Did state agencies learn nothing from dealing with defunct solar firm Willard & Kelsey?

This post went up yesterday at Ohio Watchdog:

THAT WAS THEN: Vice President Joe Biden, left, answers questions
 during his 2009 visit to Willard & Kelsey Solar Group in Perrysburg, Ohio.
The company has shuttered it doors and is being sued by the state
(AP file photo)

Willard & Kelsey Solar Group LLC isn’t just another solar company that couldn’t cut it, as details of two lawsuits against the company show.

But just what lessons did two state agencies learn from the potential loss of nearly $11.5 million in taxpayer funds? They can’t – or won’t say.

At first glance, the failure of Willard & Kelsey looks like just another in the long line of green energy companies that couldn’t find success. The company was established in 2007 by several men with extensive experience in the glass and solar panel industries.

In 2009, Vice President Joe Biden toured the Perrysburg, Ohio, facility touting it as a potential cornerstone of the area’s future economy. In February 2011, the company hosted then Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

But later in 2011, Willard & Kelsey idled most of its operations. In January 2012, it laid off most of its workers. On June 30, the company closed its doors without telling the state or the agencies that had advanced it millions in loans.

Today, WKS and its principles are facing lawsuits from the state of Ohio totaling $11,495,205.47 in loans and interest owed by the company, in addition to late charges, collection costs and attorney fees.

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Obama's big lie

President Barack Obama was in Toledo for the Labor Day weekend and during his speech at Scott High School, here's what he had to said about the auto bailout which he, and other Democrats, call a 'rescue plan':

"We weren't going to give up on your jobs and your families and your communities. We weren't going to let Detroit go bankrupt. We weren't going to let Lordstown go bankrupt. We weren't going to let Toledo go bankrupt."

GM did go bankrupt!

And they may end up in bankruptcy - AGAIN!

If the company had gone directly to a bankruptcy reorganization instead of first getting billions of taxpayer dollars in a bailout and then going bankrupt anyway, the American public wouldn't be saddled with thousands of shares of a company that is likely to go bankrupt again and a debt that probably will never be repaid..

All the bailout money did was delay the inevitable - and it is a complete lie when Pres. Obama says that he "wasn't going to let Detroit go bankrupt."

Sadly, Obama is aided and abetted by a press too eager to let the lie stand, since no one bothers to include even a single sentence that states "GM did file for bankruptcy."

Where are the fact-checkers on this one?

If health care bill just like Social Security and Medicare, how long until bankruptcy?

In looking at the news coverage of Saturday's vote on the Pelosi health care bill, nearly all reports include this statement:

"A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, likened the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later."

And I just have to shake my head and wonder what happened to the brains these people were born with.

Why in the world would anyone liken this bill to two failing and bankrupt programs?

Do they not care that both Social Security and Medicare are insolvent and are paying out more than they're taking in? Do they not care that people who are paying into the system now are probably never going to see any benefit from those taxes they've paid?

Do they not understand that these two programs are just ponzi schemes that would put them into prison if they were in the private sector? As the Wall Street Journal reports:

The House also contains a new government long-term insurance program that starts collecting premiums in 2011 but doesn't starting paying benefits until 2016 and then runs out of money in 2029. North Dakota Democrat (Senator) Kent Conrad called it "a Ponzi scheme of the first order, the kind of thing that Bernie Madoff would have been proud of" in an interview with the Washington Post in late October.(emphasis added)

Maybe they understand all this - and are doing it BECAUSE of these facts. After all, we've continued to let them. And the more people they put onto the programs, the more support they have for extending them.

Under these rules and outcomes, they expect the same thing with health care. They'll make Americans dependent upon the government for health decisions and can then make all the decisions for the American people. We let them do this with our retirement, so why not health?

And when we are dependent upon government - that is, the politicians - we'll vote for the ones who promise to give us more, even if there is no way to pay for it.

Eventually, there won't be anyone left to tax to pay for the 'free' services others are getting. Then what? Will the politicians just borrow the money from China? And what if China stops buying debt?

Ah, those pesky 'what if' questions that politicians avoid like the plague.

If this health care bill is just like Social Security and Medicare, you can be sure it is not sustainable, will result in higher taxes, have limited service and, eventually, will result in bankruptcy for the program.

Pelosi said so herself.


Side Note: The Wall Street Journal has a great take on this as well.

State Auditor has checked on Toledo's financial condition

According to a letter from Mayor Carty Finkbeiner to members of council, the State Auditor's office has been in touch with the mayor to check on the city's financial situation.

From the letter:

3. The State Auditor's office was in contact with us late last week requesting information on our current financial situation. We explained the plan that had been placed before City Council, and they indicated they would call back after the Tuesday, April 7th council vote to see what action was taken.

However, it is still unknown if Toledo City Council will be taking any action at their committee of the whole meeting tomorrow. Their next regular council meeting is the 14th and tomorrow (the 7th) would be their agenda meeting. They had originally scheduled a special committee of the whole meeting to discuss the mayor's plan to suspend all union contracts for 1 p.m., but it appears that meeting, along with public comment, will begin at 4 p.m. instead.

Also according to the letter, Carty has updated Gov. Ted Strickland's staff about the current situation and his proposed course of action.

The mayor emphasized in the letter that he is only requesting a temporary rollback of the pension pickups and salary. He pointed out that the concessions requested are for a year and that the current and planned negotiations with the unions would continue.

Additionally, the letter states:

Each union has been notified that for severance pay or compensatory time payouts, the employee's pay rate will be frozen at the rate it was on March 30, 2009 and will not be based on any temporary reductions in salary.

This decision is obviously to stem the thought of retirement and to halt the run on payouts of comp time that were being threatened by employees.

The letter: