Monthly Archives: October 2011

Another Day, Another Tax Payer Backed Green Energy Company Fails

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Whoever thought this was a good idea (ahem… Dr. Steven Chu Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley) needs to lose their job:

An energy company that received a $43 million loan guarantee through the same federal program that backed Solyndra has followed the path of the failed solar firm and filed for bankruptcy.

Beacon Power Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The company, which develops energy storage systems based on what are known as “flywheels,” had received the federal guarantee for a 20-megawatt energy storage plant in Stephentown, N.Y., back in August 2010.

The loan was expected to cover the lion’s share of the $69 million project, one of several that Beacon was developing across the country.

But the company’s CEO said in a statement to the court that all those projects are “capital intensive,” and the firm is struggling to attract the additional investment needed to keep everything running. The fact that the company faced being de-listed from the NASDAQ didn’t help, he said.

Flywheels? Seriously?

What is it with the eco-fanatics fascination with Victorian era technology? The are in love with electric cars, windmills, solar (photovoltaic cells) panels and now flywheels.

One of the first patents to discuss energy storage using a flywheel dates back to 1894:

click for larger image

Text from patent abstract:

My invention relates to that class of regulators by which energy is stored when the quantity produced by the motor is in excess of that demanded by the load upon it, and restored to the system whenever the demand of the load is greater than the supply. In this respect the action of the device is analogous to that of a flywheel. Flywheels, however, on account of the excessive weight which they necessarily assume if designed to store large quantities of energy, are generally useful only to absorb fluctuations of power extending over comparatively short periods of time, such as occur during the different parts of the revolution or cycle of an engine.

The main purpose of my invention is to produce a regulator applicable to any form of motor, which, without having excessive weight in its moving parts, shall render possible the storing and restoring of any desired quantity of energy, and which may serve to neutralize fluctuations of power enduring for comparatively long periods of time, for example for several minutes, or even hours.

To accomplish this purpose, I employ, as a means of storing energy, any suitable form of electrical storage battery, and as the moving or revolving body, which replaces the flywheel of the older constructions, the armature of a dynamo electric machine, constructed and connected to the storage battery in a manner to be more fully explained hereinafter, so that when revolving with the desired speed in a constant direction it may act either as a generator, absorbing surplus energy from, the motor and charging the battery, or as an auxiliary motor drawing energy from the battery and assisting the engine or prime mover, at times when the load exceeds the average.

Way to be cutting edge… Circa 1894 (if ever) Steven Chu…

Even worse than the flawed technology is the fact that, again, a politically connected donor is at the center of the failed venture:

One of the most controversial aspects of the Solyndra case — aside from the sheer size of the $535 million guarantee — was a decision earlier this year to prioritize private investors over taxpayers in case of bankruptcy. Republicans have accused the administration of giving precedence to investors in the companies who are also Obama backers.

“As with Solyndra, the head of Beacon Power appears to have been a supporter of President Obama’s,” Sessions said in a statement.

“Increasingly, we are moving away from our capitalist heritage and towards a system where most Americans play by the rules while some are able to rig the game in their favor. The real divide is not split along income lines, but between the politically-connected and those—whether businesses or individuals—who just want the freedom to earn a living.“

Oh, and for the $43 million, Beacon power was only planned to create (or save) 14 permanent jobs and 20 construction jobs.

What a deal.

Liberal America: Christmas is not the only Generic ‘Holiday’ on the calendar

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Liberals who have worked overtime trying to scrub the word “Christmas” from America’s vocabulary are turning their sights on the distinctly American holiday of Thanksgiving.

One recent example of assault on Thanksgiving appears today in Detroit’s more liberal newspaper The Detroit Free Press. The headline writer couldn’t bring himself to use the dreaded word “Thanksgiving” in a headline for an article discussing traveling on Thanksgiving :

Airfares soaring for the holiday travelers

To be a liberal one has to be an incredibly hollow person.

Some people think this is a small thing, but it is really important to maintain tradition. Sir Winston Churchill summed it up perfectly:

A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.

A Little Halloween Music: Feed My Frankenstein

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What would Halloween be without Detroit’s very own Alice Cooper

YouTube Preview Image

*I know the Arizona contingent will be all over me for this statement. But hey, as Alice himself said:

Me and Iggy were giggin’ with Ziggy and kickin’ with the MC5
Ted and Seger were burnin’ with fever
and let the Silver bullets fly
The Kid was in his crib, shady wore a bib
and the posse wasn`t even alive
Shock rock choppin’ block, songs to make your heart stop
Shovie it in ta overdrive

Playing loud and fast
Make that guitar blast
Playing like today will be your last…

Well I was born there
Gonna die there
With all my long hair
Detroit City
You feel your heart beat
You hit the concrete
Dance the mean street,
Detroit City

Detroit is Rock and Roll..

Saturday Morning Links: The Halloween Past Edition

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Found theses interesting vintage Halloween pictures at Shorpy.

