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$529 Million In Federal Funding And All Jobs Destroyed Or Lost
Pop quiz:
Q. What is the fiscal multiplier on $529 in government stimulus?
A. If you are Fisker Automotive, zero.
While the terminal fate of the federally-subdizied car company was no secret to anyone, there were some questions when this latest example of idiotic government "capital allocation" would get Solyndraed. The answer is now.
According to several sources, electric car maker Fisker Automotive is planning to lay off many of its employees today. Sources tell me that there is a company meeting at 8AM today where the company will announce this to the employees.
I’ve also heard that law firm Outten & Golden has been looking into initiating a class action law suit to represent Fisker’s employees should Fisker fall into bankruptcy. The firm is looking into whether Fisker (like Solyndra) will or already has violated the WARN act.
The news follows reports that Fisker has hired a law firm to advise it on bankruptcy options. It owes a loan repayment to the Department of Energy this month, and has been cutting costs and furloughed its employees last month. The company hasn’t made a car since the summer of 2012.
...
Fisker was founded in 2007 and has raised over a billion dollars from venture capitalists like Kleiner Perkins, NEA and others, as well as wealthy individuals organized by now defunct broke Advanced Equities. Fisker also received part of a loan from the Department of Energy.
Perhaps the employees of the taxpayer-funded company can also sue the taxpayers for being dumb enough to have loaned cash to Fisker in the first place, instead of investing in other projects that actually have an IRR>0%. Oh wait: this is government "investing" where a 0% return is actually a good thing.
Oh well: time for the administration to spend a few more hundred million in another dead-end company just to purchase a few hundred votes for the next electoral cycle.
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Why haven't they built an electric choomwagon? All would be well ...
DIY. The government will give you bales of cash.
This is the republicrat way. Get used to it.
The reason that Fisker has had to stop producing electric cars is that the price of gasoline has gone up because too many people stopped driving.
-Paul Krugman
and with that I think I'm gonna go play with myself
Since I can read your tiny writing without glasses does that mean I don't have to stop yet?
pods
They stopped producing electricity cars because the cost of producing batteries increase as oil increases. Who would have known that the cost of everything is based on the price of oil?
Knukles you always have good shit that gives me a laugh...that Krugman 'quote' is priceless!
Boris
Boris is smart of brains! :>D
hang in their boys...we still have tesla....another genius succeeding on his own....
Ohhhh. And here I was thinking that they stopped producing electric cars because the batteries blew up and burned down the houses of the car owners.
Do it soon before the Self Pleasure Tax kicks in....
"Fisking" will be exempt.
Nothing Runs... Like a Fisker
I am very intrigued by your theories and I would like to sign up for your weekly newsletter...
They did build the first car to burn underwater.
Got to give them props for that.
You were kick-ass in that Ranger show. You should go do that in D.C!
"Electric Choomwagon"
Aren't those called Vaporizers?
That's it!
THC laden electronic joints, no real smoke or flame, just choom vapor!
Chargers built into the armrests, vapor drops and cartridges taxed to subsidize QE.
Break a window!
http://www.hempcar.org/
You put your weed in there, man.
This is classic
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/05/us-autos-fisker-layoffs-idUSBRE9340LW20130405
Fisker Automotive, the struggling hybrid sports car maker, terminated most of its rank-and-file employees at a Friday morning meeting at its Anaheim, California, headquarters, according to a source who attended the meeting.
About 160 employees are affected, the source said.
Fisker will retain about 53 senior managers and executives, the source said, primarily to pursue buyers for the company's assets.
The remaining Fisker executives also are continuing negotiations with the U.S. Department of Energy, the source said. The company hopes to renegotiate a DOE loan payment that is due on April 22.
53 senior managers and executives!?!?
That's enough for 20 or more small car companies!
What, did they come to Fisker from GM? Or was it Solyndra?
I remember many years ago reading DeLorean's book or something about the endless layers of management at GM during their 1960s heydey. Fisker takes the cake. About 2.5 employees for every senior manager and exec.
LOL! Hope & Change Motors. And f*** Elon Musk at Tesla too.
These CS'ers are so corrupt. Another Calliefornia fraud Dem company. The employees want to sue. LOL! Were they UAW or Electrical Workers Union of Amerika?
Fisker Karma - as in bad f**king karma.
Is this that fake con artist Elon Musk who O handed NASA too? No he has the Tesla POS. At least the Fisker was better looking than Tesla's shitboxes.
I will laugh my arse off for all the libturds who bought these Fisker's which will now be worthless. I smell an Obam the muslim bailout coming.
