Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, November 16, 2011


It's in the bible... kinda!
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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://biggovernment.com/whall/2011/11/16/robert-kennedy-jr-s-green-company-scored-1-4-billion-taxpayer-bailout/

Robert Kennedy, Jr., netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

The details of how BrightSource managed to land its ten-figure taxpayer bailout have yet to emerge fully. However, one clue might be found in the person of Sanjay Wagle, one of the principals in Kennedy’s firm who raised money for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

When Obama won the White House, Wagle was installed at the Department of Energy (DOE), advising on energy grants.

From an objective vantage point, investing taxpayer monies in BrightSource was a risky proposition at the time. In 2010, BrightSource, whose largest shareholder is Kennedy’s VantagePoint Partners, was up to its eyes in $1.8 billion of debt obligations and had lost $71.6 million on its paltry $13.5 million of revenue.

* JEEZUS...

Even before BrightSource rattled its tin cup in front of Obama’s DOE, the company made it known publicly that its survival hinged on successfully completing the Ivanpah Solar Electrical System, which would become the largest solar plant in the world, on federal lands in California. In its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, BrightSource...underscored the risky nature of the Ivanpah venture and, more broadly, the company’s viability: "Our future success depends on our ability to construct Ivanpah, our first utility-scale solar thermal power project, in a cost-effective and timely manner… Our ability to complete Ivanpah and the planning, development and construction of all three phases are subject to significant risk and uncertainty."

* HEY... IT'S ONLY TAXPAYER MONEY, RIGHT! AND IT'S GOING TO A GOOD CAUSE... ENRICHING OBAMA CONTRIBUTORS AND BIG-NAME DEMOCRATS!

BrightSource touted the Ivanpah project as a green jobs creator. Yet, as its own website reveals, the thermal solar plant will only create 1,400 jobs at its peak construction and 650 jobs annually thereafter. Even using the peak estimate of 1,400 jobs, that works out to a cost to taxpayers of $1 million per job created.

As investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer [writes] in his explosive new book, "Throw Them All Out", “A billion dollars in taxpayer money being sent to wealthy investors to bail them out of risky investments - does this sound familiar to anyone?”

* THE AGE OF OBAMA IS VERY PROFITABLE INDEED... TO FRIENDS OF OBAMA.

November 16, 2011 at 1:56 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.detnews.com/article/20111114/AUTO01/111140434/1361/U.S.-boosts-estimate-of-auto-bailout-losses-to-$23.6B

The Treasury Department dramatically boosted its estimate of losses from its $85 billion auto industry bailout by more than $9 billion in the face of General Motors Co.'s steep stock decline.

* $9 BILLION... A MERE BAG OF SHELLS! (*SMIRK*)

In its monthly report to Congress, the Treasury Department now says it expects to lose $23.6 billion, up from its previous estimate of $14.33 billion.

* $23.6 BILLION... ANOTHER... er... MERE BAG OF SHELLS!

The Treasury now pegs the cost of the bailout of GM, Chrysler Group LLC and the auto finance companies at $79.6 billion.

* Er... Umm... Ah... $79.6 BILLION... CHUMP CHANGE... NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT... BUSINESS AS USUAL... (*GULP*)

It no longer includes $5 billion it set aside to guarantee payments to auto suppliers in 2009.

* A 'WRITE-OFF," HUH? (*SNORT*) HEY... IT'S "ONLY" $5 BILLION...

The new estimate also hikes the overall cost of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program costs to taxpayers. In total, the government used $425 billion to bailout banks, insurance companies and automakers, and provided $45 billion in housing program assistance. The government now expects to lose $57.33 billion, including the full cost of the housing program, up from $36.7 billion.

* MAKES YOUR HEAD SPIN, DOESN'T IT, FOLKS? IT'S ALL A FRAUD. THE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN LYING ALL ALONG.

The new bailout forecast also represents an increase in the government's forecast in its losses from its $17.2 billion bailout of Detroit-based auto and mortgage lender Ally Financial Inc. The government holds a 74% stake in Ally, which has been forced to put its planned initial public offering on hold because of "market conditions."

* OF COURSE IT DOES! (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD AS I ROLL MY EYES*)

November 16, 2011 at 2:06 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204190504577037754000084544.html?grcc=443f44b45c01414190e0e63220802c22Z3&mod=WSJ_hps_sections_opinion

The U.S. decision to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to go forward should have been easy.

The pipeline would mean at least 20,000 new construction jobs.

It would provide lower cost and reliable shipping opportunities for surging North Dakota oil production.

Shipping petroleum from Canada's oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico means refiners there would gain a ready replacement for declining supplies of Mexican and Venezuelan crude.

