Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America (45 page)

37.
Manu Raju and Scott Wong, “In Utah, Hatch and Lee Part Ways,”
op. cit.

38.
Ibid.

39.
Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe, “What Congress Should Cut,”
Wall Street Journal,
Jan. 19, 2011.

40.
Dean Clancy, “Report Card: Grading the Ten-Year Budget Plans,”
FreedomWorks
. Accessed Jan. 9, 2011. http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/dean-clancy/report-card-grading-the-budget-plans.

41.
The Tea Party Debt Commission. Accessed Jan. 9, 2011. http://www.freedomworks.org/tea-party-debt-commission.

42.
The Tea Party Budget. Accessed Jan. 20, 2011. http://www.freedomworks.org/the-tea-party-budget.

Chapter 7: Looters and Moochers

  1.
Adam Smith,
The Wealth of Nations,
Book I, Chapter X, Part II, p. 152.

  2.
Jeffrey Immelt, “2008 Annual Report to Shareholders,” Feb. 6, 2009. http://www.ge.com/ar2008/pdf/ge_ar_2008_letter.pdf.

  3.
Timothy P. Carney, “How GE’s green lobbying is killing U.S. factory jobs,”
Examiner.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/2009/08/timothy-p-carney-how-ges-green-lobbying-killing-us-factory-jobs#ixzz1ksqW4kbp.

  4.
Matthew Mosk, “General Electric Wages Never-Say-Die Campaign for Jet Engine Contract,”
The Blotter
, ABC News, Mar. 9, 2011. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/ge-top-corporate-spender-lobbying/story?id=13087750.

  5.
Public Campaign, “For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%? How Corporations Pay More for Lobbyists Than in Taxes,” Dec. 2011. http://publicampaign.org/sites/default/files/ReportTaxDodgerLob byingDec6.pdf.

  6.
Track the Money,
Recovery.gov.
http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/Pages/RecipientSearch.aspx?recipname=General%20Electric.

  7.
Elizabeth Williamson and Paul Glader, “General Electric Pursues Pot of Government Stimulus Gold,”
Wall Street Journal,
Nov. 17, 2009. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125832961253649563.html.

  8.
Timothy P. Carney, “Obamanomics: General Electric Wins Big with the White House,” in
Washington Examiner
, Dec. 9, 2009.

  9.
General Electric Summary, 2010 PAC Data,
OpenSecrets.org.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00024869&cycle=2010.

10.
Lobbying Database,
OpenSecrets.org,
Calculations by the Center for Responsive Politics based on data from the Senate Office of Public Records, Feb. 6, 2012. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/index.php.

11.
Gerald P. O’Driscoll Jr., “An Economy of Liars,”
Wall Street Journal,
Apr. 20, 2010.

12.
“The visible hand,”
Economist,
Jan. 21, 2012. http://www.economist.com/node/21542931.

13.
Lorraine Woellert and John Gittelsohn, “Fannie-Freddie Fix at $160 Billion with $1 Trillion Worst Case,”
Bloomberg
, June 13, 2010.

14.
Robert Higgs,
Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).

15.
Harold Demsetz, “Information and Efficiency: Another Viewpoint,”
Journal of Law and Economics
12 (Apr. 1969): 1–22.

16.
Jimmy Carter, “The President’s Proposed Energy Policy,” Apr. 18, 1977. Vital Speeches of the Day, vol. 43, no. 14, May 1, 1977, pp. 418–420. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/carter-energy/.

17.
“How dependent are we on foreign oil?,” Energy in Brief,
EIA.gov,
June 24, 2011. http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm.

18.
Eric Lipton and Clifford Kraus, “A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search,”
New York Times,
Nov. 11, 2011.

19.
Ibid.

20.
Ibid.

21.
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Staff, internal memorandum to Members, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, “Hearing on ‘Solyndra and The DOE Loan Guarantee Program,’” Committee on Energy and Commerce, Sept. 12, 2011. http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Hearings/Oversight/091411/Memo.pdf.

