Tag: bankruptcy

The world’s largest solar power project, recipient of the second largest ever Department of Energy loan guarantee, has filed for bankruptcy.

8:28 pm

Another wise investment of the Obama administration: The world’s largest solar power project, recipient of the second largest ever Department of Energy loan guarantee, has filed for bankruptcy.

Update and correction: It turns out that the company was offered the DOE loan guarantee, but turned it down. Read this second article. The facts it describe make the decisions of the Obama administration seem beyond foolish.

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The chief of the General Services Administration has resigned and two of her top deputies have been fired for organizing an excessively expensive training conference at a luxury hotel.

4:17 pm

Our government at work: The chief of the General Services Administration has resigned and two of her top deputies have been fired for organizing an excessively expensive training conference at a luxury hotel.

Organizers spent $835,000 on the event, which was attended by 300 employees. The expenses included $147,000 in airfare and lodging at the hotel for six planning trips by a team of organizers. Among the other expenses were $3,200 for a mind reader; $6,300 on commemorative coin set displayed in velvet boxes and $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle. [emphasis mine]

They made six separate trips to this Las Vegas hotel in order to plan a four-day conference?

The sad part is that this kind of spending abuse is actually quite normal in the federal government. I’ve seen it at multiple science conferences and press conferences. Lots of free food, fancy digs at cool locations. And all paid for by the taxpayer.

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The House today passed the Republican 2013 budget, 228-191.

2:13 pm

The House today passed the Republican 2013 budget, 228-191.

Ten Republicans voted no. All Democrats voted no.

Though this budget might not be perfect, at least it makes an effort to face the budget situation. Note also that the Democrats have now rejected their own President’s budget as well as the Republican budget. In addition, the Democratic leadership in the Democratically-controlled Senate has already said they won’t pass a budget this year, the fourth year in a row.

The country is sinking in debt caused by the federal government. It behooves these elected officials to deal with it. That the Democrats won’t tells us much about their lack of qualifications for office.

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The federal government recorded its worst monthly deficit in history in February.

2:06 pm

The day of reckoning looms: The federal government recorded its worst monthly deficit in history in February 2012.

The [Congressional Budget Office] projected the government will run a deficit of $229 billion in February, the highest monthly figure ever. The previous high was $223 billion a year ago, in February 2011. It is the 41st straight month the government has run a deficit — itself a record streak that dates back to the final months of President George W. Bush’s tenure. Before now, the longest streak on record was 11 months.

Obviously, this record-setting deficit is racist for occurring during the term of Barack Obama.

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The White House chart that illustrates the irresponsible nature of Obama’s proposed budget.

9:22 am

The White House chart that illustrates the irresponsible nature of Obama’s proposed budget.

Yes, that’s right, the chart is from the White House itself, which means they themselves know how useless their proposed budget is, and how little they care. More here, including video of a truly entertaining but clarifying exchange between Congressman Paul Ryan and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

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“Even if Congress were to enact this budget we would still be left with–in the outer decades as millions of Americans retire–what are still unsustainable commitments in Medicare and Medicaid.”

2:37 pm

From Obama’s own Treasury Secretary, describing Obama’s own budget proposal:

Even if Congress were to enact this budget we would still be left with – in the outer decades as millions of Americans retire – what are still unsustainable commitments in Medicare and Medicaid.

The day of reckoning looms.

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The White House has confirmed that the Obama budget to be announced on Monday will predict a $1.3 trillion deficit for 2012.

3:40 pm

The bigger picture: The White House has confirmed that the Obama 2013 budget proposal to be announced on Monday will predict a $1.3 trillion deficit in 2012, and only try to shrink that to $900 billion in 2013.

Numbers like this demonstrate the need for further budget cuts, even in areas that I think are important, such as space exploration. However, these numbers also illustrate one clear fact: the Obama administration is not serious about balancing the budget. That the administration has applied the knife to the Mars planetary program while allowing other less successful NASA programs to flourish proves this administration’s poor sense of priorities in these difficult financial times.

More thoughts next week.

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The NY Times reported today that the investigation into MF Global’s bankrucpty has located most of the missing $1.2 billion of customer money

9:25 am

The NY Times reported today that the investigation into MF Global’s bankrucpty has located most of the missing $1.2 billion of customer money.

Investigators have determined what happened to nearly all of the customer money that disappeared from MF Global around the time of its bankruptcy last Oct. 31, but have not publicly disclosed their progress, fearing that doing so might cripple efforts to recover the cash and pursue potential wrongdoing, people briefed on the investigation said.

While authorities have traced hundreds of millions of dollars to banks, MF Global’s trading partners and even the firm’s securities customers, investigators remain uncertain about whether they can retrieve the money.

