06 Sep 2011 Solyndra is only the Tip of the Crony Capitalism Iceberg
Congress Must Investigate Financial Conflicts of Interest of Obama Advisors General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt and Billionaire Venture Capitalist John Doerr
GE Received Over $126,000,000 in Stimulus funds and Companies Invested in by Doerr Also Backed by Tax Dollars
Crony Capitalism is a Root Cause of Obama’s Failure to Create Jobs, says National Center for Public Policy Research
Washington, D.C. – Responding to the Solyndra bankruptcy, today policy experts from the National Center for Public Policy Research are urging Congress to investigate the financial conflicts of interest surrounding members of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
“Congress needs to determine if key advisors of President Obama were rewarded with stimulus money in return for political donations and support of the president’s energy policy. There is a clear relationship between recipients of economic stimulus funds and support for Obama’s clean energy agenda. Businesses connected to jobs panel members Jeff Immelt and John Doerr received millions in stimulus money,” said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project.
“Crony capitalism is the root cause of the taxpayer loss resulting from the Solyndra bankruptcy and it’s also responsible for the huge, misguided investment in clean energy that has failed to create meaningful and sustainable job growth,” added Tom Borelli.
According to Recovery.gov, GE is the recipient of over $126,000,000 in grants and contracts from a number of government departments, including a $31,000,000 grant from the Department of Energy,
The Daily Caller reported that companies invested in by John Doerr’s venture capital firm, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers (KPCB), received clean energy stimulus funds. Fisker Automotive received $529 million, an ethanol startup company Mascoma got $26 million and smart grid company Silver Springs Network also benefited from stimulus funds.
Al Gore is Doerr’s business partner in KPCB. Doerr and his wife are big donors to Democrats and they actively lobbied for laws that would benefit KPCB’s businesses, including California’s global warming bill.
“Obama’s clean energy economy is a failure and reeks of crony capitalism. It’s outrageous that our hard earned tax dollars were funneled to bailout billionaire investor Doerr and crony capitalist Immelt. I’m disgusted that millions of Americans remain unemployed while Obama’s political allies are benefiting from their connection to the president,” said Deneen Borelli, full-time fellow with the National Center-sponsored African-American leadership group Project 21.
“It’s no wonder that Obama’s stimulus failed to create jobs. The president’s inner circle of advisors was looting tax payer money at the expense of the public good. Congress needs to investigate this conflict of interest and put an end to the crony capitalism madness heralded by Obama,” said 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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