Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland.mp4

E-Mails Reveal Early White House Worries Over Solyndra - NYTimes.com

Even before President Obama’s visit last year to Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar equipment manufacturer, White House officials expressed concern, saying they were worried that Solyndra might soon collapse, newly disclosed e-mails provided to Congressional investigators show. 

“I am increasingly worried that this visit could prove embarrassing to the administration in the not too distant future,” one official at the Office of Management and Budget wrote, according to a memo prepared Monday by House Democrats describing the e-mails provided by the White House and the Department of Energy.

A seven-page report based on the new documents reveals that top White House officials recognized early that the company faced potentially crippling business problems and that the government’s generous investment could backfire on the Obama administration. And they knew this before the president paid the company a visit in May 2010. 

The new documents show a private investor in Solyndra questioning why the federal government, back in September 2009, agreed to put up so much money — $535 million — to help the company expand given the questions about its financial future. 

“One of our solar companies with revenues of less than $100 million (and not yet profitable) received a government loan of $580 million,” the investor, Brad Jones, an executive at Redpoint Ventures, wrote in December 2009 to Lawrence H. Summers, then the president’s chief economic advisor, referring to Solyndra. “While that is good for us, I can’t imagine it’s a good way for the government to use taxpayer money.” 

The investment, Mr. Jones said, demonstrated broad problems with the government loan program.

“The allocation of spending to clean energy is haphazard; the government is just not well equipped to decide which companies should get the money and how much,” Mr. Jones wrote.

E-Mails Reveal Early White House Worries Over Solyndra - NYTimes.com

Obama’s Solar Power at Yosemite Natl Park Will Pay for Itself — in 2088

Another green jobs boondoggle paid with your money. The blogger is actually being generous when he states that the panels will begin paying for themselves in 2088. Since the National Parks are well part of the federal government giving them a tax credit of $700,000 is total BS so the real year is 2102. 

by Kevin “Coach” Collins

Yosemite National Park has installed the largest solar energy system in the whole United States National Park System. The system will provide 672 kilowatts, which is 12 percent of the park’s yearly electric power requirements. The system installed by Suntek (doesn’t that name make you just want to hug a tree?) consists of 2,800 solar panels “tastefully” integrated into the existing architecture of Yosmite’s  administrative and maintenance compound.

A 500 kilowatt solar canopy covers the parking lot. A 100 kW rooftop section serves as a collection system on top of the warehouse, and an additional 72 kWs wrap the building’s outer walls.

Before you jump up and shout “Holy renewable energy!” consider the dark side of this “money and energy saving green policy.”

Read more here:Obama’s Solar Power at Yosemite Natl Park Will Pay for Itself — in 2088

Griffith Questions Officials About Solyndra and the DOE Loan Guarantee P...

The Canadian Press: Chinese cities raise minimum wages as inflationary pressures persist

Do you really believe that American jobs can be created when the Chinese pay their employees a minimum wage of $200 a month? An unemployed American on average gets $1450 per month not to work. I am sure that all those green jobs will be created here rather than there.

SHANGHAI — Many Chinese cities are raising minimum wages for workers, fanning inflationary pressures while also seeking to soothe frustrations over price hikes.

The double-digit increases in major manufacturing centres like Guangdong, and the cities of Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing follow wage hikes last year that have further raised labour costs, accelerating a shift by makers of inexpensive goods to lower cost places like Vietnam and Indonesia.

Shortages of workers in some areas and strikes and other protests by disgruntled young workers have also prompted authorities to push minimum wages higher, with most localities expected to follow suit.

A report released last week by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said that 85 of the companies responding believed that rising costs are hurting China's competitiveness compared with other developing countries.

China retains massive advantages such as the standard of its infrastructure and its own huge market, which increasingly is the focus of foreign companies manufacturing there. But surging costs for labour, land, energy and materials have prompted many making low-cost items such as toys, shoes and clothing to move some production to other parts of the developing world.

Tianjin's labour bureau, in a statement seen Wednesday on its website, said it is preparing to raise the city's minimum monthly wage to 1,070 yuan ($160) from the current 920 yuan ($140).

