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Perdue Suggests Suspending Elections
North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) said the country should suspend congressional elections for two years “so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election,” the Raleigh News and Observer reports.

Said Perdue: “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. You want people who don’t worry about the next election.”

Wisconsin Lawmakers May Change Recall Rules
Wisconsin Republican lawmakers signaled that they “will likely give Gov. Scott Walker authority over how recall petitions can be gathered, just as Democrats gear up to recall him next year,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

“The move would allow Walker to halt a policy developed by nonpartisan election officials that, at least in theory, could make it easier for groups to gather signatures to recall the governor, as well as legislators from either party.”

Trust in Government at All Time Low
A new CNN/ORC International Poll finds that only 15% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what’s right just about always or most of the time.

Said pollster Keating Holland: “The previous all-time low was 17 percent, set in the summer of 1994. Before the Watergate scandal, a majority of Americans said they trusted the government always or most of the time, but since 1974 that has happened only during a brief period in 2001 immediately after the 9/11 terrorism attacks.”

5 Signs That America Is Moving Away from Religion
If you look closely there are promising signs that American attitudes are changing in a way that may blunt the impact of religion on politics and culture.

Rick Perry Kills an Innocent Man & Covers it up! And Save Troy Davis!Rick Perry’s record number of executions drew applause at last week’s GOP debate. Among the 234- whoops, make that?235?as of today, it’s hard to keep up- killed…

Great Orations vs. Great Obfuscations
I often enjoy and benefit from Maureen Dowd’s columns, but today she’s fallen off the wagon of arch and noble punditry into the smallish world-view, or Beltanschauung, of the Washington Beltway’s sophisticated chattering classes. These worthy purveyors of Capitol-corridor realism…

Will the Solyndra Witch-Hunt Hurt Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy?
With most of the coverage of the Solyndra bankruptcy focused on the political theater in Washington, there has been very little response from within the financial community — particularly in the venture capital space. I found out why upon talking to people about the issue. After reaching out to some of the top private equity […]

With most of the coverage of the Solyndra bankruptcy focused on the political theater in Washington, there has been very little response from within the financial community — particularly in the venture capital space.

I found out why upon talking to people about the issue. After reaching out to some of the top private equity firms and venture capitalists in cleantech, almost no one wanted to speak on the record about Solyndra. Many had friends who lost money in the deal; others just weren’t comfortable talking about such a politically-charged topic, preferring to lay low and stay out of the mess entirely.

But off the record, they all said basically the same thing:  While hitting home runs in clean energy is still difficult, the market fundamentals over the medium and long term (i.e. climate change, need for infrastructure investments, dramatically falling cost of renewables, etc) are still as compelling as they always were. No amount of hype about the Solyndra bankruptcy or political posturing in Washington will deter VCs from addressing those market needs.

After all, venture investments are inherently risky. A venture firm will make 10 bets expecting 9 to fail and hoping the one big success will make up for all the other failures.

“That’s just the way venture capital works. I don’t see it likely or reasonable that Solyndra will cause venture firms to pull back in this space,” explained Ken Locklin, managing director for the private equity firm Impax Asset Management, in an interview with Climate Progress. “I would be surprised if anyone in the venture community pulls back in a big way because of this.”

But this sector is tough, and other experts think it could have a short-term impact.

The Solyndra bankruptcy illustrates what more investors are coming to realize:  Clean energy is a very capital intensive business.

“It’s not easy to create a whole new production system for a commoditized product. It turned out that this whole sector requires a lot of money and is very technologically challenging. As a result, the speed of exits and the levels of those exits haven’t been fast enough for some investors,” said Locklin.

Because of the difficulties in hitting home runs in cleantech, investors have pulled back a bit. In the first quarter of 2011, venture investments in cleantech fell 44% compared with the first quarter of 2010. VCs are also being more cautious. Of the $1.1 billion invested in the U.S. cleantech sector in the second quarter, 67% went to later-stage companies.

So given that dynamic, will venture firms be able to raise the money they need to make investments in the clean energy? And will entrepreneurs be able to rely on venture capital?

Rob Day, a partner the private equity firm Black Coral Capital, worries that Solyndra may, in the near term, undermine the appetite of individuals, pension funds and other money managers (the so-called limited partners, or LPs) that invest in venture funds. Writing on Greentech Media’s cleantech investing blog, Day laments the potential impact on these investors:

[A]mong LPs who were already increasingly skeptical of cleantech venture capital, this is just going to further dissuade them. I’ve spoken with a few cleantech VCs lately who are out there raising funds and have spoken with LPs….

When Solyndra is the visible poster child for what “cleantech venture capital” is perceived to be, and then it blows up and becomes a political football — that’s not exactly a recipe for pension fund LP comfort.

