Wednesday, November 9, 2011

US taxpayers now forced to back loan to Russian billionaire

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11/8/11, "And Now, Stimulus For Russia," Investors Business Daily Editorial

"Not only do taxpayers subsidize failing green energy here, they may soon be on the hook for a Department of Energy loan to a firm owned by a Russian billionaire....

When a foreign firm wants to build a facility in the U.S. that hires American workers and pays American taxes, we welcome it. We'd prefer they do it with their own money, not rely on this administration's failed industrial policy to provide them with a huge taxpayer-backed loan —especially when it's owned by a billionaire who doesn't need the help.

The administration's latest green boondoggle is a $773 million loan for Severstal North America to expand and retool the old Rouge steel mill in Dearborn, Mich., to manufacture high-strength steel in a Rust Belt state badly in need of job creation.

The idea allegedly was to provide the high-strength steel needed to produce lighter, more-fuel-efficient cars as part of President Obama's touted Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. It supports cars like the heavily subsidized Chevy Volt, built by the bailed-out Government Motors.

The problem is that this kind of steel is already being produced in sufficient quantities, including by Severstal. And the company getting the loan is owned by Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov,
  • one of the world's richest men with a net worth estimated at $19 billion."...


via Lucianne

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