**Written by Doug Powers When the story of the Department of Energy’s green loan program is written someday, the entire book will be contained in chapter 11 : After months of financial turmoil, an Energy Department-backed lithium ion battery company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, Ener1, received a $118 million grant from DOE in 2010 as part of the president’s stimulus package. The money, which went to Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel, aimed to promote renewable energy storage battery technology for electrical grid use. But despite generous federal support for the company, Ener1 was racked by problems last year. In October, NASDAQ delisted the company due to non-compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission filing requirements. A month later, the company’s president, chief executive, and top financial officer were fired. On Thursday, Ener1 announced it will initiate a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan as part of an agreement to restructure the company’s debt obligations. The problem? Something the government often fails to take into account when spending tons of other people’s money because they think it can be artificially created later on: Product demand : In a statement announcing the company’s bankruptcy, CEO Alex Sorokin said that the company’s business plan was crippled by insufficient consumer demand. “We moved aggressively to reduce costs and shift focus when the marketplace did not evolve as quickly as anticipated. Our business plan was impacted when demand for lithium-ion batteries slowed due to lower-than-expected adoption for electric passenger vehicles,” Sorokin wrote. Translation: You’re not buying Volts fast enough, America! Not long ago, Ener1 was the proud recipient of a big sloppy Recovery Summer kiss of death from our very own Sheriff Joe Biden: There will be others . **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
With the help of the Internet, crime rings have been able to steal tens of millions of credit card numbers each year — plucking them right from the ether in fact. But the FBI’s cybercrime unit is reportedly stepping up its game in pursuit of criminals who buy and sell stolen credit card numbers in an online marketplace. To gain access to the sellers’ inventory, one must be a tried-and-true criminal, complete with references… honestly . NPR reported that Keith Mularski, an agent with the FBI’s cybercrime unit, has had to pose as a rather dubious character in order to gain entree to the online marketplace: To even be able to see this site — to register and get a password here — Mularski had to use an an alias to persuade two criminals already on the inside to vouch for his criminality. It’s sort of the exact opposite of getting two references when you’re applying for a job; rather than vouching for you as an upstanding, law-abiding citizen, you’re getting people to attest to your deviousness. How the site works: In order to sell products on the site, you need to be reviewed. So if I was going to sell credit cards, what I would have to do is provide a sample of 50 cards to each reviewer. Then they would test them out and then write a review back, and say, “XYZ provided me 50 cards and there was a good mix of classics and platinum and business cards and there was a 98 percent approval rating. So now I vouch for him to be a vendor on the site.” This is the central paradox of this marketplace. In order to get in, you have to be a verified credit card thief. But in order to do business, you have to show that you can deal honestly. This one seller is rated A++, so we click on his name. That takes us to another shop, with a pop-up window. We have to agree with the terms and conditions — which explicitly bar both journalists and law enforcement officials. But once the credit card numbers are successfully purchased, then what? How are the numbers actually used? According to Mularski, it’s as simple as printing up a new credit card with some very inexpensive equipment, and, off you go to the mall! Mularski jumps up and pulls open his desk drawer. He pulls out a piece of white plastic with a magnetic strip on it (it looks like a hotel key), and a machine that looks like a toaster for really skinny bagels. The machine’s called an MSR-206. You hook it up to your computer, and swipe your plastic card through it. It encodes the credit card information onto the magnetic strip — like burning a playlist onto a CD. Next you run the white plastic card through another machine to get the raised lettering and the holograms that make it look legit. But this is nothing new. For years, Hackers have been allegedly positioning themselves outside vulnerable retailers with a laptop and simple wifi connection until a customer makes a purchase using his or her credit card. It’s reported that the credit card’s number is then intercepted from the store’s unsecured credit card processing equipment. Simple as can be. Here’s a video from back in 2008 that explains how it’s done. 40 Million Credit Card Numbers Stolen! -8/6/08 by Carter_Flores1585
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Is Buying Stolen Credit Card Numbers Really This Easy?