This is all going to make it more difficult for cleantech VCs to raise funding from LPs, and thus it’s going to make it harder for cleantech startups to raise funding from either VCs or non-dilutive sources.

It’s hard to say how — or if — Solyndra will have a specific impact on investment. From my conversations, venture investors clearly believe firmly in the market drivers. But Solyndra’s bankruptcy is representative of the major financial risk in a constantly-changing, capital intensive sector like solar.

While concerned about the short-term impact, Day believes it won’t change the long-term picture:

It will come back. The core needs are too severe. The corporate momentum is too significant. The entrepreneurial energy is too inspired. But thanks to this episode with Solyndra and with other shoes yet to drop, the sector may have to develop some successes over the next couple of years in spite of the politicians — and in spite of the LPs.

In the meantime, entrepreneurs in clean energy may want to look beyond the big venture capital firms.

73 Percent Of Americans Support The ?Buffett Rule,? Including Two-Thirds Of Republicans
Every demographic sub-group supports President Obama’s proposed tax increase on the wealthy — known as the “Buffett Rule” — including two-thirds of Republicans, more than half of self-identified Tea Party members, and nearly three-fourths of those who make more than $100,000 a year. Overall, the Buffett Rule receives 73 percent approval, according to a new […]

Every demographic sub-group supports President Obama’s proposed tax increase on the wealthy — known as the “Buffett Rule” — including two-thirds of Republicans, more than half of self-identified Tea Party members, and nearly three-fourths of those who make more than $100,000 a year. Overall, the Buffett Rule receives 73 percent approval, according to a new Daily Kos/SEIU “State of the Nation” poll conducted by Public Policy Polling and released today. Republicans have labeled the increase as “class warfare,” despite the fact that the richest Americans continue to see their incomes rise and their tax rates plummet.

Investment in failed solar firm Solyndra raises questions about nonprofit’s purpose

Six years ago, Senate Finance Committee investigators mounted an inquiry into an exotic variety of nonprofit organization that they feared affluent families were using to warehouse wealth while simultaneously earning themselves lucrative tax breaks.

One nonprofit group singled out for scrutiny was a low-profile organization based in Tulsa. That group, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, later became the biggest investor in Solyndra, the solar company that collapsed last month after burning through a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money.

Read full article >>

Promoting jobs bill in Denver, Obama highlights $60 billion for schools

DENVER — As he has barnstormed the country to promote the American Jobs Act, President Obama has made the case that spending money now will pay off later for the United States’ global productivity and competitiveness. And one of the biggest investments he is proposing comes in education.

Obama’s $447 billion jobs package includes $30 billion to renovate high schools and community colleges nationwide, and an additional $30 billion to help local jurisdictions hire and retain teachers.

Read full article >>

Budget chief won’t rule out more sacrifice for federal workers

Federal workers could be asked to sacrifice more than they already have to help reduce the deficit, budget chief Jack J. Lew said Tuesday.

“I can’t say nothing else will happen regarding the federal workforce,” Lew said in remarks at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service in Washington, where he was speaking to agency managers about how to cut the size of government.

Read full article >>

Recapture Future LBJ Saw for America
Jesse Jackson, Chicago Sun-Times
Poverty is spreading in America. The numbers are numbing: 46 million people in poverty, a record number, one out of every seven Americans. Nearly 50 million go without health insurance. There are fewer payroll jobs now than in 2000. The income of a typical household is down nearly 7 percent since 2007. And the number of working poor is skyrocketing, as good jobs get shipped abroad. About 40 percent of all the jobs in the U.S. are low-income jobs.And inequality has reached new extremes. According to Goldman Sachs, the richest 1 percent of the country earned as much last year as the bottom 60…

A Short History of the Income Tax
John Steele Gordon, Wall Street Journal
Whether the “millionaires and billionaires” are actually paying their fair share of taxes is a matter for the electorate to decide. After all, fairness is hardly an objective standard.Before the modern era, however, the federal tax system was manifestly unfair by any reasonable standard, grossly biased in favor of the well off. Ironically, attempting to fix that unfairness is what has brought us to the present moment, with a federal tax system that is grotesquely complex, often arbitrary, and corrupted by mutual back-scratching between members of Congress and influential lobbyists.

Dems Facing a Bigger Wipeout Than 2010?
Peter Wehner, Commentary
Here’s yet more good news for Democrats. National Journal reports:One of the Democratic party’s leading pollsters [Stanley Greenberg] released a survey of 60 Republican-held battleground districts today, painting an ominous picture for congressional Democrats in 2012. The poll shows Democratic House candidates faring worse than they did in the 2010 midterms, being dragged down by an unpopular president who would lose to both Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

Ice Cream Cone Mistaken for Klansman
The owners of Ice Cream Family Corner and Sandwiches in Ocala, Fl., said business is suffering because drivers have mistaken their human ice cream mascot — a vanilla headed man with sprinkles in a waffle cone — for a white-hooded Ku Klux Klan member. One woman reportedly “was so frightened by the white dollop patrolling the street corner that she called her husband crying and refused to drive through the intersection.”

