By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
A123 Systems, Inc. develops and manufactures advanced lithium-ion (lithium iron phosphate) batteries and battery systems for the transportation, electric grid and commercial markets. The company has about 2,500 employees globally and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 2001 by Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, Dr. Bart Riley and Ric Fulop. The company's nanophosphate technology is built on nanoscale materials initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. - Source: Wikipedia
Fisker Automotive, the hybrid carmaker based in Anaheim, Calif., announced Friday that it would lay off 75 percent of its workforce, a sign the onetime darling of the “greens” is sputtering toward the end of the road. This story grows ever more familiar.
Government-backed luxury carmaker Fisker Automotive has bought thousands of batteries from A123 Systems under an exclusive supply deal, but now the auto company may have to look for another power source for its high-end, plug-in hybrid Karma vehicles — and at a hefty cost.
Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls recently lost out to a Chinese competitor in its bid for bankrupt high-tech battery-maker A123 Systems, but creditors are still demanding details about whether a secret Johnson-led lobbying campaign took place behind the scenes in Washington aimed at derailing the sale.
The prospect of Massachusetts-based high-tech battery-maker A123 Systems landing in the hands of a Chinese competitor has angered some lawmakers, but a group of highly paid lawyers — including a former Senate staffer who earned more than $1,000 per-hour — kept the sale from falling apart amid mounting criticism on Capitol Hill.
The federal government approved a deal allowing a U.S. battery maker backed with tens of millions of dollars from the federal stimulus program to be purchased by a Chinese competitor, officials announced Tuesday.
A House Republican announced plans Tuesday to introduce a bill to make sure that companies backed by federal Energy Department loans or grants pay the money back if they're going to be taken over by a "non-allied foreign nation."
An American company that lost out in its bid for the assets of a failed, federally backed battery maker is appealing a judge's decision last week selling the company to a Chinese competitor.
Democratic and Republican politicians alike hailed the news in 2009 that U.S. battery maker A123 Systems had won a quarter-billion-dollar federal grant, but just three years later, the company finds itself bankrupt and the target of a buyout by a Chinese competitor.
A Delaware judge is giving final approval for Chinese auto-parts maker Wangxiang Group to provide $50 million in bankruptcy financing for battery maker A123 Systems.
The recent bankruptcy of battery maker A123 Systems after it won a nearly quarter-billion-dollar federal grant threatens the business prospects of another well-known government-backed company: luxury car manufacturer Fisker Automotive.
Each job created with federal stimulus cash through the Obama administration's advanced battery manufacturing program cost more than $158,000 and many of them likely were temporary, according to an analysis released Wednesday by two senior Republicans.
Battery maker A123 Systems vowed thousands of new jobs when it received a nearly quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant in late 2009, but federal job-tracking figures show only a few hundred positions were created before the company joined a growing list of federally backed energy businesses that ended in bankruptcy.
During his four years in office, President Obama consistently has called for more high-paying jobs. Unfortunately, rather than getting the economic policy right that would help create those jobs, he's become America's venture capitalist in chief, picking winners and losers.