It's a good thing they layed off the $10.00 hr employes so the "53 senior managers and executives" can divie up the payroll savings!
You know, I'm willing to fail and only burn 100 million dollars; can you imagine how many others can also fail if we kept our failures in the 100 million dollar range? Maths show that if we had enough 100 million dollar failures at a savings rate of 400 million per, those savings would easily pile up and end the deficit.
If break window good for local economy, break all window.
Electric Paddywagons would be a good idea
F---ing Dems, O, Silyconning Valley and Calliepornia - so corrupt and evil. Totally protected by their friends in TV and Hollywood. F them!
And no - I loathe the Bush klan who are like the Kennedys and Clintons and the other NWO/CFR/Goldman scum.
Rand Paul, maybe Ted Cruz and a few others are decent but name one decent Dem.
kucinich? wrong, but exceedingly honest. that would be a huge leap over whats going on now.
Kucinich and Bernie Sanders are probably the only two I can think of; Dennis is barely tolerated and no longer in office (they "redistricted" him) and Bernie isn't even in the party. I don't know that I can really think of substantially more R's.
While I disagree with Dennis and Bernie regarding their governmental philosophy, they are against the banksters, and that's way more than I can say for most people on either side.
Boris is like Ralph Nader. But need good haircut.
Gone down in flames ,a little like their products.
I could use one of those loans. I'm as good at doing nothing/producing nothing as the next guy. Just sayin'. Is there a sign up sheet or sumptin?
Your skills are not sufficient to qualify for the loan. You have to be good at LOSING MONEY.
Shit, my ex-wife would be good to have right now....
We're not losing too much, 529 Million is not even 1% of the 85 Billion we produce every month.
'They took err' JOBS!!'
I suppose it is okay, as long as the bigwigs at Fisker got their inflated salaries and bonuses and remembered to donate to the proper political entities.
The Feds could have saved a lot of effort by just giving me the half billion. I, at least, would still have a little left.
It's not about buying votes. It's about lining pockets. Follow the money.
Oh, come on. They were just trying to save the world, for the children or bunnies or something. And it's the thought that counts.
Bullshit, buying votes is essential to changing laws and avoiding prosecution.
I'd say LoP is right, because, if you indeed follow the money, it always leads you to where the power is. Money flows to power, not the other way around ...
Amerika: Formerly the Land of the Free and the Brave
Haven't made a car in 9 months. That's some business model. No worries, though, the execs will resurface as Obama bundlers for his 2016 presidential election campaign.
If they haven't made a car in NINE MONTHS then what the fuck they been paying those 160 employees to do every day that they weren't furloughed for the last NINE MONTHS with taxpayer dollars?
Clawbacks are in order, for everyone, from the janitor to the CEO, to that stupid DoE physicist who sucks at math (despite the Krugman-like Nobel award from his peers) who signed off on this theft.
Clawbacks? lol, isn't he so damn precocious? You're cute! Yes you are! I got your nose!
A picture tells a thousand words.
They must have been using the Boeing battery.
They were both using Lithium Ion batteries (likely Lithium Cobalt Oxide) so while they may or may not be from the same manufacturer, they are the same type of battery prone to burst into flames.
This was a big issue with RC toys ~5 years ago. Then they came up with safer batteries. Funny that corporations making airplanes and cars wouldn't check with the hobby industry to see the challenges and solutions involved in making things run on batteries.
This has 15,000 miles on it and never once caught fire:
http://madscienceunlimited.com/blackbird.jpg
Making a bigger and faster one right now. See it at the MakersFaire in San Mateo, CA the weekend of May 18th.
a couple of 50 .cal strapped to it and it's Mad Max 2013 brother
Last Halloween I made a fake .50 BMG (really convincing wish I had a picture) and bolted it to the back on a stand. Got some looks let me tell you, I still run it out sometimes for the morning commute.
For the new bike my son is making me a 30 cal minigun replica. The barrel manifold rotates on an electric motor. Should be great for clearing traffic.
We have more fun with this shit than is probably prudent. And to answer the obvious question, no I have never been pulled over by the cops. They look me over reeeeeeeeeal close, but then they roll by. You gotta appreciate professionalism like that.
What kind of battery are you using? If you have a link to general specs, that would be nice.
The machine in the picture is running a 36V 16Ah LiFePo (actually not in the picture because I had pulled it out for charging) but that was too weak so eventully I had it on a bigger 30Ah battery split into "ammo" boxes on the sides, which was excellent. The new bike is going to be 48V 40Ah LiFePo. Should do the trick.
