Amazing how $2.9 million in BP campaign donations to Obama translates so fabulously into an $308 million federal grant. It must be nice for BP to “pay” the United States back for the gulf disaster with essentially our own money. But hey, when you’re a Friend of Obama (FOO) this is how you roll. (HT TUA at SondraK)
BP collecting millions in government stimulus funds for California power plant
The federal government is giving a joint venture involving oil giant BP millions of dollars in stimulus money to build a power plant on farmland near the tiny Kern County town of Tupman, even as the company faces heavy government pressure and a criminal probe into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP is benefiting from a $308 million federal grant over several years for the cutting-edge power plant on cotton and alfalfa fields seven miles from the western edge of Bakersfield. More than half of the money, $175 million, is coming from stimulus funds. The rest is coming from another federal program…
The U.S. Department of Energy announced the grant last year to Hydrogen Energy California, a joint partnership of BP and the multinational mining firm Rio Tinto, and has paid out $13.6 million so far. The money continues to flow even as the Obama administration bills BP for the massive costs of the oil spill…
His 46-year-old daughter, Barbara Mora, who lives down the street, was outraged at BP’s involvement. “Wasn’t it Obama who stated that BP’s going to pay?” she said. “Well, they’re probably going to pay with the money we’re giving them. Isn’t that our money?”
What we have here is basically national socialism. The big players get cozy with the government, pulling down huge contracts to build big-ticket boondoggles that do nothing but waste resources, with money being recycled back into the political machines of the incumbents. The media trumpets the triumph of some high-sounding goal (“Green!” “Jobs!”) that have no connection to reality, but nobody seems to notice and nobody wants to kill the gravy train. So everybody’s happy, except for citizens and taxpayers (born and unborn) and productive businesses that pay the bills and get nothing. The economy sinks under the ever-increasing dead weight of the public sector, while we listen to politicians crow about how much they’ve done for us, and how much more they could do if not for all the racists standing in the way of progress.
Hi Diane, I agree with your sentiment, but if I may ask, using all CAPS in a comment is the equivalent of screaming. I know we all want to but if we could refrain from the all caps in comments I’d appreciate it 🙂 Thanks.
What? Did you say something? My ears are ringing, I think I may have tinnitus.
LOL !.. oops.. sorry… lol !
Stop that!! LOL/lol You know what I meant Cow