From Politico:
President Barack Obama will raise money in early October with a Missouri businessman whose company benefited from a $107 million federal tax credit to develop a wind power facility in his state.
Tom Carnahan, a scion of Missouri’s most prominent Democratic political family, is listed on Obama’s campaign website as a host of a $25,000-per-person fundraiser to be held in St. Louis on October 4.
Continue ReadingHis energy development firm, Wind Capital Group, was helped by a sizable credit authorized in the stimulus, for an energy project in northwest Missouri…
If the name “Carnahan” sounds familiar it is because Tom is the son of former Missouri governor Mel Carnahan and former Missouri Senator Jean Carnahan. In other words, what we’ve got here is the scion of a massively connected, political family who is building up a personal fortune via taxpayer subsidy. This is the sort of private enterprise our Democrats actually like…someone who is in the private sector, gets massive government aid and then turns around and boosts Democrats at election time. If the Democrats fully had their way, the only people permitted to be in business would be people like Tom Carnahan.
The world Obama wants to build – the change you can really believe in – is to create in the United States an European-style Ruling Class in which all power in government and industry is held by those who are well-connected…not those who earn it; not those in whom public reposes their trust. The future will be Tom Carnahan clones getting rich and Barack Obama’s running the show while the rest of us dwindle in to poverty and slowly die out as welfare and the Culture of Death sap our will to live…
Revolution is the answer…and next year we can do it.
HAT TIP: Hot Air
Blogs For Victory 
Mark,
Since you seem to have a problem with Crony Capitalists, do you feel the same about those on your side, or is your problem just with those that support Democrats?
Casper,
All crony capitalism must and and certainly there are GOPers who do it…but the system we live in was built by liberals, for liberals. This sort of corruption is endemic to your side, not ours.
Some how I have a hard time believing you Mark. If the GOP didn’t have the various oil companies and other large corporations, which have received billions in subsidies over the years, bank rolling them they wouldn’t have near the power they enjoy.
Casper, A pox on them all. I don’t care what political party they operate for. If you can provide an example, most of us here will join you in denouncing it.
GMB,
How about the Koch brothers.
“– As Yasha Levine has reported, Koch exploits a number of government programs for profit. For instance, Georgia Pacific, a timber company subsidiary of Koch Industries, uses taxpayer money provided by the U.S. Forestry Service to provide their loggers with taxpayer-funded roads and access to virgin growth forests. “Logging companies such as Georgia-Pacific strip lands bare, destroy vast acreages and pay only a small fee to the federal government in proportion to what they take from the public,” according to the Institute for Public Accuracy. Levine also notes that Koch’s cattle ranching company, Matador Cattle Company, uses a New Deal program to profit off federal land for free.
– Koch Industries won massive government contracts using their close relationship with the Bush administration. The Bush administration, in a deal even conservatives alleged was a quid pro quo because of Koch’s campaign donations, handed Koch Industries a lucrative contract to supply the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve with 8 million barrels of crude oil. The SPR deal, done initially in 2002, was renewed in 2004 by Bush administration officials. During the occupation of Iraq, Koch won significant
contracts to buy Iraqi crude oil.”
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/03/01/146847/charles-koch-welfare/
Denounce away.
I thought building roads was the governments responsibility, but now you’re saying that using those roads should not be allowed by the Koch’s business interests? Why is that? And my understanding is that GP replaces and replants most of what they harvest. There is also a thing called forest management – you may want to read up on it.
I also think that articles by thinkprogress are really not worth the paper they are written on. It is a publication that champions the progressive agenda, so they just might have many reasons to paint the Koch Bros in a bad light. Ya think??
cluster,
When the government is building roads at taxpayer expense for a single company, I would consider that a subsidy.
Interesting you didn’t dispute the other claims in the article, just attacked the source. does that mean you are ok with crony capitalism as long as It’s Republicans that benefit?
Yea that’s it Casper. I love republicans so much that I hope they are the only ones to benefit from corruption. Good thinking. And I hardly “attacked” the source, I simply gave my opinion based on their agenda, much like you do with Fox news.
And those forestry roads are eventually used by a lot of people Casper, not just loggers.
The question is Casper, why do we continue to pay for you? You drive on roads paid for by tax payers, you work in a building paid for by tax payers, your salary is paid for by tax payers, and your pension is paid for by tax payers, yet statistically, you produce an inferior product. Why should I continue to pay for you?