LiFePo is stable and doesn't catch fire ever, but still has the desired crazy-assed charge density of lithium formulations. Perfect for bikes.
I get all my kit here:
goldenmotor.com
That's China. They have a Canadian distributor, I buy from him. FYI, the battery for the new bike cost $1800. I don't even blink, it's worth the price.
Check out this utterly insane rear wheel for the new bike:
http://madscienceunlimited.com/blackbird/thewheel.jpg
Yes it is a truck tire, on a steel rim with the center cut out, and one of two electric motors mounted. It now has another just like that mounted on the other side. The most evil looking thing ever made for a bike, will pull 2000 watts at 48V. Probably gonna be dangerous as hell! :D
Alon Musk got nuthin on me.
Might need to add a wheelie bar, to keep it from flipping right over when you get started on dry asphalt.
Cougar:
Is that a Burning Man festival bicycle?
That is my daily driver. 60 miles round-trip at one point. A lot less since the startup I worked for was bought and moved closer to home.
That thing has Sturgis written all over it...
Jeff Spicoli- I can fix it
A picture tells a thousand words.
and the first two are; "holy shit"
The opposite of a Bond car ?
I wonder what the opposite of a Bond girl would look like...
Probably something along these lines (courtesy of WB7)...
http://flic.kr/p/dQJShX or
http://flic.kr/p/e7RUki or
http://flic.kr/p/e59L5k
Barry is definitely picking winners
I got a nice booger out myself this morning, too!
Bet it didn't cost us ONLY 193 million.
How many Solyinders did those Fisker vehicles have?
I see what you did there!
First of all, "funding" or "money" is not the same thing as capital or collateral. You need all kinds of real fucking capitial (i.e. energy, other resources, skilled labor, infrastructure etc.) to actually get anything accomplished.
This (intentional) confusion of the meaning of capital and the growing acceptance of debt (with no real collateral), and the lack of any real consequences for bad behavior at the top is the fucking problem.
A banker presses a few buttons, adds a few zeros, and you, your children, and your grandchildren (50+ 100+ year mortgages) all serve them for life by paying the interest/fees. Do these same fucker protect your savings? Hell no, they steal that too while living high on the hog, they they buy your "representation" and change the laws so they can't be prosecuted.
History is very clear on how this ends, hedge accordingly.
hey maybe they can use some of those 900 million dollars worth of military stryker parts that are rusting in obsolescence!! win win for our esteemed politburo!!......................
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/31/187297/dod-inspector-general-finds...
As always, the government proves to be a less efficient allocator of capital than a drunken sailor.
The difference being that when the drunken sailor ran out of money, he stop drinking. The Federal money have no such constraint.
At least we drinker sailors spend it on hookers and liquor.
And you get the clap and a hangover. Which is best?
I live in West Michigan. We have a lithium ion battery facility (LG) that got shitloads of money from Oblamma. They have not made a saleable battery EVER, and have stopped producing experimental ones SINCE JULY OF 2012. Get set for another one of these "revelations" soon.
GM is closing their fuel cell plant here in upstate NY and relocating all 220 jobs to Michigan. The federal government had just invested a few hundred million in the NY plant not too long ago.
http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s2790586.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Automotive#U.S._government_loan
the feds only released 193 million of the loan, facts matter
Interesting connection to Ray Lane, wasn't he just in the news for something....
Nice catch!
Cool, so we only got anal raped a little bit.
DON'T FUCKING SAY THAT!
One of my golf buds is a died in the wool neo-Keynesian who thinks Krugman walks on water and that's his prescription to everything.
Spend Moar!
Drives me Nuts!
Everything is political, including the weather.
He's a great guy... just misdirected and misinformed
Full disclosure: And today I got a game with 2 neo-cons who think that the Republican Party in its current configuration ex the Tea-Party wing is the only way to go. Just don't be Arab, unwed single mother, black, Mexican, poor, unemployed, Ron Paul (Commie) whatevrethefuck. You're a free person as long as you meet their standards.
Why can't people wake up?
They all think I'm crazy.
So be it.
F that! I usually go late in the day and play by myself. I cannot stand listening to retards or smokers while playing. Thanks to O - my playing is now slim and none. If you waste your life hanging around some arsehole who likes Krugman then you sound a bit like a tard.
