$529 Million Loan for Al Gore’s Hybrid Sports Coupe


What’s the most laughably outlandish angle of this story?

  • That the U.S. Government is loaning Nobel laureate Al Gore and investment bank Kleiner Perkins $529 million to build a car, and -
  • It’s a hybrid electric sports model, and -
  • It will cost $89,000 a copy, and -
  • It will be made in Finland.

We’re also loaning Tesla Motors $465 million to build a $109,000 British electric roadster. That’s almost a cool billion, and it’s going to well-heeled Democratic contributors.


WSJ: Gore-Backed Car Firm Gets Large U.S. Loan

The awards to Fisker and Tesla have prompted concern from companies that have had their bids for loans rejected, and criticism from groups that question why vehicles aimed at the wealthiest customers are getting loans subsidized by taxpayers.

“This is not for average Americans,” said Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, an anti-tax group in Washington. “This is for people to put something in their driveway that is a conversation piece. It’s status symbol thing.”

Not everyone who has applied has walked away with such generous backing:

Some companies that have been turned down for loans from DOE say they did not get much feedback from the department about their applications. 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. …

Scott Redmond, CEO of XP Vehicles Inc., said he met with DOE officials twice in Washington after applying for a $40 million loan to develop a $15,000 to $25,000 hybrid, and that both times he was told his application looked good. Since receiving a rejection letter from DOE in August, Redmond said, he has been unable to get a full explanation as to why his request was turned down.

H/T The Daily Beast


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18 Comments Leave a comment

I will have to express my feelings through .gif imagery.

Xasteius (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 1:50AM EST (link)

Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!

The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.

I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.

Kowalski: Next time I defend the Department of Energy,

Xasteius (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 6:29PM EST (link)

someone please smack me upside the head.

Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!

The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.

I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.

Ain't that something?

kyle8 (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 7:31PM EST (link)

We have a Department of Energy that produces no energy, a department of education that educates nobody, and a Central Intelligence Agency that seems to have no intelligence.

Next, I suppose, the Democrats will create a Tax Reduction Administration.

“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle

LOL

marcinsarasota Saturday, September 26th at 9:55AM EST (link)

LOL. Interesting observation. ;-)

Marc Rasmussen

 

Touché

GCBWI (Diary) Saturday, September 26th at 2:13PM EST (link)

I laughed out loud.

 
 
 
 

Wait... I thought the left hated the rich? -nt-

gahazzah (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 5:41AM EST (link)

/government

That's when they pander the poor. But the FAR LEFT people really LUST FOR Money and Wealth. Clue: LEFTIST LOON SOROS. nt

Rod_Patrick (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 5:51AM EST (link)

Left Wing Hypocrisy

avgamerican (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 11:00AM EST (link)

Sean Hannity Show on Thursday aired an interview with Michael Moore. Michael Moore admitted his attack on capitalism. But when asked about his critics comments on the wealth he has generated though capitalism, Moore replied, “I’m in the irony business.” The left wing nuts out there like Moore and Al Gore do not deny their love of wealth. But they want to be in control of who has it.

 
 
 

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd The point I have consistantly made....

JadedByPolitics (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 6:25AM EST (link)

is there for all to see AGW was ALWAYS about the money that the Rev Al Gore could make. It was always a SCAM….He was no more than a common THIEF working his SCHEME to make multi-billions of dollars from all hard working Americans. I do not ever want to hear a lefty say there is ANY truth to AGW. It is a LIE and has ALWAYS been a LIE!!!!!

 

So they're stiffing Troy Michigan and sending it overseas

bk (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 7:06AM EST (link)

Is Michael Moore working on an anti-Obama “documentary” about this to run during the 2012 election cycle?

the fisker karma has a GM engine, fwiw

australian_correspondent Friday, September 25th at 8:31AM EST (link)

not sure where the engine is assembled though.

 
 

Is this money coming from the Stimulus?

jen2001 Friday, September 25th at 7:52AM EST (link)

Or is it a direct loan?

 

There's more...

Incredible (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 10:31AM EST (link)

Fisker only has a handful of employees. This is because they only do the design and marketing. Everything else is outsourced. (Forbes Magazine, July?, 2009)

The car is assembled in Finland. The parts are sourced from France (headlights), Japan (batteries), etc. then shipped to Finland.

As a car guy, I am rooting for Fisker. As an American, I think that this loan is a debacle.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson

 

Global Warming pays off.

johnt Friday, September 25th at 10:46AM EST (link)

It’s a twofer, the insiders make big profits, presumably not obscene, and as a bonus get to enjoy the rest of the dopes fall for their lies and best of all, the really sweet part, hopefully cause energy shortages and suffering for those very same dopes.

You don’t understand liberalism[?] if you don’t realize the main purpose is to cause misery while gaining power.

“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville

 

More proof that globalism trumps our national interests

avgamerican (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 10:52AM EST (link)

With our own auto makers struggling, Al Gore is lobbying for Findland automakers to make $85,000 electric sports cars. One has to wonder how a union member democratic voter can vote democrat. I’m sure Al Gore is gonna make a lot off this deal.

 

What kills me is

azred (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 11:21AM EST (link)

the loons aren’t even trying to hide it anymore. They get more brazen each turn, and the drones continue to follow them. They’ve already bought into the whole message no matter what reality slaps them in the face.
And if that’s not bad enough, they look at themselves as the ‘educated elite’.
“Check your brain at the door. We’ll see that it’s put in a safe place because where you’re going, you wont be needing it”.

Pray that the damage they do will not be irreparable. They will be toast very soon.

 

After the Chrysler bailout in the 80s,

GCBWI (Diary) Saturday, September 26th at 2:16PM EST (link)

i remember a satirical song about going to Congress for a bailout. “I’m going to change my name to Chrysler and go to Washington DC,” or some such.

This beggars that bailout.

 

The "green movement" means green currency from our and our children's pockets to the rich lefties.

archer52 Saturday, September 26th at 10:57PM EST (link)

I caught this when a friend sent it to me. I was wondering if Redstate carried the article. Nice. So, let’s see how does this work. Al Gore meets some people who say back my company. He says cool and shortly thereafter 529 million of our money shows up in their accounts. Now I sure hope Al Gore got his piece up front, because anyone want to bet that company will go through the money, after giving the executives a good chunk, and then go belly up or ask for more money?

Nobody will buy a 40,000 hybrid much less a 89,000 hybrid unless threatened with arrest or fines. Of course that may come, but right now no way.

It is all about the money, robbing the treasury before there is nothing left.