This is a perfect example of what makes Obama such an ass

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president pantywaist

 

Channeling both Alinsky and Machiavelli, Obama once again took to attacking private US citizens:

President Obama made a political and an economic case for solar energy Monday, telling an industry summit in Las Vegas that the explosive growth in solar power “has some big fossil fuel interests pretty nervous.”

“Now, it’s one thing if you’re consistent in being free market. It’s another thing when you’re free market until it’s solar that’s working and people want to buy and suddenly you’re not for it any more,” he said.

“When you start seeing massive lobbying efforts backed by fossil fuel interests, or conservative think tanks, or the Koch brothers pushing for new laws to roll back renewable energy standards, or to prevent new clean energy businesses from succeeding, that’s s problem,” Obama said, singling out industrialists Charles and David Koch for the first time in a climate speech.

“That’s not the American way. That’s not progress. That’s not innovation. That’s rent seeking. That’s standing in the way of progress,” Obama said

Charles Koch was having none of it. The Koch’s are not against clean energy- and pay attention- they work to end all corporate welfare:

But Koch, who is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, said his opposition to subsidies for clean energy companies — or any other private businesses — doesn’t mean he’s against their success. Rolling back corporate welfare is one of the top issues Koch is pursuing with his richly funded political network.

Koch said his company also opposes subsidies for fossil fuels. And he portrayed Obama’s remarks as an unwarranted personal attack.

“I was absolutely flabbergasted that he could say so many things about us that were the opposite of the truth,” Koch said. “I was really dumbfounded. And I know he was there with Harry Reid. So we expect that with Harry Reid, but I didn’t expect that from the president.”

Koch said he has never met Obama. “The only thing I can think of is he was there with Harry Reid, and it was kind of a farewell gesture to help Harry Reid,” Koch added. “I can think of no other reason to single us out in his remarks in his efforts to promote his favorite forms of energy.”

Koch said his company is “opposed to renewable energy subsidies of all kinds — as we are all subsidies, whether they benefit or help us.”

“We are not trying to prevent new clean energy businesses from succeeding,” Koch continued. “Any business that’s economical, that can succeed in the marketplace, any form of energy, we’re all for. As a matter of fact, we’re investing in quite a number of them, ourselves — whether that’s ethanol, renewable fuel oil. … We’re investing a tremendous amount in research to make those more efficient and create higher-value products.”

Obama went on to prove he knows squat about free markets:

Obama continued: “I mean, think about this. Ordinarily, these are groups that tout themselves as champions of the free market. If you start talking to them about providing health care for folks who don’t have health insurance, they’re going crazy: ‘This is socialism, this is going to destroy America.’ But in this situation, they’re trying to undermine competition in the marketplace, and choke off consumer choice, and threaten an industry that’s churning out new jobs at a fast pace.”

Koch shot back: “I don’t know whether he knows what that phrase means, but ‘rent seeking,’ of course, is, in economic terms, is getting the government to rig the system in your favor. And that’s exactly what these so-called ‘renewable energy’ proponents are doing.”

Having singled out private citizens for ridicule and having those private citizens respond, the pissy Obama again took to another personal attack.

“I’m not sure whether to describe those comments as remarkably rich or utterly predictable,” Earnest said in response to a question from a POLITICO reporter. “It’s that when the president is advocating, for example, the end of tax subsidies that benefit oil and gas companies, that somebody who has made billions of dollars leading an oil and gas company, might not think very highly of that policy proposal.”

Uh, no

“We think it is hypocritical that Mr. Earnest attempted to tout the merits of a free-market system while promoting a new round of taxpayer-funded loan guarantees for the Administration’s politically friendly special interests. That said, Mr. Earnest’s statement about Koch is inaccurate. We have not lobbied for government subsidies or mandates, and we have lobbied against subsidies that directly benefit Koch. The fact is – and the White House should know this – we have fought against government boondoggles for decades because corporate welfare wastes resources, stifles innovation and has pushed our country to the brink of bankruptcy,” Ellender said in a statement.

“Now, if the question is, ‘Has Koch accepted subsidies?’ the answer is ‘Yes,’ and we’ve been clear about that. We participate in these types of programs where they already exist so that we can protect our 60,000 U.S.-based employees and not put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage. But to reiterate, we would eliminate all subsidies and mandates today if we could, including those we receive. ”

Earnest continued the ad hominem attacks;

“I guess. Yeah,” he said, remarking that Obama is not particularly surprised to see criticism of his policies from people like the “millionaires and billionaires” who “start to squeal.”

