Obamanomics In Action- Taxpayers Pay Solar Firm to Sell Solar Panels t

[Guest]

Obamanomics In Action… Taxpayers Pay Solar Firm to Sell Solar Panels to Itself

In May 2009 Barack Obama discussed his clean energy agenda with supporters in Nevada.

To this day Obama continues to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on his failed green energy projects.

Now we find out that a taxpayer funded solar firm received loan guarantees to sell solar panels to itself.

The Examiner reported:

A heavily subsidized solar company received a U.S. taxpayer loan guarantee to sell solar panels to itself.

First Solar is the company. The subsidy came from the Export-Import Bank, which President Obama and Harry Reid are currently fighting to extend and expand. The underlying issue is how Obama’s insistence on green-energy subsidies and export subsidies manifests itself as rank corporate welfare.

Here’s the road of subsidies these solar panels followed from Perrysburg, Ohio, to St. Clair, Ontario.

First Solar is an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar panels. In 2010, the Obama administration awarded the company $16.3 million to expand its factory in Ohio — a subsidy Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland touted in his failed re-election bid that year.

Five weeks before the 2010 election, Strickland announced more than a million dollars in job training grants to First Solar. The Ohio Department of Development also lent First Solar $5 million, and the state’s Air Quality Development Authority gave the company an additional $10 million loan.

After First Solar pocketed this $17.3 million in government grants and $15 million in government loans, Ex-Im entered the scene.

In September 2011, Ex-Im approved $455.7 million in loan guarantees to subsidize the sale of solar panels to two solar farms in Canada. That means if the solar farm ever defaults, the taxpayers pick up the tab, ensuring First Solar gets paid.

But the buyer, in this case, was First Solar.

A small corporation called St. Clair Solar owned the solar farm and was the Canadian company buying First Solar’s panels. But St. Clair Solar was a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar. So, basically, First Solar was shipping its own solar panels from Ohio to a solar farm it owned in Canada, and the U.S. taxpayers were subsidizing this “export.”

First Solar spokesman Alan Bernheimer defended this maneuver, saying this really was an export, pointing out that First Solar paid sales taxes on the transaction.

But this subsidy undermines the arguments for Ex-Im’s existence. Ex-Im, whose authorization expires May 31, is supposed to be a job creator, helping U.S. manufacturers beat foreign manufacturers by having U.S. taxpayers backstop the financing.

“It is critical that we encourage more American companies to compete in the global marketplace,” Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg said about the First Solar deal, saying the subsidy “will boost Ohio’s economy, create hundreds of local jobs and move us closer to President Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014.”

The implication here is that First Solar was “competing” with foreign solar panel makers in order to sell solar panels — to First Solar.

In June of last year the Obama administration offered First Solar nearly $4 billion in loan guarantees to build three photovoltaic power plants in California.

http://visiontoamerica.org/8817/obamanomics-taxpayers-pay-solar-firm-to-sell-solar-panels-to-itself/

[Neil D]

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10798064-obama-defends-solar-energy-against-critics

From MSNBC-

Obama defends solar energy against critics

By NBC's Ali Weinberg

BOULDER CITY, NV – President Obama touted solar energy as an “industry on the rise” and condemned Republican skeptics of this power source in his first stop on a nationwide energy tour.

“This is an industry on the rise. It’s a source of energy that’s becoming cheaper. And more and more businesses are starting to take notice,” Obama said, noting that 16 solar projects have been approved on public land since he took office.

But, standing in front of a vast field of solar panels set against a Nevada mountain skyline, Obama criticized those politicians who he said “make jokes” about alternative energy.

Using a new favorite catch phrase for lawmakers he considers outdated, Obama said, “If these people were around when Columbus set sail, they’d be charter members of the Flat Earth Society.”

The president toured the Copper Mountain photovoltaic facility in Boulder City, Nevada – the largest of its type in the country – before making his remarks, which were intended to highlight one pillar of his “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.

