10 Jun 2011 Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness Meeting at Cree Inc. Highlights the Failure of the President’s Economic Stimulus Plan

Cree Cashed In on Millions in Tax Credits and Grants by Following the President’s Clean Energy Fantasy

Obama’s Command-and-Control Energy Policy is Failing America, says Policy Experts from the National Center

Washington, D.C. – In anticipation of President Obama’s meeting with his Jobs and Competitive Council at the headquarters of Cree Inc., policy experts from the National Center for Public Policy Research are calling attention today to the failure of President Obama’s clean energy stimulus plan to stimulate economic growth and job creation. The meeting will be held in Durham, NC on Monday, June 13.

The President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 committed $90 billion for clean energy, and Cree directly benefited from the president’s stimulus plan. The company received $39 million in tax credits and at least $6 million in grants from the Department of Energy. Cree makes LED lighting products.

“It’s ironic that Obama’s jobs panel is meeting at the headquarters of a company that received millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Rising unemployment is evidence that Obama’s clean energy plan did not work as he had hoped, yet the president is stubbornly adhering to his fantasy of creating a clean energy economy,” said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project.

“The failure of Obama’s jobs panel is really not surprising since the group is packed with green-energy and cap-and-trade cheerleaders such as GE CEO Jeff Immelt, green-energy venture capitalist John Doerr, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman and NextEra Energy CEO Lewis Hay,” added Tom Borelli.

“With high gasoline prices and a slow economy, hardworking Americans can’t afford Obama’s command-and-control energy policy,” said Deneen Borelli, full-time fellow of the National Center-sponsored Project 21 black leadership network. “Many households can’t afford the type of lights Obama is forcing us to use. Cree’s LED lighting products are really expensive – a 60-watt light bulb costs almost $60.”

“It’s disgusting that these CEOs want to make money on the backs of hardworking Americans,” added Deneen Borelli.

The National Center For Public Policy Research is a conservative, free-market, non-profit think-tank established in 1982. Its 2010 revenues were over $12 million. It is supported by the voluntary gifts of over 100,000 individual recent supporters, receiving less than one percent of its revenue from corporate sources. Contributions to it are tax-deductible.

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