And I guess one billionaire special-interest benefactor chose to squeal to a POLITICO reporter,” Earnest said.

This is disgusting and intolerable, especially from the pantywaist President who started the whole thing.

As long as we’re talking hypocrisy, let’s throw Obama into the pile of dog doo. Despite the millions of dollars he’s made during his Presidency, despite his calling for “fairness” Obama still takes all the tax deductions he can to avoid paying his fair share. Obama paid only 18% on $600,000 income in 2013.

And what of the magnificant solar energy that Obama touts? Solyndra, which misrepresented facts to get loan guarantees from the government, failed gloriously at a $500 million cost to the US taxpayer. A list of 36 Obama solar energy failures can be found here. These “clean energy” projects are usually more about crony capitalism than not and are veiled in the costume of progress. Let us not forget that Obama not only called out and vilified Romney donors, he managed to persuade the IRS to audit them. Now he personally attacks industrialists who employ tens of thousands of people, pay millions in taxes and are big time philanthropists. They are America and liberals hate them for it. Obama does what he can to nurture this hatred of them.

About these personal attacks, Charles Koch said :

“It’s beneath the president, the dignity of the president, to be doing that.”

He would have a point except for one thing- Obama has no dignity. Every day he further demeans and soils the highest office in the land. Obama wouldn’t recognize dignity if it bit the head off his putter. He is an ass.

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@john:
How very interesting that Barrys bud—or puppeteer—George Soros just bought a whole lot of coal….shares of Arch coal and Peabody Energy., given how low their prices are. He, who vilified coal as lethal to the planet. I guess it’s ok to be a hypocritical, lying lib when you want to make money. Do as I say, not as I do.

@Greg: That doesn’t mean Solyndra represents a typical outcome of the government’s involvement in alternative energy development.

See my previous post #25. All those companies I listed received money from the DoE and have since shuttered their doors.

I dug into the back story to a few of the companies I listed and they all have a similar theme of Democrat cronyism.

For example, Toledo Blade: Former Willard & Kelsey executive sought cozy ties with state officials

As Willard & Kelsey Solar Group’s executives eyed millions in state development dollars in mid-2008, the company’s chief financial officer cozied up to someone with high-level access to former Gov. Ted Strickland’s (Democrat) administration to aid the firm’s funding request.

At the suggestion of Mossie Murphy, Willard & Kelsey’s chief financial officer, the Perrysburg solar-panel manufacturer’s brass reached out to Cleveland businessman C. David Snyder, a top donor to Mr. Strickland’s 2006 campaign and fund-raiser for his re-election bid.

@Artfldgr: TL;DR

Kidding! Great post man. Pretty epic w/ a ton of facts. Bookmarked. Serious, thumps up. TY

Notice this is from BERKELEY:
http://ei.haas.berkeley.edu/research/abstracts/abstract_wp262.html

Since 2006, U.S. households have received more than $18 billion in federal income tax credits for weatherizing their homes, installing solar panels, buying hybrid and electric vehicles, and other “clean energy” investments.
We use tax return data to examine the socioeconomic characteristics of program recipients.
We find that these tax expenditures have gone predominantly to higher-income Americans.
The bottom three income quintiles have received about 10% of all credits, while the top quintile has received about 60%.

The most extreme is the program aimed at electric vehicles, where we find that the top income quintile has received about 90% of all credits.

By comparing to previous work on the distributional consequences of pricing greenhouse gas emissions, we conclude that tax credits are likely to be much less attractive on distributional grounds than market mechanisms to reduce GHGs.

Green energy programs are corrupt all the way through.
If this distribution happened in any other field than green energy the Lefties would be apoplectic.

I would add that, because Obama insisted on wages based on the Bacon-Davis Act, many weatherization installers took the rebate as full payment.
They ripped off the government.
And they still came out ahead, albeit with a very low profit margin per job.

@Mully:

Most people have no idea what it takes to power the infrastructure of this country.

Amen! Back when some well-meaning but technically illiterate clowns tried to pass a “renewable” energy bill here in Michigan, I ran some numbers… For it’s 10 million customers, the 2 major electric utilities and the small fry have about 17,000 MW of installed capacity. The biggest windmills are rated 3.5MW under ideal conditions. Simple math would show you that you’d need over 5000 of those 300 ft monstrosities to power the state. That 3.5MW is usually quoted in a 20mph wind.. and it depends on a cube of the wind speed… so let the wind drop to 10mph and now you need 40,000 of them. Add up all the concrete, steel, aluminum, copper, composites and rare-earth magnets (a ton each on those) to build and interconnect them and it makes no sense. Solar is worse, since there’s no good way to store huge amounts of power overnight. The only renewable that makes sense is fast breeder nukes, but since the whole renewable thing is about “feel good” and political pandering, that will never happen.

