More Obama crony capitalism

It looks like crony capitalism is still rampant in the Obama administration. First there was the $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, the now bankrupt maker of solar panels. Now, according to Investor’s Business Daily, the U.S. is forcing the Navy to buy 450,000 gallons of jet biofuel, the biggest federal purchase of biofuel ever, from an Obama-connected firm at $16 per gallon versus the normal price of less than $4 per gallon.

The administration is squandering limited national defense dollars on a political agenda premised upon their insistence that the United States and North America have insufficient supplies of energy to supply our needs. The government’s own analysis of our energy wealth proves this premise wrong, as illustrated by IER’s study. As decisions are made about where to trim unnecessary fat across the federal government, the Defense Department’s unnecessary and expensive expenditure for biofuels should be right at the top of the list.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/201...l-16-jet-fuel/

http://www.instituteforenergyresearc...9s-new-report/

Politics as usual. This is why we can't trust Democrats or Republicans.

Graft and corruption - the Tea Pot Dome Scandal - pertaining to Navy fuel oil is what gave the Harding administration such a black eye.

The biggest waste of federal dollars for fuel is ethanol subsidies. Both parties are in on it. Once these boondogles get started it's almost impossible to shut them down.

Chapter 1. Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft

EVERYBODY is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There’s all the difference in the world between the two.

Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics. I have myself. I’ve made a big fortune out of the game, and I’m gettin’ richer every day, but I’ve not gone in for dishonest graft – blackmailin’ gamblers, saloonkeepers, disorderly people, etc. – and neither has any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics.

There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin’: “I seen my opportunities and I took ‘em.”

Just let me explain by examples. My party’s in power in the city, and it’s goin’ to undertake a lot of public improvements. Well, I’m tipped off, say, that they’re going to lay out a new park at a certain place.

I see my opportunity and I take it. I go to that place and I buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood. Then the board of this or that makes its plan public, and there is a rush to get my land, which nobody cared particular for before.

Ain’t it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and foresight? Of course, it is. Well, that’s honest graft.

Or supposin’ it’s a new bridge they’re goin’ to build. I get tipped off and I buy as much property as I can that has to be taken for approaches. I sell at my own price later on and drop some more money in the bank.

Wouldn’t you? It’s just like lookin’ ahead in Wall Street or in the coffee or cotton market. It’s honest graft, and I’m lookin’ for it every day in the year. I will tell you frankly that I’ve got a good lot of it, too.

I’ll tell you of one case. They were goin’ to fix up a big park, no matter where. I got on to it, and went lookin’ about for land in that neighborhood.

I could get nothin’ at a bargain but a big piece of swamp, but I took it fast enough and held on to it. What turned out was just what I counted on.

They couldn’t make the park complete without Plunkitt’s swamp, and they had to pay a good price for it. Anything dishonest in that?


Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics, Delivered by Ex-senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany Philosopher, from His Rostrum — the New York County Court House Bootblack Stand by William L. Riordon

http://www.marxists.org/reference/ar.../index.htm#s01

The biggest waste of federal dollars for fuel is ethanol subsidies. Both parties are in on it. Once these boondogles get started it's almost impossible to shut them down. Originally Posted by joe bloe

Agreed.

Yes I B , I agree it seems to be happening more and more and the public cares less and less. Not a good combo.

OMG you would think this is a new deal,been going on for years .Like the huge profits Halliburton made off of us in Iraq.

Like I said, this is not good, no matter which party is doing it.

Worse yet, we only care when the other party does it, which is even worse IMHO.

Not a good sign for this country's long term outlook...

OMG you would think this is a new deal,been going on for years .Like the huge profits Halliburton made off of us in Iraq. Originally Posted by ekim008

Or Johnson's profiting from Brown & Root in Vietnam, but unlike those days, moron, the U.S. debt today is $15 trillion. Current Obama policy forcing the navy to spend four times what is necessary for fuel degrades military readiness.

Or Johnson's profiting from Brown & Root in Vietnam, but unlike those days, moron, the U.S. debt today is $15 trillion. Current Obama policy forcing the navy to spend four times what is necessary for fuel degrades military readiness. Originally Posted by I B Hankering

Well that is a stretch.

Could the money be better spent? Yes.

Is it putting lives at risk?

Is .0000000000000001 more than 00000000000000001

Again yes but contextually not really.

I will say the reason we got to 14 trillion was because of all prior admins doing this exact same thing.

Like I said our apathy towards our side doing it is really the problem.

ROFLMAO,
Haliburton did make obscene profits, why?, because leftists insist on cutting military spending. If the military doesn't have the people available to build bases, do laundry and cook meals somebody else has to be hired to do it.

How many of the Haliburton jobs were held by foreigners? Too bad we couldn't have just diverted all of that money to GM so they could hire more people in Brazil and China. I see that the taxpayer contribution on the Chevy Volt is up to $250,000 per unit, not only a "no bid" but the taxpayers get a big fat "zero" in return for the investment.

ROFLMAO,
Haliburton did make obscene profits, why?, because leftists insist on cutting military spending. If the military doesn't have the people available to build bases, do laundry and cook meals somebody else has to be hired to do it.
. Originally Posted by Iaintliein

If only those leftist would have had the balls to block that war profiteering fiasco.

This is wtf you on the right call free enterprise! Personally I find this sickening. I would strip him of his rank and retirement benifits. No different than disserting and working for the enemy.

http://www.securitydefenceagenda.org...n-Siemens.aspx

US four star general and former commander of NATO’s ISAF mission Gen. Stanley McChrystal will become chairman of the board of Siemens Government Technologies (SGT). This unit of the Munich-based company was recently established to improve relations with the US federal government and win more contracts

Well that is a stretch.

Could the money be better spent? Yes. Obviously

Is it putting lives at risk? Could be, especially if it means cutting fleet operations. You never know when another earthquake or tsunami might hit.

Is .0000000000000001 more than 00000000000000001 .0000000000000001 is significantly smaller than 00000000000000001 or, more conventionally, "1".

Again yes but contextually not really. ?

I will say the reason we got to 14 trillion was because of all prior admins doing this exact same thing. It's 15 trillion, and it's relative to the health of the economy.

Like I said our apathy towards our side doing it is really the problem. Who is apathetic? Originally Posted by WTF

..

Well, I'm sure glad Halliburton is finally out of the picture. Obama is so much smarter than to award Halliburton no bid contracts. He is an improvement in that area!

http://lonelyconservative.com/2010/0...o-halliburton/

Oops, spoke too soon. Business as usual. This is looking like Bush's third term.

Well, I'm sure glad Halliburton is finally out of the picture. Obama is so much smarter than to award Halliburton no bid contracts. He is an improvement in that area!

http://lonelyconservative.com/2010/0...o-halliburton/

Oops, spoke too soon. Business as usual. This is looking like Bush's third term. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

No matter who is in office....Big Business runs this country.

If you think otherwise, you are naive. Not just you but anyone who thinks otherwise.