Most importantly, it would reinforce expectations that massive and long-term North American infrastructure investments could proceed free of political risk.

* AND YET... (*DRUM ROLL*)

And yet the Obama administration's decision to delay the project, despite already extensive and positive environmental review, puts all this in jeopardy.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Both Canada and the United States benefit from highly integrated energy and investment flows.

Keystone XL's owner, TransCanada, has already spent more than $2 billion for steel and related facilities. All previous cross-border pipeline requests have been granted, and the U.S. imports over 2.5 million barrels per day of Canadian crude oil and petroleum products. U.S. refiners also ship large volumes of petroleum products to Eastern Canada, taking advantage of geographic transportation efficiencies.

* AND YET... TO REITERATE... OBAMA CHOOSES TO PUT ALL THIS IN JEOPARDY.

For Canadians, it was [once] unthinkable that a U.S. president would pull the plug after extensive reviews and 57 project-specific requirements exceeding all U.S. pipeline safety standards, including satellite-linked, computerized leak-detection systems and puncture-resistant steel pipe.

(Even one of TransCanada's competitors, Enbridge, which ships Canadian crude through existing cross-border pipelines, supported the Keystone permit...)

The decision to delay the project is such a shift in expectations on the future of U.S.-Canadian energy trade that perhaps the only surprising outcome is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not recalled his ambassador. He did announce that shipping the crude to Asia will now receive the highest priority.

(*GNASHING MY TEETH*)

A decision to proceed with the pipeline would have sent a strong signal to the world petroleum market (including OPEC) that North America is putting into place a long-term and sustained strategy for expanding domestic oil supplies.

* IN PLAIN ENGLISH... SUCH A DECISION WOULD PUT DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON WORLD OIL PRICES; AMERICAN CONSUMERS WOULD HAVE BENEFITED.

November 16, 2011 at 2:29 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577041941864856270.html?grcc=5a47e5f8a17746d2a01c54e50dd6abbfZ3&mod=WSJ_hps_sections_markets

Crude-oil futures rose more than 3% on Wednesday, breaking through the $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since June...

* DIE, BERNANKE, DIE!

* DIE, OBAMA, DIE!

November 16, 2011 at 2:49 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2606

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 2.2 million freshmen started college in the United States last fall.

If recent trends continue, more than a third of them will not have a diploma six years later - and few of those will ever complete college.

* YET THEY'LL HAVE PAID (WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS SUPPORTING THEM) FOR WHATEVER TIME THEY'LL WASTE GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS WHEREAS IF THEY HAD GONE STRAIGHT INTO THE WORKFORCE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN EARNING MONEY (THE OPPOSITE OF GOING INTO DEBT!) AND GROWING INTO MATURE PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS!

Academics and activists routinely bemoan low college graduation and retention rates and say that something ought to be done about them. But how many of this year’s first-year students were prepared for college-level work in the first place?

* LESS THAN TWO-THIRDS APPARENTLY!

Two major testing organizations have created benchmarks that offer very clear guidelines for determining whether students are likely to succeed in college. Both of those organizations, ACT and the College Board (which administers the SAT), have found that fewer than half of college-bound seniors are prepared for the work ahead of them.

* AND YET...

[U]niversities continue to welcome such students - and their dollars.

* TALK ABOUT EXPLOITATION 101! (REMIND YOU OF THE MORTGAGE DEBACLE - GIVING MORTGAGES TO PEOPLE THEY KNEW COULDN'T AFFORD THEM?)

[T]he U.S. Department of Education reports that about a third of first-year college students take at least one remedial course - an indicator that their math or verbal skills are below acceptable minimums. The fact that so many students need remedial classes seems to confirm the accuracy of the ACT and SAT benchmarks.

* LISTEN... IF YOU NEED "REMEDIAL" ACADEMIC WORK YOU DON'T BELONG IN COLLEGE IN THE FIRST PLACE. (HOW DID THEY PASS THE ENTRANCE EXAMS...?!?!)

These end-runs around real academic achievement allow administrators to continue pursuing their goals of access and graduation while ignoring poor student preparation and performance.

* SMOKE AND MIRRORS AT THOUSAND AND OFTEN TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS A YEAR. WHAT A WASTE. WHAT A FRAUD.

It’s time for universities to face reality: many students are not prepared for college-level material. Waiting for high schools to improve outcomes hasn’t worked. Universities must change their focus from access to achievement by raising admissions standards to meaningful levels and stopping the debasement of the curriculum and grading standards.

Sending unprepared students to college only sets them up for failure.

* AGREED!

November 16, 2011 at 8:48 PM

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