Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
August 15th, 2011 – Discover Sustainable Business Practices and Tour Solyndra!
August 31, 2011 – Solyndra, a major manufacturer of solar technology in Fremont, has shut its doors, according to employees at the campus.
Related: “Is it possible that the Obama administration can’t even do crony capitalism right?”
“Unexpectedly” needs to be redefined, it’s not working anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0scZmVQXP_Q&eurl=http%3A%2F%2F … another video clip similar to Kate’s links above.
On to the next Hopey Changey scam! ( How’s that union employed, gov financed, tax sheeple backed battery plant for those Government Motors electric pigs….er…ah…”cars” doing? )
I love the final paragraph in the Powerline post – ‘If they had hired these people to burn the money one bill at a time their jobs would have lasted longer’
Herd about this on the radio yesterday qr77
Not only that i beleive the u.s. govornment gave them 600million dollars as well in stimulous money or your money. and the company still went bankrupt when will people realize that this green energy crap is only cool fun and easy on a small micro scale like jo the plumber put’s up a few solar panels in his yard to offset the heating costo his hot water tank .
Buddy of mine put three solar panels up about 18 years ago just to ease the cost of running the boilers for his in floor heating and his hot tub …he said he is not sure but it will be right around now that the panels start paying him a measly 40$ a month in energy savings but he said it is a waste and he only did it casue he thought it was cool (he is an electrician by trade and he riged em all to run in sink and follow the sun on motors all are powers as well by them selves) he told me 18 years ago it cost him almost 10k to do this 40$/mox216month’s you get 8600 bucks so no it hasn’t paid for itself yet but close another three years or so …he also said that there is stuf breaking down now to ..lol. so make what you will but green energy is all a scam and also oil comes from the ground when we spill it it is a big deal but when it seeps out of the ground and covers parts of the ocean floor it’s o.k.? WTF?
“Can’t get crony capitalism right?”
Where do you suppose the half-billion bucks went?
The current crop of Democrats didn’t learn from their elders. The way to create new Democrats isn’t to demonize succesful enterprises and create competitors to them that are doomed to fail. The way to create new Democrats is to unionize those succesful enterprises.
They should concentrate on unionizing the oil industry. That would last for a generation or so before the industry is destroyed instead of the measly couple of years Solyndra lasted.
“Close to $1 million per job. That’s about par for the course, when you spend money stupidly. And those jobs, of course, only lasted a couple of years. If we had hired those same people to burn the money, a dollar bill at a time, their jobs might have lasted longer.”
This is what is happening in Ontario and BC, and the voters will vote the same government back – beacuse they are not Conservative.
[I just hope the Con’s resist following the US in their spending. Now if Canada could just get the oil to the coast and ship to other countries. With the CWB being an elective for farmers in the West, farmers again can have another reason to grow wheat, and sell it to whoever they want to.]
It would be nice if some enterprising, perhaps retiree, who had the time and some expertise, to put together a list of all these “green” screw-ups, that us deniers could point our MP’s toward, as proof they are heading down the wrong road…They probably already exist, but obviously aren’t producing the desired result. Anyone?
I’m starting a leftist lexicon of words or phrases that leftists use to fool the masses. Key words or catch phrases that actually mean the opposite of what most normal people would think the word means.
For example:
Progressive – it means back to the dark ages style of feudalism.
Social Democracy – it means elitist dictatorship.
Social Justice – it means no justice for anyone as we are too busy promoting our pet cause,
Unexpectedly – it means we knew it was going to happen going in but the opportunity to spread a little graft was just too great.
It was bound to fail because it was touted as a “sustainable business”. There is no such thing as “sustainability” in the natural cycle of liaises faire capitalism.
Businesses, like organisms, evolve to adapt to their environment then fill a niche – they specialize to avoid predators and competition and survive. Sooner or later all specialized organisms die-off simply because they are over specialized and something in the environment changes to which they cannot adapt/evolve fast enough to cope with – they go extinct. But another organism comes along to fill the abandoned niche. Capitalist business mimics nature – unless someone has unbalanced the natural laws of capitalism and organisms (businesses) that would not, or could not, survive are kept artificially competitive.