Thomas Jefferson once warned : “A government big enough to supply you with everything you need is a government big enough to take away everything that you have….” If possible, I think most people today would prefer to avoid a government shutdown. But the looming threat of gridlock presents us with a unique opportunity to examine the role of government today and its far-reaching influence over peoples’ everyday lives. Simply put, Americans are far too dependent on government. Perhaps no one has so eloquently demonstrated this fact as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. In making his case for avoiding a shutdown, Reid gave a brief rundown of just a few potential impacts of closing down the federal government: “What if a family has worked and worked in this fragile economy and they are finally able to qualify for a home loan. Eighty percent of them, of course, are government-supported loans. They would stop; they wouldn’t be able to get one. And it’s not only that person wanting to buy a home. How about that person that’s (sic) been trying to sell a home? Small businesses won’t be able to get the loans that they need…” America has invested so many of its basic economic functions in government that without government, the economy can’t function. Why do 80 percent of American home loans come from the government? Where’s the private sector? The fact of the matter is that the government has forced private banks from the marketplace and it’s nearly impossible to get a private home loan these days. Additionally, new regulations on private loans prevent private banks from being able to provide capital to small businesses. In turn, determined businesses are forced to depend on the government. “It’s not only federal employees. Almost 1 million federal employees are on pins and needles right now…” The fact that more citizens work for the government than in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined should rattle Americans to the core. We are quickly becoming a nation of takers, not makers — and this spells economic disaster for the future of America. “…[B]ecause [federal government workers] — just like everybody in America — have trouble making all their payments in a given month. They have waited a few months to buy a new car. They have been planning for a long time to take a vacation. As Mark Warner pointed out to us today, this shutdown would have a tremendous impact on the state of Virginia. This is Virginia’s big weekend. It’s the Cherry Blossom Festival. People plan to come here all year, and one of the things they want to do when they come here is take a walk down the Mall, go to the National Art Gallery, go to one of the great Smithsonian Museums. Won’t do that; they’ll close at 12:00 tonight.” I find this argument completely bogus. The Cherry Blossom Festival does bring many visitors to the DC capital region every year, but it’s not like a government shutdown means the cherry trees will die. It doesn’t mean the National Mall will be closed to the public. Sure some of the Smithsonian Museums may be closed, but it’s not like DC doesn’t have plenty of private venues for tourists to enjoy. I think it’s irresponsible to hinge budget negotiations on what local attractions a couple hundred thousand tourists may or may not visit this weekend. The bottom line is that the threat of a government shutdown should force Americans to reexamine what impact the government has in their daily lives that they otherwise might overlook and remember Jefferson’s warning. Are we relying too much on government to function?
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Threat of Shutdown Shows America‘s Growing Dependence on Big Gov’t
Texas media notice that despite Gov. Rick Perry's repeated insistence that he's not running for president, his inaugural sure did have a lot on national themes. “You might say historians will look back on this as the ‘Texas century,’” Perry said. “Americans once looked to the East Coast for opportunity and inspiration, then to the West Coast. Today they are looking to the Gulf Coast – they are looking to Texas. Perry has repeatedly said he is not running for president. Yet he often sounded Tuesday like a candidate gearing up to unseat the president. “With bloated stimulus spending, record debt and massive entitlement programs, Washington has America on a collision course with bankruptcy,” Perry said. Painting a contrast with Washington, Perry said lawmakers will balance the budget with spending cuts. Perry may not have meant his speech to seem presidential. But reading passages like the one below, it's hard to believe that Perry doesn't want to be seen as a potentially strong presidential candidate: As we reflect together on all that has transpired since the icy cold of the last Texas inaugural, much has changed in our world. While conditions have improved for our troops in Iraq, they have worsened in Afghanistan. Here at home, we’ve seen catastrophic events in the marketplace that have unleashed an economic recession unlike anything we’ve experienced in 70 years. The failure of major financial institutions led to tighter credit, massive foreclosures, and staggering layoffs. Risky practices in the private sector were compounded by poor spending decisions in the public sector. With bloated stimulus spending, record debt and massive entitlement programs, Washington has America on a collision course with bankruptcy. While Texas has fared better than most states, we have not gone untouched by this global recession, and we cannot forget those Texans who are dealing with the fear and uncertainty of joblessness. While much has changed in the last four years, one thing will never change: the character, resilience and resourcefulness of our citizens.