There’s more of us non-rich people all the time
And not all of us can have 19 children or have the stomach to force one of them into pageants so we can get on Toddlers & Tiaras; and the competition is getting fiercer for those slots.

And not all of us can have 19 children or have the stomach to force one of them into pageants so we can get on Toddlers & Tiaras; and the competition is getting fiercer for those slots:

According to the United Nations Population Fund counters, Halloween will be the approximate date when the 7 billionth human will be born on to our planet

That’s only about 6.5 billion more than when this nation declared Independence and five billion more than were around at the time World War II broke out. I’m sure this is really good for natural resource use and global climate change.

Thank goodness there are so many new proles to support the only people that matter … the really wealthy.

I’m sure as time goes by, nothing bad will ever come of this fact. So why raise the super-rich’s taxes?  All those gated-communities will come with an adequate amount of wall space for lining up against.*

?

*ooh, class warfare

?

Late, Late Night FDL: Born This Way
Lady Gaga – Born This Way

Lady Gaga – Born This Way

Mahalo Nui Loa, Lady Gaga…! And RIP Jamey Rodemeyer…

What’s on your mind tonite…?

?

‘Moneyball’ Isn’t a Home Run
“Moneyball” is a good story and people who have little interest in baseball don’t need to fear it. On the other hand, it has its largely overlooked problems.

“Moneyball” is a good story and people who have little interest in baseball don’t need to fear it. On the other hand, it has its largely overlooked problems.

Related Entries

• September 27, 2011 Fidel Castro Surfaces to Criticize Obama
• September 26, 2011 Nothing but Dogs in This Hunt

Google’s Many Changes
With the simple dictum “don’t be evil” as its motto, the Internet software giant Google—which ranked as the third-highest lobbying spender in the tech industry in 2010—wages an aggressive image and relations campaign with an international public, and its strategy is evolving. The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim, Zach Carter and Paul Blumenthal give us an extensive update on the part Google plays alongside governments and other corporations in the “war for the Web,” from becoming a financier of the Republican Party to its many roles in the worldwide struggle over intellectual property. —ARK The Huffington Post: You can’t swing a dead cat video in Washington lately without hitting a lobbyist, consultant, attorney or adviser on retainer to Google or one of its tech rivals. Google, whose top executives have long been a bottomless cup of campaign coffee for Democrats, is finally entering its bipartisan phase, theatrically hiring Republican operatives and broadcasting the news through insider Washington publications, pumping air into a K Street tech bubble. The shift in political strategy comes as Google faces a serious antitrust threat, punctuated by a high-profile hearing on the company held Wednesday afternoon in the Senate. But Google’s investment in the infrastructure of the conservative movement goes much deeper than what’s been reported this summer. The company known for its progressive politics is now giving money to the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Republican Governors Association, the GOP firm The David All Group, Crossroads Strategies, the Republican Attorneys General Association and the Republican State Leadership Committee, among others. On Thursday, Google and Fox News cosponsored a Republican presidential debate. Read more

With the simple dictum “don’t be evil” as its motto, the Internet software giant Google—which ranked as the third-highest lobbying spender in the tech industry in 2010—wages an aggressive image and relations campaign with an international public, and its strategy is evolving.

The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim, Zach Carter and Paul Blumenthal give us an extensive update on the part Google plays alongside governments and other corporations in the “war for the Web,” from becoming a financier of the Republican Party to its many roles in the worldwide struggle over intellectual property. —ARK

The Huffington Post:

You can’t swing a dead cat video in Washington lately without hitting a lobbyist, consultant, attorney or adviser on retainer to Google or one of its tech rivals. Google, whose top executives have long been a bottomless cup of campaign coffee for Democrats, is finally entering its bipartisan phase, theatrically hiring Republican operatives and broadcasting the news through insider Washington publications, pumping air into a K Street tech bubble.

The shift in political strategy comes as Google faces a serious antitrust threat, punctuated by a high-profile hearing on the company held Wednesday afternoon in the Senate. But Google’s investment in the infrastructure of the conservative movement goes much deeper than what’s been reported this summer.

The company known for its progressive politics is now giving money to the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Republican Governors Association, the GOP firm The David All Group, Crossroads Strategies, the Republican Attorneys General Association and the Republican State Leadership Committee, among others. On Thursday, Google and Fox News cosponsored a Republican presidential debate.

Read more

Related Entries

• September 27, 2011 Fidel Castro Surfaces to Criticize Obama
• September 26, 2011 Nothing but Dogs in This Hunt