Taxpayers Funding Green Vehicles For The Rich,

You said: "With the unemployment rate still hovering around 10% nationwide and no signs of job growth anywhere, why is the US sending $529 million dollars of taxpayer money to a tiny foreign car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore? The company will use the money to help build the first luxury plug-in hybrid sports car in Finland which will sell for about $89,000. A Hybrid for the Elite."

You said: "The huge award to the foreign automaker - Fisker Automotive Inc"

The company that got the loan is "California startup Fisker Automotive Inc.". The company is California based.


"DOE[Department of Energy] officials spent months working with Fisker on its application, touring its Irvine, Calif., and Pontiac, Mich., facilities and test-driving prototypes." Quotes are from the WSJ article you linked.

"Fisker said most of its DOE loan will be used to finance U.S. production of a $40,000 family sedan that has yet to be designed."

"The Karma will target an exclusive audience -- Gore was one of the first to sign up for one. Mr. Fisker says all new technology starts out being expensive. He pointed to flat-screen televisions that once started at $25,000 but are now affordable to the mass market."

You said: "Fisker Automotive's top investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a veteran Silicon Valley venture-capital firm of which Gore is a partner. Employees of KPCB have donated more than $2.2 million to the political campaigns, of mostly for Democrats, including President Barack Obama.
The political implications are very obvious. Once again the government is picking winners & losers and rewarding its campaign backers with political gifts.The problem is that they are doing it with taxpayer dollars. All in the name of going Green."


Quotes from the WSJ article:

"Asked whether Mr. Gore had any influence on Fisker's application, the DOE's Rogers said, "None at all."

"This is a very attractive, very across-party-lines kind of vehicle," Mr. Rogers said. "All of the detailed due diligence [was] done by independent review teams."

"Many of the 1,500 people who have made deposits on the Karma are former BMW and Mercedes owners who want an environmentally friendly car without sacrificing luxury, Mr. Fisker said."


You said: "Similiar loan applications by US companies have been turned down with no reasonable explanation . EcoMotors International of Troy, Michigan was recently turned down for a $20 million request and was simply given a one page rejection letter from the loan program director. Begs to wonder if any if those rejected for similiar loans were supporters of Republican candidates."

The WSJ article:

"O. John Coletti, president of EcoMotors International of Troy, Mich., said his company applied for a $20 million loan from the agency last December, and last month got a one-page rejection letter from the loan program's director, Lachlan Seward. EcoMotors' lead investor is Vinod Khosla, himself a former Kleiner Perkins partner and a longtime campaign contributor to Republicans and Democrats alike."

""I don't have an issue with the winners … it's possible somebody has better ideas than us," Mr. Coletti said. At the same time, he said, "More feedback from DOE on a timely basis would be wonderful. When you're running a business you'd like to know whether you're going to be able to take advantage of this opportunity."

"Mr. Coletti's company -- which makes diesel engines and is still waiting to hear from the Department on a separate loan application to help it build a manufacturing facility -- isn't without politically well-connected patrons, either. Its major investor is Vinod Khosla, himself a former Kleiner Perkins partner and a longtime campaign contributor to Republicans and Democrats alike."


Could the reason EComotors did not get their loan approved because they make diesel engines, not hybrids? Just a thought.

You said: "It would seem to me that if we can send $529 million of taxpayer dollars to a foreign interest, why not help out some of our hardest hit inner cities that have lost jobs as a result of the governments takeover of the auto industry. Since 2000, 433,000 manufacturing jobs have been shed in Michigan and many will never be replaced. Fisker Automotive does plan to support its development of plug-in hybrid cars by basing product development work in Pontiac."

The money is going to Fisker, from California. Not a foreign interest. Unless you consider California a foreign country. Also I wonder who was President from 2000 to 2008?

WSJ:

"In June, the DOE awarded the first $8 billion from the program to Ford Motor Co."

I think that's in Detroit, an inner city, in Michigan. And I think that 529 millon is a lot smaller than 8 billion.