22.
Memorandum, “The Solyndra Story,” Committee on Energy and Commerce, Sept. 14, 2011. http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Hearings/Oversight/091411/SolyndraStoryFinalMemo.pdf.

23.
Mark Hemingway, “White House Video Touted Solyndra as a Stimulus Success Story,”
Weekly Standard Blog
, Sept. 10, 2011. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/white-house-video-touted-solyndra-stimulus-success-story_593071.html.

24.
Loans Award Summary: Solyndra, Inc. Track the Money,
Recovery.gov.
http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/pages/RecipientProjectSummary508.aspx?AwardIdSur=19015.

25.
Eric Lipton and John M. Broder, “In Rush to Assist a Solar Company, U.S. Missed Signs,”
New York Times,
Sept. 22, 2011.

26.
Matea Gold and Stuart Pfeifer, “Solar Firm’s Obama Links Probed,”
Los Angeles Times,
Sept. 17, 2011.

27.
Jim Snyder, “Kaiser Spoke to White House About Solyndra,”
Bloomberg,
Nov. 9, 2011. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-09/kaiser-spoke-to-white-house-about-solyndra.html.

28.
Amanda Carey, “Solyndra Officials Made Numerous Trips to White House, Logs Show,”
Daily Caller,
Sept. 8, 2011. http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/08/solyndra-officials-made-numerous-trips-to-the-white-house-logs-show/.

29.
“Solyndra Not Sole Firm to Hit Rock Bottom Despite Stimulus Funding,”
FoxNews.com,
Sept. 15, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/despite-stimulus-funding-solyndra-and-4-other-companies-have-hit-rock-bottom/.

30.
Elisha Maldonado, “Solyndra Bankruptcy: Company Violated Loan Terms, But Got More Federal Money,”
International Business Times,
Sept. 29, 2011. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/222186/20110929/solyndra-bankruptcy-loan-violation-obama-feds.htm.

31.
Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, “Solyndra loan deal: Warning about legality came from within Obama administration,”
Washington Post,
Oct. 7, 2011.

32.
Matthew Daly, “Solyndra Bankruptcy: Obama Administration Considered Bailout,”
Huffington Post,
Nov. 2, 2011. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/solyndra-bankruptcy-obama-administration-bailout_n_1072737.html.

33.
“Solyndra Case Reveals Gateway Between Administration Loans, Obama Allies,”
FoxNews.com,
Nov. 16, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/16/solyndra-case-reveals-gateway-between-administration-loans-obama-allies/.

34.
Matthew L. Wald, “Solar Firm Aided by Federal Loans Shuts Doors,”
New York Times,
Aug. 31, 2011.

35.
Jim McElhatton, “Congressman irked by Solyndra bonuses, equipment destruction,”
Washington Times
, Jan. 20, 2012.

36.
“Biden praised stimulus-backed Ener1 one year before company went bankrupt,”
Daily Caller,
Jan. 26, 2012. http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/26/biden-praised-ener1-one-year-ago-in-speech-that-declared-administration-was-sparking-whole-new-industries/.

37.
Brent Snavely, “Volt Production on Hold for 5 Weeks,”
Detroit Free Press
, Mar. 2, 2012.

38.
Tom Gantert, “Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers up to $250K Per Vehicle,”
Michigan Capitol Confidential
, Dec. 21, 2011. http://www.mackinac.org/16192.

39.
Brent Snavely, “Volt Production on Hold for 5 Weeks,”
op. cit.

40.
Jerry Hirsch, “General Electric Says it Will Buy 25,000 Electric Vehicles in 2015,”
Los Angeles Times
, Nov. 12, 2010.