This is the tampered-with convoluted state of the US economy today. It is NOT liaises faire capitalism with natural business cycles determined by the business environment. It is a centrally controlled command economy in the Keynesian-soviet fashion. As such the tamperers save businesses that should fail and support businesses for which there is no niche (demand) by creating forced demand through legislating or destroy healthy businesses with regulatory tyranny – and it’s all done on a partisan political basis.
The liquidity or existence of these green tech companies who produce 3rd rate quasi functional products in a market that has no demand for it, is just one indicator the US economy is centrally controlled and in the hands of fools and greed heads. The greatest indicator was the government sloganeering about businesses being “too big to fail” (which is diametrically opposed to the natural laws of capitalism) and the government bailing out failed banks, industries and insurance companies who made bad business model choices and had failed – they should have failed – and new business ascended to fill their spots and not repeat their mistakes.
But America is no longer capitalist, it no longer has a demand economy – China has this – America has a modern version of collectivist centrally controlled command economy. Nowhere is America’s looming demise more visible than in the insane machinations present in its economy.
Al Gores carbon trading company credits/mind are starting to go bye bye..
He is ‘melting’ ‘melting’..
Al needs a massage..
Yes the SCAM artists Fat Algore and Suzuki are such oracles, they said to the stupid masses and stupid polititans we must have “sustainable” energy, here are the results, only the start. Jail the SCAMers, strip them of their ill gotten wealth. This SCAM started by Strong and his ilk has achieved what it set out to do, break monetarily, the western economies, phone and thank your environMENTAL minister for his stupidity. I’ll be thanking Rob Renner.
“Is it possible that the Obama administration can’t even do crony capitalism right?”
Entirely.
But I think that’s beside the point. They aren’t even trying to do crony capitalism, that was Clinton’s schtick. They’re saboteurs. A wasted $500 megabucks with nothing to show for it is a victory to these people. Friends got paid off, job done!
To Paul in calgary – How much would you’re buddy have now if he had put that $10K into a safe mutual fund or GIC? In twenty years he could have at least double, if not tripled that (conservative estimates). That’s what these ‘green’ investments never take into account – the time-value of money. $10K 20 years ago is not the same as $10K now. It would take him at least 40-80 years (depending on how well he would have invested the original money) to recoup his costs. ‘Green’ investments are even worse that you thought!
Except for the 2008 crash that wiped out pretty much all of the gains for the previous ten years, eh Tom? And the one two weeks ago that took us back to 2009 again. D’oh.
Still, your point is very well taken. Fun is fun, but investments are supposed to -make- money. Green + “investment” = lost money every time.
A line from the Powerline article that is the crux of the fake green jobs for a fake warming fraud. “This is the price we pay for electing a president whose knowledge of both economics and history–wasteful spending as a spur to economic growth has been tried before–is substandard.”
Ken, like I keep saying. Don’t think Tzar Nickolas. Think Vladimir Lenin.
I get a kick at how all the trendy progs use faggy words like “campus” rather than “factory” or “plant”.
It’s no wonder that they went tits-up, they spend most of their time looking in the mirror to keep up their libtard appearances.
Occam wrote:
liaises faire
Isn’t that the medieval-themed event that they held at 787 Dundas St W?
Solyndra was a union shop in over-regulated Californica…guaranteed fail.
Solyndra was a union shop in over-regulated Californica…guaranteed fail.
Posted by: sasquatch at September 1, 2011 11:33 AM
Yup. Stupid Buggers. They forgot the number 1 rule in the world of tax-subsidized scams: location, location, location.
They could have made a real go of it in McGuintyland…
$10k into good Blue Chippers 18 years ago would be about $60k today. (Including divs, splits, asset appr, ect. In that time period TSX index 1993>2011, 3700 > 12,700 )
Your friend would have been better off forgetting about the panels and powering up with Apple, Google, J&J, P&G, ect.
