by Tina Grazier
What do progressive liberals gripe about incessantly?
Corporate profits and subsidies!
In 2011 protesters (the 99%) occupied in the streets for weeks railing against the wealthy 1% and big corporations. Profits, they claimed, are obscene and corporations, are pure evil! Government giving subsidies to big corporations was likewise evil…and likely a republican conspiracy to take from the poor and give to the rich. Democrats and unions came out in support of this movement and their anti-corporate, anti-profits rants. After initially endorsing the movement as grassroots Nancy Pelosi cautiously said the following:
“I support the message to the establishment, whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment, that things have to change.”
But have they changed?
President Obama enthusiastically handed out taxpayer cash to a number of green energy companies during his nearly four year term as president. Many of the companies we subsidized have gone out of business; others created green jobs in China and India. These companies couldn’t make it without government subsidies and, as it turns out, most couldn’t make it even with subsidies. They represent a terrible waste of taxpayer money.
What about subsidies given out in California government?
Progressives in California government support the message of the 99%…but they are also looney tunes for green energy development and solutions. Politically, these bureaucrats work against corporate America. So…why did the State of California Energy Commission just award Tesla Motors, builder of elite electric cars, $10 Million dollars?
According to an article posted at Cal Watchdog the money was needed “to pay for machinery at its Fremont plant.” But the article (link below) also states the tax money will be used to “add 500 workers”. Hmmmm…do they really need the money?
If you’re a taxpayer in California you will not be surprised by this award. We Californians have become accustomed to the nutty people that run our state. But we should at least be aware and know a few things that are revealed in the article Calif. Throws subsidy at Tesla Motors,” by Joseph Perkins:
1. The owner of Tesla Motors is a billionaire. ($2.4 Billion)
2. The company just raised $200 Million from a second stock offering.
3. The company will make cars that only the wealthy will buy ($60-$100 thousand)
4. The State of California will pay for this subsidy by placing a surcharge on our vehicle registrations and through smog check fees.
Not surprised or shocked, but I am damn mad!
Businesses are struggling or leaving the state because our leaders are so completely oblivious. Californians are struggling to make ends meet because of the Presidents non-recovery recovery, high unemployment, and very high gasoline and food prices…yet this government expects the people to pay for this $10 Million subsidy to a billionaire! Why?
The only thing I can comne up with is that the progressives in California place the infinitesimally minor improvements that this car maker might one day make possible to the quality of the air above the immediate fiscal problems we face individually and in government today. Their fantasy green agenda continues even in the face of reports that the warming hype was greatly exaggerated and that the warming trend ended 16 years ago.
The elites in the green arm of the Democrat Party are completely bereft of common sense or ethical sensibilities…and totally out of touch with the average citizen paying the bills. It may be that some subsidies make sense because they benefit the entire country or state by encouraging job creation everywhere in the nation. But subsidies like the one California has awarded Tesla Motors just don’t make any sense.