Casper,
Georgia-Pacific, though, didn’t get a special subsidy just for Georgia Pacific. The way the National Forest Service governs forest lands is covered by US law, built up over a very long time. 1.5 billion trees are harvested each year on national forest land, and you can rest assured that Georgia Pacific doesn’t harvest them all…and, at any rate, the amount of land held by the National Forest Service is dwarfed by the amount of land held by the Bureau of Land Management. What you’re trying to do is make out that EVIL KOCH BROTHERS!!!! are just as bad as this Carnahan guy who got a special, direct, taxpayer subsidy…all Koch is doing via Georgia Pacific is playing by the rules…the rules you liberals set down. As for me, I’d determine which parts of US government lands are actually necessary for national parks and recreation areas, and then sell the rest of it off…Koch, if they want, could buy a million acres of forest and be totally responsible for all of it…including building the roads and assuring timely reforestation. That would eliminate any possibility of crony capitalism…but any time we conservatives suggest this, you liberals act like we’re trying to pave the Grand Canyon…and so we keep the system we’ve got.
Mark,
“Georgia-Pacific, though, didn’t get a special subsidy just for Georgia Pacific.”
The subsidy that Wind Capital Group received was available to any company developing wind energy.
GP is still making money off government subsidies. You also haven’t addressed the Koch brothers other subsidies and government contracts.
“What you’re trying to do is make out that EVIL KOCH BROTHERS!!!! are just as bad as this Carnahan guy who got a special, direct, taxpayer subsidy…all Koch is doing via Georgia Pacific is playing by the rules…the rules you liberals set down.”
You are right. I am pointing out that the Koch brothers are as bad as Carnahan. Sadly you can’t say anything bad about your masters so you have to defend them at all costs.
“As for me, I’d determine which parts of US government lands are actually necessary for national parks and recreation areas, and then sell the rest of it off”
Good thing you aren’t in charge. I kind of like be able to camp, hunt, and fish on public land. It’s one of the things that makes this country great. i would hate to see it all sold to the rich and fenced off.
I understand that casper exploits a number of government programs for profit, including the interstate highway system and the educational system. For shame!!!
Casper,
Literal hundreds of thousands of square miles of American territory are already set aside as national parks and recreation areas…I’d add them whatever is necessary to ensure the biological viability of the areas, and then sell off the rest. 86% of Nevada, for instance, is owned by Uncle Sam…and that is just absurd. People pay fees to Uncle Sam to cut our timber and mine our minerals, but not to us…just stupid. Only a liberal would want to keep it like that.
Anyways…
If you want to assert that, after Solyndra, just any, old company could have applied to the Obama Administration for a subsidy on wind or other alternative energy then I guess I’ll just leave you with your fantasies. These grants and loans were given out with one thing in mind – rewarding Obama donors. Crony capitalism.
How much money did the Koch Brothers donate to Bush? Don’t seem to see that mentioned in your post.
The subsidy that Wind Capital Group received was available to any company developing wind energy.
So now as Casper points out that the US Government has the enumerated duty to pick winners and losers in the private market place. Just like DoE giving $100K to build “affordable” green housing that only millionaires and billionaires could possibly afford (before the new tax rates anyway.)
Get rid of all subsidies and we will have to bear the brunt in the open marketplace but if we can get government out of the private sector–it would go a long way to leveling the playing field.
Mark,
“Literal hundreds of thousands of square miles of American territory are already set aside as national parks and recreation areas…I’d add them whatever is necessary to ensure the biological viability of the areas, and then sell off the rest”
I have no doubt that what would end up being sold off would be some of the best areas around. Greed works that way.
“These grants and loans were given out with one thing in mind – rewarding Obama donors. Crony capitalism.”
Just as oil subsidies are kept to reward Republican donors. Crony capitalism.
OT, but how about Herman Cain blowing everyone away in the Florida Straw Poll — 37% to Perry and Romney with 15% and 14% in 2nd and third respectively. I’ve been puzzled as to why Cain hasn’t been getting more traction, and there’s no one I’d rather see come from the back of the pack.
Wow, 37%?? I like Cain quite a bit and his 9 9 9 plan makes sense. I also like the fact that nearly every GOP candidate has cited the need to scrap the current tax code, simplify it and eliminate loop holes. That is desperately needed. Our income tax forms should be one page. You made X, you pay Y.
Cain got 37%. Must have picked up the Muslim vote after his apology.
Do you think we should apologize to Muslims?
Meow. casper is even cattier than usual today—always such a manly trait, don’t you think?
“”While I stand by my opposition to the interference of shariah law into the American legal system, I remain humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends,” he said in the statement. “I am truly sorry for any comments that may have betrayed my commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of religion guaranteed by it.” ”
I guess the bold section of the quote explains casper’s snideness—he gets a little tetchy when people talk about commitment to the Constitution. I wonder if he thinks Cain’s commitment means he thinks we should reinstate slavery……..
