Northern Colorado Gazette

by Craig Masters

If the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme was the greatest financial theft in history, the Obama stimulus money for green energy is a close second and closing. The latest losses to American taxpayers is the selling of ‘green energy’ battery leader, A123. Regardless of the outcome of the current round of intense lobbying both for and against the sale of A123 to a powerful Chinese investor who strongly supports the Communist government, American taxpayers will lose – again.

At stake in this latest round of high technology transfer to China is the now bankrupt manufacturer of the world’s most advanced batteries for use in space, remote-operated military aircraft, America’s electric power grid controls, and of course the best of the hybrid vehicles.
At the time of the company’s filing for bankruptcy on Tuesday, October 16, 2012, the company announced plans to try to pay off its investors by selling a major part of its business to American-owned Johnson Controls Inc. instead of the Chinese-owned Wanxiang America Corp.
But in early December the bankruptcy court auctioned off the company to the highest bidder. That highest bidder was the Wanxiang Group whose chief executive, Lu Guanqiu, is one of the richest people in China and has close ties to the Communist government. Wanxiang reportedly won the bidding with a $256million bid.

In addition to the $250million stimulus money lost almost immediately – in fact the company hadn’t even received all the stimulus money payments when it went bankrupt – A123 has received millions in Defense Department funds for research and development of smaller, lighter, longer-lasting power cells capable of operating satellites and guidance systems on missiles as well as missile defense systems that move from ground atmosphere to space in seconds.

The U.S. Army alone has more than $26million invested in A123 technology. While the Navy has less money invested directly, according to retired Vice-Admiral Barry Costello, former commander of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet, the transfer of the technology that A123 developed at taxpayers’ expense is a serious threat to the security of the United States while at the same time moving the Chinese military ahead of their present technology by at least 10 years.

As of this week, Washington is awash with lobbyists working their leverage on key members of Congress. Last week a federal judge allowed creditors of A123, who stand to gain the lion’s share of the sale money, to hire a D.C.-based lobbying firm to try to convince the feds to approve the sale to the Chinese. Johnson Controls has acknowledged in court papers filed on Monday January 14, that the American company has been engaged in lobbying and says its right to do so is protected by the First Amendment.
In addition to the two heavyweight players, a creditors’ committee has been formed and won permission to join the lobbying free-for-all through the firm Capitol Counsel. The creditors claim they need to lobby on behalf of the sale because Johnson Controls was mounting considerable support against the sale.

In filings around the country, individual investors have filed suits to try to recover their investments based on such claims as the fact that the federal government mislead the public in the financial strength A123 and overstated the company’s intellectual assets.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States must approve the sale to Wanxiang in whatever form it eventually takes. But considering the intellectual property will no doubt remain inside the minds of those who developed it and those people will become employees of a Communist Chinese government controlled operation – the U.S. taxpayers will lose another round against a democrat president building personal power by aligning himself with America’s enemies instead of protecting Americans. Boeing aircraft was forced to give away its technology to the Chinese by the Clinton administration. Now Obama is set to hand over key power technology and defense secrets in the name of a slight-of-hand financial maneuver designed to hide another money trail.

Let’s let Bernie Madoff out to show us how it’s all done!

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