Give us all your money!

Solyndra/Democratic money man: George Kaiser

Solyndra.

Uttering the name of the now-bankrupt solar energy equipment manufacturer/Stimulus beneficiary, conjures all sorts thoughts/imagery/throwing up in your mouth a little.

Now that more than half-a-billion simoleons has been thrown away on the it-would-never-work green company, Congress, the FBI, the State of California, and the Departments of Treasury and Energy are hot on the trail of false promises, cons, dodges and -- perhaps -- misappropriation of public funds and/or outright theft.

Among those in investigators' cross hairs: Oklahoma billionaire, Obama/Democratic fundraiser and big Solyndra backer George Kaiser -- see photo at top. (For the record, the very wealthy man from Tulsa claims to have invested nothing in the company...but his foundation had more than a third interest in the failure.)

Since the scandal broke, Kaiser has worked to keep his distance from the brewing crisis, but his connections to the company and interactions with the White House (attending 16 of the company's 20 meetings with administration officials) have belied his denials of trying to influence a $535 billion federal loan (from the Stimulus) to Solyndra.

Below is an interesting clip from one of Kaiser's speeches. (Brief transcript follows...) In it, he shares his views on "getting the money."

“There’s never been more money shoved out of the government’s door in world history, and probably never will be again, than in the last few months and in the next 18 months,” he says. “And our selfish parochial goal is to get as much as it for Tulsa and Oklahoma as we possibly can.”

George Kaiser cites his “multiple trips to Washington” and his ability to secure meetings with “all the key players in the West Wing of the White House.” He also touts his “almost unique advantage,” through his foundation, of being able to match public dollars with private funding. That way, Kaiser says, the Obama administration will know “we’ll watch over it because we don’t want to be embarrassed with the way our money is spent and so we won’t make you be embarrassed with the way your money is spent either.”

Paid in...bull.

Remember when President Barack Obama visited a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, on June 3 to discuss the recent announcement that the Chrysler Group LLC repaid $5.1 billion in outstanding loans? That brought the total repayment, as of May 24, to $10.6 billion — about $1.9 billion less than the $12.5 billion the company borrowed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

In his speech, the president said:

Obama, June 3: "And today, I’m proud to announce the government has been completely repaid for the investments we made under my watch by Chrysler because of the outstanding work that you guys did. Because of you. Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes the American taxpayer from the investment we made during my watch. And by the way, you guys repaid it six years ahead of schedule."

Well, here's the bottom line: the Chrysler Group bailout officially ended today (July 21, 2011) when the Treasury Department sold off its remaining stake in the automaker. The final tally shows the taxpayers lost $1.3 billion.

Yep, we lost. $1.3 billion. With a "B."

Treasury is unlikely to recover the remaining $1.3 billion. But Tim Massad, the Treasury assistant secretary who oversees the TARP program, declared the bailout a success just the same.

Of course, just the same.

Are they talking to each other...

...or past each other?

Careless whispers?: Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner (left) and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Last week, Treasury Sec. Timothy “TurboTax” Geithner “expressed confidence Wednesday that the world economy can absorb oil-price spikes.”

Of course, that was before American gas pumps started ringing-up the gallons at an even faster rate than had been experienced in sometime. Now, almost a week after Geithner's “expert” prediction, worries over inflation and a backsliding economy are rising along with the average price-per-gallon cost of gasoline (which threatens to top $5, soon).

Contradicting Sec. Geithner today was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who told Congress that a prolonged rise in oil prices would pose a danger to the U.S. economy. “The most likely outcome is that the recent rise in commodity prices will lead to, at most, a temporary and relatively modest increase in U.S. consumer price inflation," Bernanke said.

According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, however, “If gasoline prices rise to $3.75 a gallon and stay there for a year, it could mitigate the benefit of the Social Security tax cut, economists said. The economy would still grow, but it wouldn't get a boost from people spending more on goods and services. If gasoline prices went as high as $5 a gallon, spending cuts by consumers and businesses could push the U.S. economy into a recession, analysts say. (Food prices in January rose at the fastest since the fall of 2008.)”

Of course, Mr. Geithner is right. I mean, I’m sure this is just a hiccup. Right? Right?

Up to their eyeballs in...

...debt.

Madame Speaker, but for how much longer?

"When Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave her inaugural address as speaker of the House in 2007, she vowed there would be 'no new deficit spending.' Since that day, the national debt has increased by $5 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department."

"After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending,” Pelosi said in her speech from the speaker’s podium. “Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt."

I guess it all depends on what your definition of "debt" is...

(h/t: CNS News)

Course corrections?

We’re in tough times and there are lots of things that need fixin’…here are just a few:

Jay Hancock of The Baltimore Sun notes that “unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level since January. T. Rowe Price economist Alan Levenson looks at the data. New claims fell by 12,000 to 502,000 last week. Continuing claims fell by 312,000 to 5.8 million. (That's for two weeks ago.) Bottom line: Labor market healing trend continues into November, and the unemployment rate should reverse some of October's outsized gain. Nonetheless, the unemployment will tend to rise until monthly job growth is sufficient to absorb the flow of labor force entrance (roughly +110,000 per month); we don't expect a peak until mid-2010.” Gee, I feel better already…don’t you?

Bloomberg News adds, “Fewer Americans than anticipated filed claims for jobless benefits last week, signaling the worst employment slump in the post-World War II era is easing as the economy expands.” See, I told you we’d all feel better.

Of course, to fix all this, there’s always Super Obama to the rescue.

If the jobs news doesn’t do it for you, how about the deficit picture? “The federal government kicked off fiscal year 2010 by posting its widest-ever October budget deficit, the Treasury Department said Thursday. The $176.36 billion gap is more than $20 billion wider than the shortfall recorded in October 2008, driven up by lower tax receipts, stimulus-related revenue reductions and consistently high government outlays. Treasury’s monthly budget statement shows receipts were $135.33 billion in October, down 18% from a year earlier and at the lowest level since October 2002. Meanwhile, outlays were $311.69 billion, down 3% from a year earlier and at their second-highest monthly level on record.” As Hot Air notes, “What better way to kick off Barack Obama’s first full budget year as President than with a deficit that exceeded the White House’s own projections as well as analysts’ expectations? The federal government busted the budget worse than last October by $20 billion with a deficit of $176.36 billion for the month. That used to be considered a decent deficit target … for an entire year.”

And while some believe “the U.S. labor market is slowly healing [and] the declining number of monthly job losses and weekly initial unemployment claims show that. Yet President Obama still [feels] the need to announce a ‘jobs summit’ at the White House next month,” writes James Pethokoukis. “That’s compelling evidence that the White House doesn’t believe the job market is mending nearly fast enough to keep unemployment from trending higher — or Democratic electoral prospects in 2010 from trending lower.”

Oops!

Finally, the biggest course correction of the week: From the NY Times – “Published: November 11, 2009 Corrections: An article on Monday about difficulties for Muslims serving in the American armed forces described incorrectly the background of Michael A. Monsoor, a member of the Navy Seals. Mr. Monsoor was a Christian of Lebanese and Irish descent, not a Muslim. The article also described incorrectly the act that earned him a Medal of Honor. It was for falling on a grenade and saving at least three team members — not for pulling a team member to safety. (Saving a team member in an earlier incident earned him a Silver Star.) Complications Grow for Muslims Serving in U.S. Military (November 9, 2009)