No member of the Obama administration or any other part of government had any discretion in the choice of this project or this company. It is automatic for anyone who produces energy from wind and everyone who does so receives the exact same incentive.
Jon, just curious—why do you believe that “everyone” who produces energy from wind “receives the exact same incentive”?
Will you please cite the source of this information?
I’m not saying it isn’t true, I just wonder where you got your information. I know that there are state tax incentives in some places for those who use solar or wind power, but the high figure in this case caught my attention and I also wondered if this is just the regular tax incentive or another federal boost to desired “alternative energy” sources beyond that.
Ama,
Here is another example of the current administration trying to pick the winners and losers in today’s marketplace.
Solar Decathlon’s Rainy Start
The Department of Energy gives a $100,000 grant to each team just to participate in the Solar Decathlon, in addition to all the other costs of hosting and producing the competition. (Some of the other costs are offset by the myriad sponsors–from Lowe’s to Pepco.)
Of course everyone of the models proved to be too expensive except for millionaires and billionaires but hey ~ it is only taxpayer’s money — what do they care.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/solar-decathlons-rainy-start_594112.html
Jon,
ROFL…let me know when the Tooth Farie visits your house…she owes me a dime for a molar way back when…
” …….. all public lands that may hereafter be set aside and reserved as national forests under said section, shall be as far as practicable controlled and administered in accordance with the following provisions. No national forest shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the boundaries, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provisions, or of said section, to authorize the inclusion therein of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes, than for forest purposes.”
Got that? The national forests were established for the specific purposes of maintaining watersheds and “..to furnish a continuous supply of timber of the use and necessities of citizens of the United States…” This is why they are governed by the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of the Interior or any other department.
Roads are built not only to make it possible for this timber to be harvested, in accordance with the stated purpose of the forests, but to provide access for other purposes, such as firefighting.
Unexamined Lefties like casper, who wobble toward the Left for emotional reasons but do not have, or at least will not admit to, actual thought-out and determined political ideology, do tend to be sucked into the class warfare rhetoric of the rabidly radical Left—it just FEELS right, to a certain mentality, to resent and even dislike those who represent capitalism. It’s a gut feeling, a knee-jerk response to an emotion most closely related to simple envy, and it permeates the psuedo-Left who then spout nonsense about people like the Koch brothers.
And, as in casper’s case, it seems to be the people who have done the least who resent the most.
Mark,
So apparently if a Democrat takes advantage of a wind tax subsidy, then contributes money to Democrats it’s Crony Capitalism, yet if a Republican takes advantage of a oil tax subsidy then contributes to Republicans it’s not. The best word to describe this would be hypocrisy.
Which can be defined as:
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, ideals, thoughts, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have.
Still waiting on info of how much the Koch Brothers donated to Bush. Maybe I am not looking in the right place?
GMB,
Check out this:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries
GMB
Koch bros….Bussssshhhhhhhh
casper = STUCK on STUPID.
catspuke
how much has soros given to the marxists, muslems and the usurper??
media matters and the criminal enterprise known as the KKKlintoons?
I am still having trouble finding out how much money they raised or gave to Bush. I see a lot of donations to libertarian causes and to the republican committees but cant nail down how much they paid for Bush.
Let’s see: “Green” energy companies and supporters contribute huge amounts of money to the Dems, and in return get huge subsidies and write-offs and other benefits. Which are available to anyone in the industry, but it’s THE INDUSTRY that made the contributions and did the lobbying.
Wow. If there happens to be an alternative energy company run by conservatives, it is equally eligible for these subsidies and benefits, which means we just overlook the fact that THE INDUSTRY made the contributions and did the lobbying and the industry to date, is heavily Liberal.
The argument reminds of a friend who once told me he had bought his wife a necktie for her birthday—and when she wasn’t wearing it, he could.
Don’t get me wrong. I like many of the alternative energy efforts and I even agree that tax subsidies are an appropriate way to encourage them, to some degree. In this case I do not see a pay-to-play element, or if there is one it is pretty well hidden. It seems like a straightforward use of an established incentive system. Just as anyone can use oil subsidies, anyone can use wind and solar subsidies. Yet oil and gas incentives are enough to make Lib heads spin, and “green” subsidies are just so darned special.
But the Lib bleating tries to hide the very real fact that the subsidies and benefits exist due to industry contributions and lobbying. And casper’s incessant whining about the mean old capitalists does nothing but show his inherent Lib roots.
And to quote casper:
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, ideals, thoughts, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have.”
Which pretty much sums up casper himself, as he claims to respect the Constitution but then claims it supports slavery and denying women the vote, denies bias against capitalism when pressed but then snivels about the capitalist models chosen by the RRL as targets, etc.