25 Sep 2009 Outrage of the Day: Tax-Financed Business Loans to Wealthy, Politically-Connected Investors
I need go no further than posting the first sentence of Josh Mitchell and Stephen Power’s Wall Street Journal News story, “Gore-Backed Car Firm Gets Large U.S. Loan: “A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000.”
If it makes you feel any better, the loan was approved by a senior advisor to Obama’s Energy Secretary, Stephen Chu. The car venture is partially backed by a firm of which Gore is a partner. The firm has made $2.2 million in political donations, mostly to Democrats, including Obama.
Mitchell and Powers quote Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste saying about the car, “This is not for average Americans. This is for people to put something in their driveway that is a conversation piece. It’s status symbol thing.”
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Labels: Government Agencies, Government Spending