The Foundation
“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin, In a 1789 letter to Jean-Baptiste
What did he/she say?
“How many companies get endorsed by the president of the United States?
When the CEO said that opening his factory wouldn’t have been possible without the Obama administration, he may have known something we didn’t. Last month, Obama announced a new set of tax credits for so-called green companies. One window company was on the list: Serious Materials. This must be one very special company.
But wait, it gets even more interesting.
On my Fox Business Network show on “crony capitalism“, I displayed a picture of administration officials and so-called “energy leaders” taken at the U.S. Department of Energy. Standing front and center was Cathy Zoi, who oversees $16.8 billion in stimulus funds, much of it for weatherization programs that benefit Serious.
The interesting twist is that Zoi happens to be the wife of Robin Roy, who happens to be vice president of “policy” at Serious Windows.
Of all the window companies in America, maybe it’s a coincidence that the one which gets presidential and vice presidential attention and a special tax credit is one whose company executives give thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign and where the policy officer spends nights at home with the Energy Department’s weatherization boss. – John Stossel, Big Government’s Cronies
They were not the only window company listed actually.
About $100M was allocated for potential tax credits for glass and window manufacturers of which 7 were listed. All of them are listed on the Serious Materials blog and in the fed award document that is published.
Serious qualified for 0.5% of that, if they spend $1.5M on equipment and create jobs in the next 4 years. The other window and glass companies qualified for 99.5% of it.
Doesn’t sound like much cronyism here.
Sounds like for all the good Serious has done, they got the short end of the stick.
Moreover, in the IRS review it shows an independent group was hired, not affiliated with DOE or IRS to choose the 183 companies included. DOE had no involvement.
The company posted a blog with the facts that Stossel refused to air, like Zoi did not even work for the DOE when the VP toured one of their plants (and he has toured 57 plants in the US in the past year):
http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007
Thank you for the added information.