The reason given for shutting the doors:
Translation: They couldn’t ramp up production fast enough because they couldn’t get financing because governments worldwide kept tinkering with the market. Governments worldwide will therefore conclude: “Not Enough Tinkering!”
Solar energy is the most utilized, practical form of energy on the planet and responsible for all legacy (carbon-based) and most other energy sources (wind) except nuclear. All food, hydropower, and forest production are its practical application. Only the free market can determine what other uses for solar energy are practical. This is because unlike political narratives, the market is numerate. Greens think emotions trump numeracy. Too many politicians think emotions resulting in votes trump rational thought.
Agree with Ocaam above except that China is not laissez-faire. Hong Kong was laissez-faire but the PRC is the essence of statist mercantilism (unburdened with regulatory quagmire and rule of law that the Party’s leaders don’t agree with) currently concealing financial bubbles rather than allowing malinvestments to correct. Things will not end well where China is concerned.
The US is spending 4 trillion dollars a year on 2 trillion dollars of income. Whoever the GOP candidate ends up being if they start every stump speech and end every stump speech with that fact there’s no way they’ll lose. Of course I guess they risk being called a terrorist for pointing this out.
Remember, Phantom, that the interest rates have been sinking all through that period. The last six to eight years have been a boom for anyone conservatively invested in bond funds. Now’s the time to get out of bonds, at least sovereign ones. Interest rates have nowhere to go but up.
“Here is an absurd picture of The Sun King in the Solyndra factory, doing perhaps the first, last and only moment of manual labor in his life:”
http://www.roselawgroup.com/blog/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/obama-solyndra.jpg
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/09/01/counting-the-cost-at-last/#more-16819
“32. wretchard
From the link above, some mordant observations on Solyndra:
What happened? The plant could not compete with products made overseas and in the USA. An auditor’s report said that the company was never profitable and the loans from the Federal Government will not be repaid. Despite their claims for innovation, Solyndra products remain 4X more expensive than the industry leader in Arizona ($3/watt versus $0.75/watt) and 2.5X more expensive than Chinese imports ($1.20/watt); Chinese subsidies can’t be blamed for the lack of sales.
Should we be surprised? No. Lest readers not already know such — Northern California is a very expensive place to live; California taxes are amongst the highest in the nation, both personal taxes and business taxes; union labor is the most expensive labor in the country; and no doubt the unions spent the last 12 months haggling over work rules and union benefits rather than focusing on helping a for-profit corporation make a profit. You don’t need a rocket scientist to surmise that perhaps Fremont, California was a lousy place to build anything.
Financial markets no doubt had already made exactly such a judgment. In Northern California, there is no shortage of capital firms focusing specifically on clean energy; yet experts at these places know a lemon when they see one. For clean energy investments, $1.5 billion was spent in North America during Q1 2010; $1.4 billion in Q2 2010; see below. Why didn’t any of this flow toward Solyndra? No doubt because because their business model could not stand up to even the most generous scrutiny.
Only a Stalinist could really, really believe that the Government can truly pick winners and losers in business. In this case, the taxpayers have to eat the $390 million in defaulted loans. Hats off to Washington DC, which is never short of fools who squander money — our money, never their own — with abandon. Hats off to Sacramento, where both Democrats and Republicans continue to prove they are clueless when it comes to common business sense.
The sharp-eyed reader will note this was written some months ago, when only $390 million in loans had gone up in smoke. It takes a long time for the Titanic to change course or stop, especially when it is plowing full speed ahead through the mist. So what if another $150 million got thrown onto the bonfire in the meantime? All it proves is that they didn’t try hard enough. Build a bigger ship and double the speed. When certitude is complete why let some niggling detail like a quarter million ton iceberg stand in your way?”
5 pages to wade though here.
The O’billions make Ontario McGuinty’s millions look like chicken feed. Ooops, wait* …-
“Obama’s focus on visiting clean-tech companies raises questions”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-focus-on-visiting-clean-tech-companies-raises-questions/2011/06/24/AGSFu9kH.html
…-
*Wait. McGuinty’s billion$:
“Get ready to pay billions for hydro pensions”
“Think hydro rates are outrageous now?
