(Note: NewsSkunk can often stop the news by threatening to report it. The following is one example. – ed.)
Undaunted by the failures of the Reinvestment Program portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the stimulus plan, President Obama and his new economic advisors are working on a proposal to re-fund the Reinvestment parts of the project.
A significant component of the Reinvestment parts of the program were “investments” in developing green energy companies in the US and competing countries. The creation of five million new green energy jobs was a promise of then-candidate Obama’s economic recovery program. According to a report by the Department of Energy, a total of 910 new green energy jobs were created during 2009-2011 as a result of the program, accounting for almost .02% of the promised total. After a few more high profile failures, it appears that the majority of the remaining green energy jobs are in job categories such as bankruptcy attorneys, auctions, and salvage.
One of the first changes to be made in the Re-Reinvestment program will be that Stephen Chu, former head of the Department of Energy, will not be involved in any investing decisions. Chu had the final say in investments and loans made by the DOE’s $82 billion investment authority – funding 4X the total of all venture capital investments made in the US each year. Chu was given this enormous responsibility despite never having made a venture capital investment in his life. According to NewsSkunk sources, Chu is now considered “overqualified” to make new investments. The Obama team is seeking a new “venture capital virgin” to head up a new Re-Reinvestment Act investing team, potentially from the talent-laden pools of Obama campaign donation bundlers or Huffington Post bloggers. In reality, Chu’s dismissal stems from concerns of potential perjury charges from his testimony at a House Oversight Committee hearing. Chu testified to Committee members he deserved an ‘A’ grade for controlling the price of gasoline in the US when it nearly doubled in price under his watch.
Sources indicate that President Obama will not be as involved in investing decisions this time around, given his busy vacation schedule. Chu reportedly sought Obama’s advice on Solyndra despite Obama having less business experience than Chu. This was after Chu did not receive any usable advice from Obama’s cabinet members and economic advisors, none of which had any private industry business experience. As told to NewsSkunk, Chu informed Obama that Solyndra was losing money on every solar panel it produced. Obama thought about it a while and suggested, “build a bigger factory and make it up on volume.” DOE subsequently lent Solyndra $535 million to build a bigger factory. Solyndra went bankrupt but did create dozens of jobs in the bankruptcy, auction, and salvage industries.
There are concerns that Republican obstructionists will block the Re-Reinvestment Act proposals, citing billions in losses the first time around, as over 30 DOE investments are bankrupt or close to it. Democrats plan to counter resistance in the House of Representatives by having Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hold a meeting with stenographers from the White House Press pool to report that “every dollar of government spending leads to $1.84 of economic activity.” Special interest lobbyists from the bankruptcy, auction, and salvage industries are already lobbying Congress for votes.
