President Obama, Top Politicians Praising Failed Green Company

In the fall of 2010, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. — the state's "corporate welfare” arm — uploaded a video to YouTube highlighting the battery manufacturer A123 Systems.
At the time, the company was promoted heavily by President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Since then, A123 has shed money, laid off half its workforce, recalled products and seen its stock price plummet to about 26 cents this week from a previous high of $26.
Now, just two years after the initial roll-out, A123 is being acquired by a Chinese company. Shortly after this deal was rumored a few weeks ago, the MEDC made all of its promotional videos “private.” This is not the first time questions have been raised about the MEDC’s lack of transparency.
The company is a poster child of government subsidies for green energy initiatives. Michigan gave A123 Systems $100 million in MEGA tax credits and another $41 million in tax breaks and subsidies from a separate program. At the same time, the Department of Energy awarded A123 Systems a $249.1 million grant as part of the federal "stimulus program."
The videos were previously covered by Michigan Capitol Confidential and referred to as “a playlist of crony capitalism failures.” Michigan Advantage, the MEDC’s (now defunct) YouTube channel, was intended to promote the success stories of Michigan companies that received state and federal dollars for their operations. The MEDC previously promoted dozens of companies, many of which have gone bankrupt or not delivered promised jobs while costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The MEDC now has a new YouTube page, minus certain videos.