Shanghai's mayor, Han Zheng, confirmed last week that the city was preparing for an April 1 increase in the city's minimum wage, by more than 10 per cent over the current monthly 1,120 yuan ($170).

Han described this as an effective way to ensure a "rational income distribution."

"It is our responsibility to raise wages in Shanghai because people living on those wages are having a really hard time," he told reporters during an annual news conference. "It is important for every worker to share the fruits of progress and harmonious labour relations are conducive to healthy businesses," he said.

Beijing has announced its minimum wage will rise by 20.8 per cent this year. Jiangsu, an affluent region adjacent to Shanghai, is hiking its minimum monthly pay by 15 per cent and Guangdong, by about 19 per cent in March to 1,300 yuan (about $200) — the country's highest.

Mindful of past links between surging inflation and political unrest, the authorities have sought to reassure consumers that they have prices under control.

China's inflation rate was at 4.6 per cent in December, down from a 28-month high of 5.1 per cent the month before but well above the government's target of 3 per cent. Annual inflation in 2010 was 3.3 per cent, and many economists are warning that price hikes may persist in coming months, especially if recent bad weather keeps food prices above normal.

Asked if rising costs might discourage companies from investing in places like Shanghai, Han said he believed companies focus more on the local investment environment and their own business strategies than on labour costs.

"If the companies cannot afford such increases it means their business model is not suitable for the development pattern in Shanghai," he said.

China's BYD Auto, LA To Test Electric Car Fleet

Remember those green jobs that were going to save the economy well they are never going happen because every time you read a newspaper its China that is creating those jobs. So why are we doing nothing about it? Simple, we owe them a bundle of cash plus we can't create import laws to protect our own industries because if they stoped exporting to the U.S. we would have nothing on our shelves within two weeks.

We need to pass laws in this country that protect American workers and also reduce the regulatory burden, which hampers companys here in the U.S. Further, there is no reason that American tax dollars should be spent on any product or service, which isn't manufactured in this country or employees the majority of its workers here in the U.S. As much as I hate to say it but if the L.A. housing authority wants to buy electric cars they should have to buy Volts or golf carts manufactured right here in the U.S.

The Chinese are never going to build a car or bus here in the United States so long as we have the EPA and OSHA because in their country they can pay a person next to nothing and have them handle hazardous materials on a daily basis without fear of ever being shutdown or sued.

China's BYD Auto, LA To Test Electric Car Fleet

China's BYD Auto and the Housing Authority of Los Angeles have launched a trial program for a fleet of BYD electric cars, as the battery-maker turned car company moves a step closer toward its goal of vehicle sales in North America.

Company spokesman Paul Lin said Thursday that BYD, which is backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is aiming at U.S. sales of its K9 electric bus next year and hoping to begin sales of its E6 electric car in the U.S. by 2012 — two years later than originally planned.

Earlier this week, the L.A. Housing Authority and BYD began a testing program for the Chinese automaker's plug-in hybrid F3DM sedans that housing authority president Rudolf C. Montiel said would significantly reduce fuel costs and polluting emissions.

BYD, which is considering locating its North American headquarters in Los Angeles, is also in talks with the housing authority on use of an energy storage station to generate solar power that could be used for charging the vehicles.

BYD earlier signed a deal with the city to develop a battery for storing renewable energy at a wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains northwest of the city.

Lin denied reports that BYD's export plans had been delayed by troubles over ownership of the technology for its batteries and said the company was struggling to keep up with demand.

"Since our power battery is widely used in many products, from EV manufacturers to various energy-storage projects, we are having problems with capacity," Lin said. Despite having built several new factories, "the output is still less than enough," he said.

BYD originally said it planned to begin U.S. sales of its E6 electric vehicle in 2010. An updated version of the car will be displayed at the North American Auto Show next month, and BYD is hoping to begin retail sales in 2012, Lin said.

He said that BYD hopes to reach agreement with the State of California by the middle of next year on supplying all-electric K9 buses for use in energy-saving public transportation projects.

The expectation is that BYD might set up factories in Los Angeles to produce the buses.

GE: 7,000 tax returns, $0 U.S. tax bill

GE: 7,000 tax returns, $0 U.S. tax bill

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