@Jim S:
Great point about renewable energy.
Wind turbines, let’s say 40,000 of them, must each be about ten-to-fifteen times the diameter of their blades apart to be optimal in catching the wind.
So, how many acres would that require?
4 million, 384 thousand acres!
Ouch!
And the noise pollution would cover an area more than twice that size.
Who wants to be their neighbor?

@Questionman: wow you and that murderer in VA have a lot in common.

Scientific American, March 10, 2015: Solar Power Sees Unprecedented Boom in U.S.

…solar accounted for 32 percent of the nation’s new generating capacity in 2014, beating out both wind energy and coal for the second consecutive year. Only natural gas constituted a greater share of new generating capacity, according to the report.

But how do you argue with people who are convinced that LED light bulbs are a socialist conspiracy?

@Jim S: Don’t forget that those damn windmills slice and dice birds and they break and odds are they’ll just be nasty eye sores after a decade or so. Do a Google Earth of Altamonte Pass Kommieforniastan, at lest 25% of those things are dead and decaying.

@Greg: the decimal point is in the wrong place. Actual solar production is 3% on a perfect day. Solar and wind is just a farce to separate us from our money. Google is your friend, except when it comes to using phony date.

@upChuck.Liberals, #61:

You need to read more carefully. That’s 32 percent of new generating capacity, not total generating capacity. Scientific American understands the function of decimal points.

@Greg: The Scientific American article you cite projects 25 years into the future. The Jetsons did so as well, and I suspect with nearly the same accuracy.

Alternative energy sources are a wonderful idea, and most traditional deliverers of electricity and heat are on board. The devil, as it is often noted, is in the details. When the wind blows particularly hard, I live in Colorado where we see 100+mph winds and my best friend works in the wind industry, the turbines must be shut down.

The sun does not always shine even in Colorado, and the ability to store energy, and transmit it for a later purpose is still problematic, to say the least. Simply stated the delivery mechanism for powering a city of 85,000 or above is definitionally not practical.

Taking this notion to the next level, it WILL increase costs, and hit the persons least able to absorb them. But that is not what you “progressive” of “leftist” bozos care about, is it?

You couch your terms in collectivist little-guy bullshit, but when pressed, it is the same lefty elitism all the way down..

@upChuck.Liberals, #60:

Don’t forget that those damn windmills slice and dice birds…

Yeah, sure. They spin like the blades of a Cuisinart food processor, instantly turning flocks of migratory birds into confetti.

Or maybe not. Birds have far bigger worries than wind turbines.

But how do you argue with people who are convinced that LED light bulbs are a socialist conspiracy?

The problem is, that greenies and government hacks block construction of old school plants, so the only thing built is wind and solar. No wonder solar is in second place for new construction.

BTW, I love LED light bulbs, it’s the twisty bulbs that are a commie plot. 😉

Wind and solar should properly be part of an “all of the above” strategy. Obama gave lip service to this, even as he tried to destroy the coal industry and impede the production & refining of oil.
I have a solar system which pretty much zeros out my bill and sends a little extra onto the grid. This doesn’t change the fact that at night and on cloudy days, I rely on that capacity from coal/oil fired/nuke/hydroelectric plants.

Solar & wind have their place, but they can never fully replace conventional generation.

@Greg: But how do you argue with people who are convinced that LED light bulbs are a socialist conspiracy?

When it comes out that Statist estimates of recycle rates of their mandated light bulbs don’t reach expectational out comes and their [hazard waste] resulting disposal pollutes local environs, will that be a socialist conspiracy or human nature?

Greg, please understand, we of the “socialist conspiracy’ cabal lost the free market ability to use one of the MOST AWESOME products ever invented, a Thomas Edison Light Bulb.

How can I argue with someone who hates Thomas Edison?

Rhetoric aside, our economic freedom continues to decline. You can’t take a shit anymore without it being regulated. Or have a pond for that matter. EPA: Hey, that’s rain in your yard and we’re here to help.

BTW – it’s telling you ask, “how do you argue with people who are convinced that LED light bulbs…” When you might just want to say, “how do I convince people who argue that LED light bulbs…”