MRCTV readers likely know how closely we have been following the stunning revelations concerning Biden “Energy Secretary” Jennifer Granholm, her ties to a federally-subsidized and promoted electric vehicle (“EV”) maker, the inherent real-world problems of electric vehicles, the climate canards oft-employed to distract people from those fundamentals, and Granholm’s extra-long delay in revealing how much company stock she owned after she was put on its board in the period between her leaving the Michigan Governor’s office, and her joining Biden.
The corporation is called Proterra, it’s based in Burlingame, California, and now, we get to report the not-surprising latest that, yep...
...on Monday, Proterra filed for bankruptcy.
Breitbart’s Jordan Dixon-Hamilton reports:
“The Burlingame, California-based EV company has been a source of controversy for the Biden administration because Biden’s Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm hyped the company in her official capacity despite the fact that she previously served on Proterra’s board and held over a million dollars worth of stock in the company even after she was confirmed as the head of Biden’s Energy Department.”
Indeed, as I wrote on June 12, Granholm’s ties to Proterra go back at least 14 years:
“In fact, they go back to 2009, the Obama-RINO ‘Troubled Asset Relief Program,’ ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,’ and bailouts of auto-makers such as General Motors.
At that time, Michigan Governor Granholm lobbied hard for GM (and its big union powers) to get the nearly $50 billion in direct federal ‘bailout’ cash and years of absolution from corporate taxes worth added billions.
Guess what corporation brought Granholm onto its board in 2017?”
Indeed. And Granholm’s ties are even tighter. As I noted in June:
“Breitbart reported as far back as November, 2021 that the Granholm-Proterra relationship appears to be larger than just the initial appearance of board-placing favoritism and thanks for the GM-tied boost. It has to do with stock options…
‘President Joe Biden’s Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is the subject of an ethics complaint for promoting, in her role as a member of the executive branch, an electric bus company she sat on the board of and held over a million dollars of stock in.
Granholm — who oversees moving the country toward an electric vehicle transportation system and enjoys newfound powers after the passage of Biden’s infrastructure package — is facing scrutiny for promoting Proterra, a Burlingame, California-based electric bus company she sat on the board of and held 240,520 shares of stock in, which garnered her $1.6 million when she finally divested them 157 days after her nomination.”
And there’s more:
“Granholm’s promotion of the Burlingame, California electric vehicle company came at the same time that Democrats in Congress were crafting—and ultimately passing—Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, which dramatically increases Granholm’s authority as energy secretary to advance private sector companies in the transition to an electric vehicle-based transportation infrastructure. The infrastructure package — which has been promoted by Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Granholm, Biden’s Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and other members of the administration — grants as much as $174 billion to green vehicles and $45 billion to zero-emission buses to ‘replace 50,000 diesel transit vehicles and electrify at least 20 percent of our yellow school bus fleet” and “to build a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030.’
The California-based Proterra stands to benefit greatly from this Biden administration electric vehicle investment. It is perhaps unsurprising then that the Center for Responsive Politics found that nearly 85 percent of Proterra’s employee campaign contributions went to Democrats, including Biden.”
And, as I reported in June, there’s even MORE:
“After serving on Proterra’s board for roughly three years, Granholm was nominated to be Biden’s secretary of energy on December 18, 2020, and was later confirmed on February 25. During her confirmation process, Granholm signed an ethics agreement letter on January 16, in which she promised to step down from the Proterra board and divest her Proterra stock ‘as soon as practicable but not later than 180 days after my confirmation.’
Within that months-long period following Granholm’s nomination, Proterra’s stock price was potentially boosted by her nomination, as well as by the administration’s continued hyping of the company at various events. Although the company was not yet publicly traded at the time that Granholm sold her shares, there are indications that the Biden administration’s hyping of Proterra benefitted the company during this period, as was apparent when the stock of a company merging with Proterra spiked following a Biden event at a Proterra plant in April.”
And the feds displayed even more “love” for Proterra (using our tax cash, of course), as Dixon-Hamilton reports:
“In November 2021, Granholm and Vice President Kamala Harris announced 25 projects that were awarded $200 million in Department of Energy grants, which included $127 million in “SuperTruck 3” grants. Notably, roughly $76.8 million of the $127.8 million SuperTruck 3 grants announced went to a company with ties to Proterra, giving these Proterra-linked companies garnered more than 60 percent of the grants, as Breitbart News detailed.”
Yet, despite all that favoritism and fascistic support via us tax-slaves, Proterra has not been able to make a “go” of it, even in the government-manipulated “market”:
“Despite this massive push from the Biden administration, Proterra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, citing ‘various market and macroeconomic headwinds’ that have impacted its business.”
Headwinds.
Related: 'Energy Secretary' Granholm Admits To Deceiving Congress Re Stock Holdings | MRCTV
Isn’t the federal government taking our cash to fund more environmentally dubious windfarms? Perhaps Proterra’s gang can get into that cozy-crony world, as well.
Goodness knows, now, they’re asking the feds to protect them from investors, meaning, they want to use the bankruptcy statutes to allow them to keep operating, and NOT FULLY PAY BACK investors.
Dixon-Hamilton notes that those initial investors include interests such as Daimler, Generation Investment Management, Kleiner Perkins, Tao Capital Partners, Soros Fund Management, Cowen Sustainable Advisors and GM Ventures, so you can decide how you feel about Proterra trying to use federal bankruptcy statutes to not fully pay back.
But any way one looks at it, we taxpayers (especially those who remember that the US Constitution doesn’t sanction the “federal investments” nor the “Department of Energy”) are the losers.
Related: Energy Secretary Granholm Says U.S. Military Can Go 'All-Electric' By 2030 | MRCTV
And who might be one of the victors?
Dixon-Hamilton observes:
“Proterra was valued at $1.6 billion when Biden entered office in January 2021. However, the company closed with a $362 million market value on Monday, Reuters detailed.
When Granholm sold her shares in May 2021, she netted a capital gain of $1.6 million. Granholm’s 240,520 shares would be valued at just $340,000 now, the Washington Free Beacon detailed.”
Now, there - right there - at least, is some information to get Americans “energized.
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