As I was reading this article I had the strange feeling that I lived in an alternative universe. At no point did the New York Times bother to mention the name of former Democratic New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, the economic go-to guy for the Obama administration and the man who was in charge of MF Global when all of this illegal and incompetent activity occurred. For those that want to know a bit more about the story, you might want to go to this New York Post editorial today, which lays out the issues that the New York Times so conveniently wants everyone to forget, and also notes that even now Corzine is out there campaigning and raising funds for Obama’s re-election.

Well, as they say, birds of a feather will flock together.

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On Tuesday the Treasury Department began using pension funds to keep the federal debt below the debt limit.

9:31 pm

The day of reckoning looms closer all the time: On Tuesday the Treasury Department began using pension funds to keep the federal debt below the debt limit.

This action is, at this time, only a stop-gap until the debt ceiling is raised $1.2 trillion as per Obama’s request. Nonetheless, it signals the federal government’s increasingly dire debt problems.

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The national debt now equals the entire U.S. economy

1:29 pm

The day of reckoning looms: The national debt now equals the entire U.S. economy.

The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion. That’s roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the U.S. economy produces in one year: $15.17 trillion as of September, the latest estimate. Private projections show the economy likely grew to about $15.3 trillion by December — a level the debt is likely to surpass this month.

But don’t worry. The press is focused like a laser on more important issues, such as whether the states might someday consider outlawing the pill.

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Top 10 Ways Hollywood Can Win Its Audience Back

7:54 pm

The top ten ways Hollywood can win its audience back.

As someone who spent almost twenty years in the movie business, I think Nolte hits the nail on the head. I also think Hollywood will not do any of the things he suggests, mostly because it would require them to abandon their elite, leftwing ideology that for the past thirty years has become the only thing too many Hollywood people care about.

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At the end of 2011, America, like much of the rest of the Western world, has dug deeper into a cocoon of denial.

12:16 am

“At the end of 2011, America, like much of the rest of the Western world, has dug deeper into a cocoon of denial.”

Tens of millions of Americans have yet to understand that the can can no longer be kicked down the road, because we’re all out of road. The pavement ends, and there’s just a long drop into the abyss. And, even in a state-compliant car seat, you’ll land with a bump. At this stage in a critical election cycle, we ought to be arguing about how many government departments to close, how many government programs to end, how many millions of government regulations to do away with. Instead, one party remains committed to encrusting even more barnacles to America’s rusting hulk, while the other is far too wary of harshing the electorate’s mellow.

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The Obama Nation: Even More Debt And Even More Store Closings

10:50 am

A nation in economic collapse.

During “the Obama Nation”, the federal government has already accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office. Of course the Bush administration was nearly as bad at piling up government debt. Between Bush and Obama (with a big helping hand from the Federal Reserve), they have done a pretty good job of wiping out the financial future of the United States. If there are future generations of Americans, they will look back and curse those that did this to them. It is absolutely immoral to steal trillions of dollars from future generations. Unfortunately, there are very, very few members of Congress that are even objecting to this madness.

The article’s listing of store closings is also quite frightening, suggesting that the economic situation of the nation is far worse than has been reported.

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The Great Spending Betrayal

9:16 am

The great spending betrayal.

Over Friday and Saturday, 61% of House Republicans and 34% of Senate Republicans voted for the omnibus megabus bill. In doing so, not only did they violate their pledge pertaining to bundled (1200-page) bills and the 72-hour layover rule and agree to fund Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, Planned Parenthood, the EPA, the PLO and the UN; they actually agreed to spend almost $9 billion more than last year. Overall, budget authority will be $33 billion higher than the House budget, while appropriations for non-defense spending will be $45 billion more. One of the members who voted in the affirmative even agreed that he had voted for a “crap sandwich.”

One reason the budget is still growing is that two-thirds of the government is still controlled by the spendthrift Democratic Party. A second reason is that there are too many wimpy Republicans willing to compromise with these spendthrifts.

Which is why we have elections. 2012 should help fix this problem.

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Budget deal cuts EPA by three percent

10:13 am

Another science budget update from Nature states that the budget deal will cut EPA by three percent.

This cut reduces EPA’s budget from its 2011 numbers by about $400 million. However, the agency’s total 2012 budget of $8.4 billion is still $1 billion more than it got in 2008, hardly what I’d call a draconian cut.

Once again, the inability of Congress to seriously face the deficit issue threatens to eventually destroy the U.S.’s ability to do any science. A bankrupt nation can’t do much but feed itself, as the scientists in the Soviet Union learned back in the 1990s.

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Electric car company shuts down

11:25 pm

For once, the taxpayer doesn’t get screwed: The electric car company Aptera has shut down due to lack of interest from investors and the lack of a loan from the government.

The California company was counting on a federal loan – and private investments to match the loan – so that it could start producing its very first electric vehicle. Aptera said it was close to securing a $150 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, but it couldn’t line up the private dollars necessary to complete the loan application process.

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