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Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland


With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.


Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland. ...

Fisker Automotive, backed by a powerhouse venture capital firm whose partners include former Vice President Al Gore, predicts it will eventually be churning out tens of thousands of electric sports sedans at the shuttered GM factory it bought in Delaware.

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Energy Department officials have been steadfast that politics never entered the picture and each project was screened by professionals and secured on the merits. And executives from Tesla and Fisker said they won government support because their projects had the best shot at success. They said the involvement of well-connected figures in their companies should not suggest they attempted to use special influence to secure the loans.


Both companies have political heavyweights behind them. One of Fisker's biggest financial supporters, records show, is the California venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The firm financially supports numerous green-tech firms, records show.


Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr, a California billionaire who made a fortune investing in Google, hosted President Obama at a February dinner for high-tech executives at his secluded estate south of San Francisco. Doerr and Kleiner Perkins executives have contributed more than $1 million to federal political causes and campaigns over the last two decades, primarily supporting Democrats. Doerr serves on Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Doerr has not replied to interview requests since March.


Former Vice President Al Gore is another Kleiner Perkins senior partner. Gore could not be reached for comment. ...

Tesla's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, is a hearty political contributor who has primarily backed Democrats, including Obama. According to published reports, another Tesla investor is Nick Pritzker, a donor to Obama and a cousin of Penny Pritzker, the national finance chair of Obama's 2008 campaign.

Full article here

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ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Regardless, these jobs are in Finland, financed with our tax dollars while Obama is running around in a bus built in Canada touting his jobs bill.

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ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Regardless, these jobs are in Finland, financed with our tax dollars while Obama is running around in a bus built in Canada touting his jobs bill.

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With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

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ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Obama said he will have a lazer like focus on jobs. He didn't say where the jobs would be. Your tax dollars at work.

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ORIGINAL: Nosathro

There really should be a clause in these contracts when the government loans money to companies like this, "All work to be done in the United States" if not, they pay back the money immidatly.

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ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Did everyone see the price tag on the US financed car from Finland ? Expected to be in the range of $97,000.00 ..Leonardio Decaprio has one ordered, maybe Al Gore will be next. Why aren't the OWS people raising heck about this. ??

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ORIGINAL: Nosathro

There really should be a clause in these contracts when the government loans money to companies like this, "All work to be done in the United States" if not, they pay back the money immidatly.