Then there was Obama's closed door meeting with energy suppliers to discuss what the govt's energy policy should be without revelling to the public the outcome of that discussion - oh, sorry that was Bush again.

Pathetic OP. Then again, look who started it....

But MOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!...The other guys are crony capitalists tooooooooooooooo!

Phony baloney moral relativist.

 

[Amelia]

Trumka Talks to White House EVERY DAY and Visits a Couple Times A Week

Words out of this mouth:

I'm at the White House a couple times a week ... two three times a week. I have conversations every day with someone in the White House or in the administration. Every day.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4NrT2oTQqE]Shocking Level of Influence: Trumka Talks to White House EVERY DAY and Visits a Couple Times A Week - YouTube[/ame]

 

[boedicca]

And the Goldman Sachs got its cut of Solyndra.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Solyndra in connection with this loan guarantee application.

Another Popular Name Emerges In The Solyndra Scandal | ZeroHedge

 

[boedicca]

And then there's GE:

GE is a top beneficiary of Export-Import Bank subsidies.

GE launched an embryonic stem-cell business just after President Obama announced the government would start subsidizing them.

GE owns half of Greenhouse Gas Services, a business that generates and trades in greenhouse-gas credits -- something that only has value if government constrains GHG emissions.

GE is a leading manufacturer of wind turbines, which receive all sorts of federal and state subsidies.

GE lobbied for and benefits from the light-bulb efficiency regulations that drive consumers to more expensive light bulbs.

On the state level, GE gets generous "incentives" (subsidies) from governments. Consider this Virginia case.

GE got $140 billion bailout from the FDIC in 2008.

GE responds to charges of crony capitalism | Campaign 2012

 

[Amelia]

Thank goodness we managed to squash Obama's attempts to add Gore's Cap & Trade exchange to his list of Americans-be-damned Obama-crony cash cows. That would have been another Goldman-Sachs enterprise of course.

 

[Disenchanted61]

Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss. We don't need a third political party in America.........
it has become obvious that we need an alternative party to both which have proven to be in the
same squeaky bed together.

 

[Seawytch]

For it to be "crony capitalism", doesn't there have to be personal gain? You know, like Rick Perry getting money from the drug company that provides the vaccines he MANDATED?

 

[Seawytch]

And then there's GE:.

GE got $140 billion bailout from the FDIC in 2008.[/i]

That would be from Bush's TARP?

 

[Stephanie]

They talk about Bush doing it. But say NOTHING that Obama is doing it and losing OUR MONEY with FAILED COMPANIES..

How sad it that one.

 

[Dr Grump]

Well there's Obama's ties to Haliburton and no bid contracts..oh, sorry that was Cheney.

Then there's Obama and the Enron debacle - oops, sorry, Kenny Lay was Bushs' buddy.

Then there was Obama's closed door meeting with energy suppliers to discuss what the govt's energy policy should be without revelling to the public the outcome of that discussion - oh, sorry that was Bush again.

Pathetic OP. Then again, look who started it....

But MOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!...The other guys are crony capitalists tooooooooooooooo!

Phony baloney moral relativist.

But MMOOOOMMMMMM when my guy does it, he's supposed to get a free pass.

More partisanship trying to be passed off as "we don't need to sort our own house, but you need to sort out yorus"..

Moral vacuousness more like...