I thought you'd be home watching TV...
fuck i'd love to golf but the snow is two fucking feet deep still, but when the phones go dead I'll be the fucker with the head start
bwwwaaaaaaahhhaaaaaahaaa
fuck it's cold
Oh thank God it was only 193 million. I feel so much better about it.
while 'fisker burns', Elon will be the next Rocket`feller and Morgan`ite, all wrapped up in one trillion dollar bills-- the Edison [GE] and Tesla [Westinghouse] financial genius/guru of the 21st Century.
cna't wait for refueling ports, along with stations for battery swap-outs!
all this without one fucking cent from uncle sam!!!
you can swap your battery right next to the NG filling station
I believe the government guaranteed several hundred million in loans. That's not nothing. Youl will learn this within the year when Tesla is unable to pull an accounting gimmick to make itself profitable.
Tell me, btw, why did Tesla suddenly stop publicizing the size of its waiting list? And why won't they tell us how many cancellations they are experiencing? And why would they need to resort to leasing if they have such an infinite backlog?
Those whom the Gods would destroy they first made great. Elon is a pretty smart guy but far from infallible and we shall soon see demonstrated in wild, flaming failure.
P
Elon Musk is another crooked douche bag suckling on the O govt teet. His shitbox Tesla's go for about $65,000 to 82,000. He is another f***tard crook.
I have seen a few Fisker's around. They look nice but the buyers are well and truly f***ed-ed unless O bails them out. I bet they all get vouchers for a Tesla or that GM Elec shitbox.
Where is Justin Bieber gonna go to get his Karma serviced?
Talk about someone in need of an anal probe...
Pretty sure that has already been taken care of.
A good friend of mine is employed by Fisker. He just spent the last 4 months in Belgium doing....something? Saw a lot of pics of him snowboarding the Alps on Facebook. I'm sure it was a profitable endeavor . Forwarded him the article before I read it. Just received a text hes been laid off.
his expense card still workin?
haha...this sht would be hysterical if not so sad. imagine what this country could do with a functioning electorate.
Just think what it would be with a functioning Media
It's 1984, bring on the rats
Fridays are a bad day to go to work. Always bad news told on Fridays.
And presdiential directives/orders....
move to France....they don't work on Fridays...come to think of it they don't work any days...
Another government fuck up.
Thanks Barry.
I would be very happy with a zero return on any .gov venture.
Hmmm ...
a) I do not have any problem with the US government investing in new technology for the masses as long as it is a reasonable deal and the people are not super-subordinate. I would much rather they do that than start more wars and hire more TSA-bots. Put people to work in something that has a future, if only an unfortunately distant one.
b) ... and Tesla reported its first profit. If it is a REAL profit and not a Wall Street engineered artificial profit, then good for them. Clone it and invest in it.
Hurricane Sandy Destroys 300 KarmasThe company suffered a setback on October 29, 2012 when Hurricane Sandy flooded and destroyed its entire European shipment of 300 Karmas at Port Newark, New Jersey. Sixteen of the cars burned, because six to eight feet of seawater caused a short circuit in a Vehicle Control Unit in one Karma, and high winds spread the resulting fire to fifteen others. The company said that its Lithium Ion battery was not at fault.
Insurance assertedly covers the approximately $30 million loss in destroyed Karmas
saw my first fiskar yesterday
they make scissors too
edit: by the way, remember the tucker?
Whats the problem? This is the way that ledt wing facsism works...didn't you get the memo from Barry the Kenyan ?
Oh...wait a minute ...you were not a fundraiser with a Chicago connection.
The scissors are really very good.
They don't burn up when you put them down.
dup
But if they really, really wanted the electric cars to work they should have. Did they try closing their eyes and clicking their heels?
Cars that run on batteries should be no bigger then 1/20 scale.
This is another great example of the Left dragging the US taxpayer kicking and screaming into a "green" future.
Remember folks, there are about 3000 of them running 320 million of us. This isn't working. We should be marching this summer.
There is no "the Left," and if there were, it wouldn't be dragging anyone anywhere.
Bad government does not lie on either side of a left/right scale.
If you print it, they will end up bankrupt!
$529 million? Hell, you can find that much by shaking down a couch.....
You mean a senator's couch.
I bet a company making restomodded '78 Cadillac Eldorados running turbine engines on coal dust could be a rousing success. But not a favorite of the Obama administration.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/10/gms-own-turbine-car-program/
$529 or $529 million.
ZERO? In a case like this, zero would be GOOD.
The fiscal multiplier here is fucking NEGATIVE.
As soon as I saw Ashton Kutcher driving one on Two and a Half Douchebags, I knew they were doomed.
Man, THAT guy.
I'm so conflicted whether to cackle with glee or hatred now that Demi's trying to squeeze him for some bucks...