The Copper Mountain solar panel site was constructed in 2010 and produces enough solar energy to power more than 17,000 homes, according to plant’s owner company Sempra Generation. Most of the homes it powers are in Southern California, not Nevada.

While the bulk of the project was financed with private money, it did receive about $40 million in federal tax credits – the sort of funding Obama said the federal government should continue to provide in order to jump-start emerging industries.

He acknowledged, however, that such government investments sometimes do not pay off – an indirect reference, perhaps, to the Solyndra solar power company that went bankrupt in 2011 despite receiving $535 million in federal stimulus loan guarantees.

“Each successive generation recognizes that some technologies are going to work, some won’t; some companies will fail, some companies will succeed,” Obama said.

But he likened such failures to the trail-and-error of now-established industries like automobiles and airplanes, which he noted once were both fledgling technologies themselves.

“Not every auto company succeeded in the early days of the auto industry. Not every airplane manufacturer succeeded in the early days of aviation.”

Obama also compared the Copper Mountain solar facility to an earlier federal energy project – the Hoover Dam, for which Boulder City, just 20 minutes away, was originally constructed as a suburb for dam builders during the 1930s.

“Eight decades ago, in the midst of the Great Depression, the people of Boulder City were busy working on another energy project that you may have heard of. Like today, it was a little bit ahead of its time,” Obama said, referring to the dam. “Even today it stands as a testimony to American ingenuity, American imagination and the power of the American spirit.”

Perhaps coincidentally, Obama’s praise of the Hoover Dam came just days after the government-funded project was mentioned by Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney as an example of the kind of large-scale construction projects America is capable of.

“We once built the interstate highway system and the Hoover Dam. Today, we can't even build a pipeline,” Romney said Monday in Illinois, referring to the stalled northern portion of the Keystone oil pipeline.

[Neil D]

Obama acknowledged the spike in gas prices and the need for domestic oil and gas production, but emphasized his intention to end federal subsidies for the petroleum industry, which he views as receiving unnecessary preferential treatment given its profitability.

"We want to encourage production of oil and gas, and make sure that wherever we've got American resources, we are tapping into them," the president said, CNN reported. "But they don't need an additional incentive when gas is $3.75 a gallon, when oil is $120 a barrel, $125 a barrel. They don't need additional incentives. They're doing fine."

Copper Mountain Solar 1 was built using $50 million in federal tax credits and provides 17,000 homes with energy. The plant only employs 10 full-time employees, but the president said that more investment in such projects would spur job creation in the green energy sector.

"Given the fact that this is creating jobs, generating power, helping to keep our environment clean, making us more competitive globally, you'd think that everybody would be supportive of solar power," Obama said, CNN reported. "That's what you'd think. And yet, if some politicians had their way, there won't be any more public investment in solar energy. There won't be as many new jobs and new businesses."

[Dr. Shane]

Obama acknowledged the spike in gas prices and the need for domestic oil and gas production, but emphasized his intention to end federal subsidies for the petroleum industry, which he views as receiving unnecessary preferential treatment given its profitability.

Even my third-grade daughter understands that when we raises taxes on the oil companies, the price at the pump will go up as a result. Companies do not pay taxes - consumers do.

[Guest]

Tis a fact.

[Guest]

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Folks, we're in the middle here of a huge, giant teachable moment. I feel it necessary... I'm not gonna do it because I have more respect for you, but I feel it necessary just to replay the first hour. This is so important what is happening today with Obama. It is so crucial. It is such a huge teachable moment. If the nation could learn what you are learning today, we would be a long way toward defeating Obama in November. Now, I'm not gonna repeat the first hour, and I'm gonna try not to repeat too much of it because you've got it, you heard it, and we have to move on.

