Both Republicans and Democrats were involved in this particular debacle. Obama led the charge, but this isn't necessarily a party issue. In any event, another $249M of the "stimulus" goes down the drain.
5:59PM EDT October 16. 2012 - An electric vehicle battery maker that was awarded $249 million in federal stimulus funds filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on Tuesday, giving GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney potential ammunition to attack President Obama's green-energy subsidies.
The Waltham, Mass.-based company, A123 Systems, filed for bankruptcy court protection in Wilmington, Del., a day after it said it would be unable to make a debt payment. It's selling its automotive assets to a competitor, Milwaukee-based auto-parts maker Johnson Controls, which may enable it to continue operating two factories in the Detroit suburbs of Livonia and Romulus.
As electric vehicle sales remain sluggish, the rechargeable lithium-ion battery manufacturer has struggled. It took a hit when the batteries it supplied for electric car maker Fisker Automotive's luxury plug-in Karma stopped running during a Consumer Reports test drive, prompting a recall. In August, it announced an investment deal with Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang Group, but the deal collapsed.
Its Chapter 11 filing will likely spur further GOP criticism, which escalated once solar panel manufacturer Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 protection in Sept. 2011 after receiving more than $500 million in federal loan guarantees. On Wednesday, a court will evaluate Solyndra's reorganization plan.
In the first presidential debate Oct. 3, Romney attacked Obama's green-energy programs. He called four aid recipients "losers," including Solyndra, Fisker, EV car maker Tesla Motors and auto battery manufacturer Ener1.
"You don't just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers," Romney told Obama in a sharp exchange.
On Tuesday, Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul called A123's bankruptcy "yet another failure for the president's disastrous strategy of gambling away billions of taxpayer dollars on a strategy of government-led growth that simply does not work."
The Department of Energy said those investments have had bipartisan support. It pointed to a May 2009 letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, signed by GOP and Democratic members of Michigan's congressional delegation, in favor of the grants to A123 and three other companies.
"A123's promising technology has a long history of bipartisan support," DOE spokesman Dan Leistikow wrote on the agency's website. He said it received a $6 million grant from the Bush administration in 2007 and has used about half — or $132 million — of its 2009 grant.
Because of DOE investments, amounting to $2 billion in EV-related grants to 29 companies across 20 states since 2009, he said, the cost of a battery with a 100-mile range has been halved — to $17,000 — and is expected to drop to $10,000 by 2015. One other recipient, Ener1, has filed for bankruptcy protection; it did so in January but continues operating.
"In an emerging industry, it's very common to see some firms consolidate with others as the industry grows and matures," Lestikow said, adding that A123's sale to Johnson Controls means its manufacturing facilities and technology will remain "a vital part" of America's advanced battery industry.
Given the bipartisan support for A123's grant, "it's disingenuous" for Republicans to blame Obama for the company's problems, says Richard Caperton, an energy expert at the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank founded by President Bill Clinton's former chief of staff John Podesta. Despite A123, he said "the long-term viability of the advanced battery industry looks just fine."
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Make the white queen run so fast, she hasn't got time to make you wise.
Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream.
Doctor, my eyes, tell me what you see. I hear their cries... just say if it's too late for me.
Doctor, my eyes...cannot see the sky. Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry?
Hind sight is always 20/20. The president took a chance and it didnt pay off, not every thing any politician decides to do works out. The only reason this makes news is because its an election year.
The banks and auto companies that were bailed out, could have failed just as easy. I feel this is a non-issue.
Hind sight is always 20/20. The president took a chance and it didnt pay off, not every thing any politician decides to do works out. The only reason this makes news is because its an election year.
The banks and auto companies that were bailed out, could have failed just as easy. I feel this is a non-issue.
Pretty much. It's easy to point at something with the power of hindsight and say, "That was a mistake." And maybe it was. But it's still a decision made with imperfect information and no guarantee of the outcome. Holding it against Obama makes no sense except as a lazy and somewhat hypocritical tactic to rile up the opposition (given that the Republicans weren't exactly objecting until after the stimulus failed).
This is why I support infrastructure. There are other nations that do this sort of investment banking shenanigans on a wider scale, but have a much smaller country with a highly educated work force to show for it along with wonderful infrastructure.
The US does have a lot of financial knowledge to do this in the private sector, whereas the private sector is often shoddy at infrastructure.
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Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
$249 million that should have been spent on roads and schools. It is not the Federal governments job to play at philanthropy. Obama doesn't get this.
(I am also not a romney supporter. I plan to throw away another vote on an independent this year.)
But it IS in the government's interest to invest in developing technologies and infrastructure that may not have a readily apparent application or an easy sell for R&D from private investors. The Internet, Space Travel and the Human Genome are all examples of government spending advancing our technological capabilities.
It's investing in our future, just like education and infrastructure are. Sometimes it's a miss.
the problem is that this was suppose to be part of the whole green job program. the white house took another beating for buying a bunch of volts to drive around in on the tax payers dime.
because the volt isn't selling that well and chevy is losing a ton of money on it. in fact they have stopped production until inventory levels get lower.
the volt is just to expensive.
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Thanks to Epic Graphics the best around. Thanks to Nex3 for the avatar visit ye old sig and avatar forum
I wouldn't say it's a total loss. The factory in Michigan that they used the money on is staying open for the time being. Many of the companies assets and contracts have been acquired by US firm Johnson Controls. "Of the 30 battery and electric drive companies that have received stimulus funds, A123 is now the second to go bankrupt." The first was EnerDel. That company restructured in March and is still around.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2012/10/16/a123-systems-bankruptcy/1636807/
Make the white queen run so fast, she hasn't got time to make you wise.
Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream.
Doctor, my eyes, tell me what you see. I hear their cries... just say if it's too late for me.
Doctor, my eyes...cannot see the sky. Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry?
Scientists shouldn't have to defend themselves against the ignorant ramblings of uneducated politicians, but here we go again.
Though I'll put it in a small font.
Please stop hijacking my reply box.
The banks and auto companies that were bailed out, could have failed just as easy. I feel this is a non-issue.
Pretty much. It's easy to point at something with the power of hindsight and say, "That was a mistake." And maybe it was. But it's still a decision made with imperfect information and no guarantee of the outcome. Holding it against Obama makes no sense except as a lazy and somewhat hypocritical tactic to rile up the opposition (given that the Republicans weren't exactly objecting until after the stimulus failed).
The US does have a lot of financial knowledge to do this in the private sector, whereas the private sector is often shoddy at infrastructure.
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
(I am also not a romney supporter. I plan to throw away another vote on an independent this year.)
But it IS in the government's interest to invest in developing technologies and infrastructure that may not have a readily apparent application or an easy sell for R&D from private investors. The Internet, Space Travel and the Human Genome are all examples of government spending advancing our technological capabilities.
It's investing in our future, just like education and infrastructure are. Sometimes it's a miss.
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because the volt isn't selling that well and chevy is losing a ton of money on it. in fact they have stopped production until inventory levels get lower.
the volt is just to expensive.
Thanks to Epic Graphics the best around.
Thanks to Nex3 for the avatar visit ye old sig and avatar forum
A123 Systems files for bankruptcy: Here's what you need to know - Ezra Klein