Battery Manufacturer That Received A Quarter Billion In Stimulus Dollars Getting Bailed Out By A Chinese Company
It’s another rousing success for President Obama’s “stimulus” spending spree.
According to Reuters, “As part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative, A123 was awarded a grant of $249.1 million.” The company was supposed to create some 38,000 US jobs, though so far they’ve only hired 1,000 since receiving their stimulus money.
That works out to nearly $250,000 per hire. Great investment, Mr. President.
Hannah Thoreson reports that the company was once touted as a stimulus success story by the President himself but now blames a surplus of battery manufacturers diluting the market. “Alternatively, this statement can be interpreted to read that there is not enough demand for their product to necessitate as many manufacturers as exist,” writes Thoreson. “But since when has the Obama Administration let that kind of market-based logic get in the way of its various green energy projects?”
That’s the problem with most enterprises that need government subsidies. The reason why they need subsidized is because there isn’t sufficient demand in the marketplace to warrant the investment of private capital.
This is getting old