CP: With all those vegetables mentioned and the Soviet “glamor” maybe Michelle Obama caught this on You Tube as well?
CoF: Human Rights vs. Private Property Rights at Catholic University
Bunker: Napolitano knew about guns going to Mexico in 2009
Another interesting slice of history @ WWTFT: Loyal Opposition
Robot: Progressives Plan to Abolish Electoral College!

theCL: In case you needed even more evidence that mainstream media outlets are nothing more than state organs pushing propaganda
SJ: Michael Moore is one clueless soul…and I do mean clueless
CH2.0: It has only just recently begun to snow, so we’ll have to see how much snow the global warming brings.
WyBlog: “Nice little Halloween display you got there, be a shame if nobody got to see it.”
TMGGB: Follow the money and see who profits from this.

The Eye: The Karl Rove GOP v. the Sarah Palin GOP = Mitt Romney v. Herman Cain?
CS: Changing Landscapes of the Arab World
Pundette: Our gentle first lady, taking it a step or two beyond her husband’s “Argue with [your neighbors], get in their face”
FCBZ: Racism 101, Democrats, & MSNBC
TBA: Who the Heck is Orlando Jones?

Dewey: Catholic University of America and the Slippery Slope of Accomodation
MTTM on the #OWS crowd: They see corruption and cronyism as the problem, but do not understand that these are merely the symptoms of a greater, unrecognized problem.
RR: Rick Perry’s Newest Ad Hits Airwaves in Iowa
Henry Payne: Halloween 2012
Phil’s Blog: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?

Radical environmentalists say we should press for a better distribution of wealth to ‘combat’ global warming

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Radicals are dropping all pretenses about what the environmental movement is really about.

Via the U.K. Guardian:

In other words, it can make a contribution. But the other 81-84% will have to come from reducing consumption and changing technologies. The UN report concludes that “even if zero population growth were achieved, that would barely touch the climate problem“.

This should not prevent us from strongly supporting the policies which will cause population to peak sooner rather than later. Sex education, the report shows, is crucial, as is access to contraception and the recognition of women’s rights and improvement in their social status. All these have been important factors in the demographic transition the world has seen so far. We should also press for a better distribution of wealth: escaping from grinding poverty is another of the factors which have allowed women to have fewer children. The highly unequal system sustained by the rich white men who fulminate about population is one of the major reasons for population growth.

According to this eco-warrior we need to lower our standard of living, spread the wealth around and have a lot fewer children.

Actually, this sounds a lot like things ‘mainstream liberals have proposed over the years.

An extra big tip O’ the hat to Tim Worstall  (from the Adam Smith Institute) who also points out that our intrepid eco-warrior “misrepresented” the population data.

China’s economy: Housing bubbles here, credit bubbles there

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Forget Greece. Forget Italy. Forget #OWS. The true looming problem with the global economy is China.

Of course, if you are a regular reader of MCT, you would have read about China’s economic problems over a year ago, including their impending housing bubble. Via CBS Market Watch:

Take a look at the Chinese situation. The bubble has been as big as any we’ve seen. They’ve never seen a housing bust. They assumed it will go on forever.

Ten years ago, homes in Shanghai sold for about six times an average family’s income. Today that’s 13 times. Shenzhen has gone from five times to 14 times. These are off-the-charts absurd ratios. This is a bona fide mania.

And it works fine until the music stops.

Where are we now?

Prices have started falling. Now, fewer than 46 of 70 major cities saw prices stall or decline in September, reports the National Statistical Bureau. As recently as January the number was just 10.

Of course, this isn’t the only problem facing China. They have a credit bubble brewing as well.

What would a housing bust be without a credit bust? This will be the mother of all implosions, too.

In the past two and a half years, China has witnessed a staggering credit bubble. Total lending has come to about $7.8 trillion.

To put this in context, that is twice the entire net government debts of the European so-called “PIIGS” — the troubled countries of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain — put together.

What sort of accountability has there been to all this lending in a single party, Communist-run, Third World economy with little previous experience of credit?

Um…

An alarming report from Schroders said Chinese banking operates in a “twilight zone” of phony accounting and shadow money and it’s all coming apart. “Almost half of all credit creation in China is off balance sheet,” wrote the team at Schroders.

They think this situation could unravel “over the next three to six months,” producing a huge crisis with international implications. Most Chinese banks, they predict, will end up as “zombie banks.”

Again, frequent readers of MCT have read about this nearly a year ago (December 2010) where it was pointed out:

China’s economy is almost entirely based on exports. Mainly exports to the United States. And with Obama and his Democrat henchmen working overtime to keep us economic crises mode, the Chinese economy is going to have a hard time hanging on and continuing to purchase our debt.

If this trend continues, we could be facing a tough economic road ahead.

Mr. Friedman, what were you saying about the enlightened Chinese economy?