By Catherine Swift and Bill Tufts
Wonder why Ontario hydro rates are so high? There are many reasons for soaring electricity rates, but one that hasn’t received anywhere near enough attention is the very lavish pay and benefits of the hydro utilities’ staff.
Recently, there has been quite a ruckus over a number of pensions in the extended public sector. In British Columbia, it was revealed that a senior executive at BC Ferries was eligible to receive a lifetime pension valued at $315,000 after only nine years of employment there. In Quebec, Hydro-Québec claimed that its pension costs last year were only $21-million, but its financial reports showed that taxpayers had pumped $646-million into the pension plan. Stay tuned — we will hear many more such horror stories as a result of decades of pension underfunding, early retirements and rich pensions of public sector workers and those in the extended public sector.
As a result of some of these outrageous recent examples, we decided to investigate the Ontario electricity situation. A recent executive compensation report from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) shows it is on track to pay its CEO a lifetime pension of $720,000 annually or $60,000 per month or $2,000 per day starting at age 65. Assuming an average lifespan, the CEO will collect total pension payments valued at about $17.6-million. Various other executives at OPG are shown to be eligible to receive pensions of $490,000, $330,000 and $310,000 per year according to the OPG report.
This seems to be part of a government trend in Ontario. Last year, the Sunshine List showed more than 11,000 workers making more than $100,000 a year at Hydro One and OPG. When fully eligible, they will receive a pension of at least $70,000 (as public-sector workers typically receive a pension valued at 70% of final salary), including CPP. Current data show that, for a person retiring today at age 55, their life expectancy is now 84. This means that the numerous Sunshine List employees will each collect a pension of at least $2-million.”
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/08/31/get-ready-to-pay-billions-for-hydro-pensions/
Somebody pass the article on to Daryl Hannah.
These three U.S.-based solar cell makers went out of business because they could not lower their costs enough to make a profit when faced with competition from Chinese companies. It’s a classic case of the basic lesson that fast growth in an industry does not equate to high profitability. In 2000, the solar industry accounted for 175 megawatts worth of energy represented by the solar panels it produced. By 2010, the industry had grown to 16,000 megawatts at a compound annual growth rate of 57% But this rapid growth attracted competitors from China who were able to manufacture solar cells with far lower labor costs and they cut prices to gain market share.
It’s not that PV solar isn’t viable, the Chinese have proven that it’s viable and profitable. However American workers are not willing to accept the wages and benefits that would make American industry competitive in a global market. Americans did this to themselves by choosing cheap import goods over better quality slightly more expensive “Made in USA” products. American dollars flowed overseas by the container ship full.
This is not a PV solar problem it’s ultimately an American labor and consumer problem.
Of True Greens:
“True greens always want to punish people with blackouts, they think they deserve it.”
“The recent heat spell in Texas has shown a huge weakness in relying on wind power, one that should have been foreseen but wasn’t.
Electrical demand is at it’s peak when the temperatures go over 100 and stay there, day after day.
This is when every generator *has* to be producing at peak capacity – BUT! – it turns out that the kind of stagnant high pressure weather pattern that causes these interminable days of high temps to set it usually are signified by very little wind – the hot air just hangs there. So guess what? When you need the wind power the most, it’s not there! And nothing you can do to get it going, except fire up all the backup fossil fuel generators.
So it turns out that for every wind facility, you have to build a fully functional fossil fuel backup generator so that you’ll have something when the wind goes dead.
Well, if you’re going to have to build and maintain enough fossil fuel plants to cover your total peak demand, why are you bothering to build wind generators at all? All the money you “save” by not using fuel is lost several times over by the need to maintain double capacity.
now see the true greens say that when things get tight, too bad, just do without. True greens always want to punish people with blackouts, they think they deserve it.”
“46. wws”
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/09/01/counting-the-cost-at-last/#comment-173086