You said: "it was a government mandate that GM & CHrysler begin to produce more energy efficient and electric cars . Why not invest some of that money and make it availible to entrepeneurs seeking funds to work on ideas leading to the production of these hybrid, electric, or more fuel effecient cars?
Why do we continue to line the pockets of opportunists like Al Gore with taxpayer money?"


Let's see, the government loan is to help develope hybrid electric cars. GM already has one, it's called the Volt, it's suppose to premiere next year. And I don't think Chrysler applied for this loan, at least it wasn't on the list of companies in the WSJ article. You can't give a loan to someone that doesn't want it and hasn't applied for it.

You said: "The huge award to the foreign automaker - Fisker Automotive Inc, comes at time when many Americans are still struggling to find jobs at home and make ends meet. The award also raises some serious questions as to why loans of this size which are subsidized by taxpayers."

WSJ:

"Fisker's government loans will come from a $25 billion program established by Congress in 2007 to help auto makers invest in the technology to meet a new congressional mandate to improve fuel efficiency."

I wonder who was President in 2007? Wonder if it's the same person that was President during all those job losses in Michigan between 2000 to now.

Do you see what you missed to cover in trying to once again paint a situation more sinister than it is. You had a good chance to credit Bush and the Republicans for even alotting this money in 2007 for this project that is creating jobs and is environmentally friendly. Even though by 2007 it was a Democratic Congress I think. But the President was still a Republican.


Why did you try to turn this story into something it was not? The link you have as part of your article, a source of yours, debunked all the accusations you were making.

Fisker is not a company from Finland. Gore is one of the investors in the company and obviously supports it enough to buy one for himself, but had nothing to do with the loan approval process. It is a loan and not a subsidy. Money has gone to Detroit from this the DOE fund. Jobs have been created in the U.S.. Teh taxpayers already own GM, so they have already invested in their electric car idea(okay that one wasn't in WSJ)and I'm perfectly fine if we don't invest anymore into GM.

It just so happens that the two biggest beneficiaries of this loan program have been big campaign donors to the Democratic Party. It's another poltical payback using taxpayer dollars.
At 40K, the car is still out of reach for many families.

Right now, the only thing the company has to show for the $529 million is a $89K prototype that caters to the rich and not the average American.

You wrote: "It just so happens that the two biggest beneficiaries of this loan program have been big campaign donors to the Democratic Party."

I don't know who the two are, I just know of the capital venture firm that gore is a part of.

And so what, if that firm donated to the Democratic party, the group that was denied their loan donated to the Democratic party as well.

And are you amazed by the fact Al Gore's capital venture firm supports the Democratic party? Is that a shock? Do you think Guiliani's lobbying firm donates money to the Republican party?

Are you suprised that a capital venture firm, one of whose partners is Al Gore, invested money into a company that is developing a hybrid electric car. I'm sure Gore would not invest in the latest Escalade model.

And yes a 40k car is still out of reach for many families, but it isn't for many others. Like it says in the article, new technologies are always expensive when they are new, then become cheaper over time. But this new technology is already cheap enough that some of the wealthier people can afford it. If they can afford it, let them buy it, it's good for the economy. It's better than them buying a Mercedes or BMW.

You said: "Right now, the only thing the company has to show for the $529 million is a $89K prototype that caters to the rich and not the average American."

Uh, yeah, from what I've heard, they just got the loan to develope and manufacture. They just got the loan. And the prototype...it wasn't made with the loan the DOE handed out, the prototype existed before the loan, even before Gore invested in the company and ordered himself one.

It's a loan, don't forget that either. It means that the company will be paying the taxpayers back. Maybe even with some interest on it, but I don't know anything about that.

Jobs are created, technology is advanced, an American company is assisted and the money invested is returned to the taxpayers.

Tesla Motors received $465 million in low interest loans from uncle Sam
to help them build Electric Vehicles.

Yeah, they are a Cali. based company too. The are going for a fully electric car. Not a hybrid. Which might be interesting, but I don't know how it would be on long drives. But you can see how a car that doesn't use any gasoline would get a loan to develope the idea.

Nissan has gotten a loan as well, but they aren't Democrat contributors.

And Ford also, and I'm sure they pay both sides.