41.
Joel Gehrke, “GM Laying Off 1300 Due to Low Volt Sales,”
Beltway Confidential, Washington Examiner
, Mar. 2, 2012.

42.
Aamer Madhani, “GOP’s Hatch urged $20M in earmarks for bankrupt clean energy firm,”
USA Today,
Oct. 29, 2011.

43.
Aamer Madhani, “Failed Energy Projects Cross U.S. Party Lines,”
USA Today
, Oct. 14, 2011.

44.
Ibid.

45.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Independent Statistics & Analysis. http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/crude_oil_natural_gas_reserves/cr.html.

46.
American Petroleum Institute, “The State of American Energy 2011.” http://www.scribd.com/doc/46074917/The-State-of-American-Energy.

47.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Independent Statistics & Analysis. http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_wkly_dc_NUS-Z00_mbblpd_4.htm.

48.
U.S. Census Bureau, History, 2010 Fast Facts. http://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/2010_fast_facts.html.

49.
Gross Domestic Product, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce. http://www.bea.gov/national/index.htm#gdp.

50.
Jim Morrill, “Duke guaranteeing $10 million line of credit for DNC,”
charlotteobserver.com,
Mar. 12, 2011. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/03/12/2133391/duke-guaranteeing-10m-line-of.html.

51.
United States Climate Action Partnership. http://www.us-cap.org/.

52.
Holman W. Jenkins Jr., “A Fine Clean Coal Mess: Duke Energy Loses its Bet on Cap and Trade,”
Wall Street Journal,
Dec. 15, 2010.

53.
“Duke Energy Reaches Agreement with DOE to Accept $204 million in Stimulus Funds to Support Grid Modernization,” Duke Energy news release, May 13, 2010. http://www.duke-energy.com/news/releases/2010051301.asp.

54.
Holman W. Jenkins Jr., “A Fine Clean Coal Mess,”
op. cit.

55.
Clive Thompson, “A Green Coal Baron?”
New York Times Magazine
, June 22, 2008.

56.
“Cap and Trade: We Need to Get It Right,” Duke Energy. http://www.duke-energy.com/pdfs/CapNTrade_Fact_Sheet_FINAL.PDF.

57.
Thompson, “A Green Coal Baron?”
op. cit.

58.
Bruce Henderson, “Lobbying pays off for Duke,”
charlotteobserver.com
, Oct. 9, 2009. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2009/10/09/992164/lobbying-pays-off-for-duke.html.

59.
“Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers Takes Heat at Company’s Annual Meeting for Promoting President Obama’s War on Fossil Fuels,” press release, National Center for Public Policy Research, May 5, 2011. http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-Duke_Energy_Results_050511.html.

60.
“Duke Energy’s Support of President Obama’s Cap-and-Trade Policy to Be Challenged by Stockholders at Company Shareholder Meetings Thursday,” press release, National Center for Public Policy Research, May 6, 2011 http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-Duke_Energy_050610.html.

61.
Henderson, “Lobbying pays off for Duke,”
op. cit.

62.
Mark L. Vachon and Jeffrey R. Immelt, “To our investors, customers and other stakeholders,”
Annual Report
, Ecomagination, General Electric, June 20, 2011. Accessed Jan. 3, 2012. http://www.ecomagination.com/progress/overview/letter/.

63.
Scott Malone, “GE’s Immelt wishes he had soft-pedaled green talk,” Reuters, May 3, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/us-ge-green-idUSTRE7427F920110503.

64.
Eric Lipton and Clifford Kraus, “A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search,”
op. cit.

65.
Carol Browner, Ron Klain, and Larry Summers, Memorandum for the President, Oct. 25, 2010. http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/265143/summers-renewable-energy-memo2010.pdf.

66.
Ibid.

67.
Warren Meyer, “The Looming Failure of Obamacare, Part 3: Rent-Seeking,”
Forbes,
Feb. 24, 2011. http://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenmeyer/2011/02/24/the-looming-failure-of-obamacare-part-3-rent-seeking/.