But my impulse is to keep saying it and saying it and saying it 'til everybody understands it. (sigh) And that would result in overkill and you eventually getting bored. "Come on! We get it! Move on!" But I feel such a compunction here to make sure that nobody leaves this program today not understanding what has happened with Obama today. For example: You notice how the news media is trying to convince us there is nothing that Obama can do to lower the price of gas? They've been saying this since the price of gas started going up. "There's nothing Obama can do. Why would you think Obama could do anything about it?"

Meanwhile, they constantly assure us that there is not one problem on earth that can't be solved by government. No matter how big, no matter how small, no matter how personal! Your health care, your food, your water, your car -- no matter what it is -- they've got the answer! No matter what the problem, Barack Obama and his government have the answer, except the gas price! Eh, nothing Obama can do. We have a real problem, like high gasoline prices, and they tell us it's ridiculous to think the government can do anything about it! And, furthermore, they insult our intelligence by telling us that it's not that big a deal that the price of gasoline's high.

You're only being fooled by people like me and Republicans who are exploiting rising gasoline prices, but it's really not a problem. It's the first time in history that the media has said rising gasoline prices are not a problem. It's the first time in history the media has not tried to exploit this itself to the detriment of a Republican president or any other Republican. For the first time in history -- at least in my life -- the media is telling us that there's nothing Obama can do. Bush coulda done everything! Bush could have if he'd-a wanted to, but Bush and Cheney they were Big Oil guys you see. And Bush and Cheney, they want oil prices to go up 'cause that's how they got rich, don't you see!

But Obama? Oh, no, no, no! Obama can't do anything about it. Those biiiiig oil companies, they're so much bigger and they're so mean, and they hate you, and they don't care what the price of gas is! They'll screw you just as soon as they get up in the morning. And there nothing Obama can do about. But you break a hangnail, and you're gonna have to go through Obama to get it fixed before too long! Another laugh line from Obama's speech today: "I don't want the energy jobs of tomorrow going to other countries. I want them here in the United States." Well, then why did you block the Keystone pipeline, which could generate up to 20,000 jobs, Mr. President?

It's just overwhelming the lies that are coming out of this administration and amplified by the media just today. Is the US not part of the global market? They tell us domestic production of oil, that's not gonna matter. We just played you the sound bite. "The domestic price is not gonna matter. Domestic production? No, no, no." It's the speculators, Obama says. Here, grab sound bite 28. Listen to this again. He says the price of oil is set by the global market and we're not part of the global market, apparently.

OBAMA: The price of oil will still be set by the global market, and that means every time there's tensions that rise in the Middle East, which is what's happening right now, so will the price of gas. The main reason the gas prices are high right now is because people are worried about what's happening with Iran. It doesn't have to do with domestic oil production. It has to do with the oil markets lookin' and sayin', "You know what? If something happens, there could be trouble and so we're gonna price oil higher just in case."

RUSH: Okay. Then why are you in Oklahoma? Then why do you care for people to think you are okaying the Keystone pipeline? If we're not part of the global market, why does any of this matter? The price is gonna be set by global market but you say the amount of domestic oil won't change anything. Is that like saying the domestic production of wheat doesn't matter? The domestic production of steel will not affect world prices? The domestic production of wool, domestic production of soybeans, domestic production of broccoli? Does anything affect world prices that we do here? Does anybody believe this other than Obama, his political hacks in the media?

Such a teachable moment. By the way, Bush and Cheney did drive the price of gasoline down to $1.83 when Obama took office. And by the, why are we even...? If the US is not that great a factor in the world market, why are we doing this solar panel garbage? Why are we doing wind? Why are we doing anything? If the global market sets all this stuff, and we're not part of it? We're looking at (long sigh) undiluted ignorance, arrogance, brazenness, prevarication that is getting too large to calculate and to keep track of. It's literally over the top. I'm getting to the point that sometimes I think the truth is not powerful enough to stop these people.

That's a scary thought.

"The truth is not powerful enough to stop these people."

