America
Stimulus Boondoggle Boosts China’s Military
A high-tech company built on taxpayer dollars could fall into China’s hands.
BY DAVID A. PATTEN R
emember the $831 billion, earmark-laden
stimulus bill that Demo- crats enacted at the begin- ning of President Obama’s term? It never fulfilled its promise of holding unem- ployment below 8 percent, but it could still pay off for the Chinese. That’s because Wanx-
iang America, a Chinese firm, is trying to buy the assets of a now-defunct energy company, A123 Sys- tems, that received millions in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.
A123 Systems, a Waltham, Mass.-based elec- tric-battery maker, burned through over $250 million in taxpayer assistance in its quest to perfect electric- battery technology. But its
dreams crashed when it filed for bankruptcy in Octo- ber. A123’s demise might barely merit notice, except that the big winner in this budget debacle appears to be the Chinese. “We are committed
BATTERIES INCLUDED Wanxiang America is eyeing U.S. battery maker A123 Systems.
to making the long-term investments necessary for A123 to be successful,” Wanxiang President Pin Ni announced after his compa- ny bid $256.6 million to buy A123. But U.S. taxpayers have an investment of their own in the company. And letting its sensitive battery technology fall into Chinese hands could be a big mis- take, experts warn. In January, Fox News reported Wanxiang just
happens to be owned by a Chinese multimillionaire with “deep ties to the Chi- nese Communist Party.” Congressional Republicans are warning the ultralight, lithium-ion phosphate bat- teries that A123 was devel- oping on the taxpayer’s dime have a host of mili- tary applications, including drone, satellite, and surveil- lance technology. Andy Karsner, former President George W. Bush’s assistant energy secretary, told The Washington Post that A123’s downfall is part of “a seemingly continu- ous cascade of predictable, supersized clean-tech com- mercialization failures.” If the deal is made, the only question could be whether any future Chinese weap- ons system would bear the disclaimer: “Project Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
Off the Cliff and Into the Debt Tsunami T
he vast, mind-boggling numbers used to describe the national debt make it almost impossible to
comprehend. Anyone claiming “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money” would be a veritable piker these days: The national debt stands at well over $16 trillion. To bring home the ugly reality of U.S. indebtedness,
consider what would happen if an ordinary American household faced a financial situation as dire as the federal government’s. Of course, no U.S. household can print seemingly
limitless amounts of currency — some would say that’s precisely the problem. In the chart at right, the U.S. debt is presented in a way that brings it home. One Newsmax reader suggested there is another
way to look at the debate over the debt ceiling: If you came home one day to discover that your house was flooded from floor to ceiling, would you raise the ceiling? Or would you drain the water?
26 NEWSMAX | MARCH 2013
U.S. Family Budget Annual Family Income .................................. $24,490 Money the Family Spent .............................. $35,380 New Debt on Credit Card ............................. $10,890 Outstanding Credit Card Balance ........ $160,700 Total Budget Cuts .............................................. $38.50
*SOURCE: Final Treasury Statement for Fiscal Year 2012, U.S. Department of the Treasury. **As of the end of fiscal year 2012 (Sept. 30, 2012). *** The cuts in the April 2011 deal that raised the debt ceiling to avert a government shutdown.
The numbers are huge. But if you remove eight zeroes, you can
envision what a U.S. household budget would look like if it operated like the federal government:
U.S. Federal Finances* U.S. Tax Revenue ................. $2,449,000,000,000 ($2.449 trillion) Fed Expenditures ................ $3,538,000,000,000 ($3.538 trillion) New Debt .................................. $1,089,000,000,000 ($1.089 trillion) National Debt ....................... $16,070,000,000,000 ($16.070 trillion)** Recent Budget Cuts .................. $38,500,000,000 ($38.5 billion)***
BATTERIES/AP IMAGES / PURSE/IMAGE SOURCE/GETTY IMAGES
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