The price of gasoline, there's nothing Obama can do about it but he can do everything else. From the Associated Press: "Unhappy Public Not Sure Who to Blame for Gas Prices." Really? Well, this unhappy public has been told for three-and-a-half years that every problem they have can be solved by Barack Obama and his caring cabinet and czars, and every other Democrat who has a big heart and compassion. Why not gas prices? Why can they fix everything else? Health care, the kind of car you drive, everything they can fix, but they can't fix this.

"Families canceling vacations. Fishermen watching their profits burn up along with their boats' gasoline. Drivers buying only a few gallons of gas at a time because they can't afford to fill the tank. From all corners of the country, Americans are irritated these days by record-high fuel prices that have soared above $4 a gallon..." Do you know that over half the country is paying above the national average? I just saw that on Fox. Over half the country's paying over the national average. CNN just told us, I just had the story in the last hour, it doesn't matter. Rising gas prices aren't as bad as you think.

Right here, CNN, State-Controlled Media, right out of the Obama press office. AP: "From all corners of the country ... record-high fuel prices that have soared above $4 a gallon in some states and could top $5 by summer. And the cost is becoming a political issue just as the presidential campaign kicks into high gear." Damn it! says AP, and that's why the AP thought they had to write the news article to protect Obama. "Some blame President Barack Obama," says AP. "Some just cite 'the government,' while others believe it's the work of big, greedy oil companies." What? Who are they writing this stuff for, third graders? "Big, greedy oil companies"? In an AP story? And yet as we will see if you go through this whole story (I'm not gonna do that 'cause it prints out to three pages), AP was unable to find a single person who blames Obama for this.

Do you know that?

They scoured America!

They couldn't find a single person that thought Obama was responsible.

How many man-on-the-street television features did we see in '06, '07, and '08 about Bush being the reason for high gas prices and Bush not caring? And how many times did we see John Kerry on TV demanding Bush go talk to the Saudi king? But now AP can't find one person who blames Obama. Yet they're wringing their hands. They're fretting that the cost of gasoline "is becoming a political issue just as the presidential campaign kicks into high gear." And they assure us in this story, by the way, "In truth, there is not a lot the president and Congress can do in the short term to push down gasoline prices." They never once said that when Bush was in the White House. Oh, they might have said it as a throwaway at the end of the of the story, but they never made it prominent like they made it prominent here with Obama.

END TRANSCRIPT

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/03/22/we_re_in_the_midst_of_a_teachable_moment

[Neil D]

Even my third-grade daughter understands that when we raises taxes on the oil companies, the price at the pump will go up as a result. Companies do not pay taxes - consumers do.

Calls for subsidy removal tend to be answered by the oil industry and their allies with dire predictions of falling domestic production, loss of jobs, and rising gas prices. But the reality is that removing fossil fuel subsidies (which the industry deceptively calls new taxes) will have little to no impact on domestic production, jobs, or prices at the pump.

According to the Treasury Department, removing the domestic subsidies as proposed in the President’s budget would reduce U.S. oil production less than one half of one percent, and will increase exploration and production costs less than two percent. Considering the price that the domestic industry receives for crude has more than doubled over the past several years, the industry can afford that – without laying anyone off or jacking up the price at the pump.

The global oil market, not the domestic industry, determines gas prices. Treasury estimates that subsidy removal would cause a loss of less than one tenth of one percent in global oil supply, and thus would have no impact on global or U.S. prices.

U.S. reliance on foreign oil has been a fact since the 1970s, and no amount of additional drilling or subsidies is going to change that. The only way to end our reliance on foreign oil is to end our dependence on all oil.

[phkrause]

U.S. reliance on foreign oil has been a fact since the 1970s, and no amount of additional drilling or subsidies is going to change that. The only way to end our reliance on foreign oil is to end our dependence on all oil.

It was earlier than that hb. Don't forget we went over to the middle east to find oil knowing we were gonna need it in the future. We built most of the oil wells there.

[Dr. Shane]

The global oil market, not the domestic industry, determines gas prices.