Hey, remember back in March when the Democrats’ chief inquisitor on Capitol Hill, Henry Waxman, announced plans to haul up corporate executives who dared to speak the truth about the dire cost consequences of the federal Obamacare mandate? Flashback March 3,1 2010: Now, Waxman is targeting the heads of Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon and AT&T with “invitations” they can’t refuse to testify at an April 21 hearing on their public statements regarding Demcare-caused writedowns. Waxman’s fishing expedition letters sent out last week “asked” the company heads to produce copious documentation. Business execs are damned if they do disclose how the costs of the new federal health care taxes will hit their bottom line and damned if they don’t. If they stay silent, they’ll be violating Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure requirements passed by Congress after the Enron scandal. If they talk, they’ll be paraded in front of the camera like those poor tobacco heads Waxman waxed more than 15 years ago. Who’s next? On Monday, Prudential said it would take a $100 million charge in the first quarter thanks to Demcare. In Colorado, the Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. said the health care law will cost $2 million a year starting in 2014. AK Steel Corp., 3M and Valero Energy have all announced similar writedowns. At this rate, if Waxman insists on hauling up every last truth-teller in the marketplace, he’ll be holding an inquisition-a-thon a day. And that would suit the Witch Hunter of Capitol Hill just fine. If he isn’t meddling, he isn’t working. And if he isn’t using his powers to bully, bulldoze or bankrupt his enemies, he is failing the gods of progressivism. Waxman backed off, but as I warned, it was only a temporary reprieve. The truth about Obamacare’s all-too-predictable, real-world consequences keeps coming out and it won’t be long before desperate Dems try to squelch the Obamacare revolt again. Go ahead, Henry. Double-dog dare you. Via the WSJ : Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections. Insurers say they plan to raise premiums on some Americans due to the health overhaul, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before elections. Janet Adamy and Evan Newmark discuss. Also, Justin Lahart discusses the two-track economy for American business, with global players getting boosts from fast-growing foreign markets, while companies focused on the U.S. market are hamstrung by recession-scarred consumers. Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators. These and other insurers say Congress’s landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a brutal fight, is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted. The rate increases largely apply to policies for individuals and small businesses and don’t include people covered by a big employer or Medicare. About 9% of Americans buy coverage through the individual market, according to the Census Bureau, and roughly one-fifth of people who get coverage through their employer work at companies with 50 or fewer employees, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. People in both groups are likely to feel the effects of the proposed increases, even as they see new benefits under the law, such as the elimination of lifetime and certain annual coverage caps. Many carriers also are seeking additional rate increases that they say they need to cover rising medical costs. As a result, some consumers could face total premium increases of more than 20%. Flare your nostrils. Wave your gavel. Try to bully them into silence, Chairman Waxman. Dissent must be silenced!
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Go ahead, Henry Waxman: Launch another Obamacare witch hunt
I’ve had an e-mail exchange with one of my readers regarding the libelous slams on American Power from Lawyers, Gays and Money and RepMasterHater3. She responds with this query: Donald … the things they’ve written are horrible, and it seems that their intent is to wear you down, if nothing else…but implying that you are a pervert into juvenile porn is beyond that … I’m sure that you have been pushed to the limit of your patience with them, though, which is understandable … Your last email arrived as I was writing this …, Donald. Is there anything you can do, legally, to stop them? If not, then perhaps the best thing would be to totally ignore them … even so, I don’t think that would stop them, either. I hate to see your family suffer because of them. They have no shame … and no conscience. It is sickening to realize that people like that are all around us, and make such a mockery of everything, holding themselves up to be moral men. This is a real e-mail from a longtime reader. I don’t make stuff like this up, as do those who carry out their entire existence on a life of lies and destruction . But to answer the question, in the case of Scott Eric Kaufman, I could contact the UCI Department of English and report his libelous allegations of juvenile sex offense. I’m not planning to at the moment however. I did put that possibility out there in public, in the comments at LGM, so these idiots will think about how deeply they wish to submerge themselves in the encrusted depths of evil. As for HateRingleaderReppy3, I’ve requested numerous times that he and all of his demon sheep post their real identifications with work contact information at American Nihilist. Naturally, they’ve not done so. It’s just too easy to smear and defame people of good moral standing and threaten their families when you’re hiding behind a pseudonym. It’s all part of the life online, fighting the hate, and to quit or give in somehow would be a victory of evil over goodness. And I won’t let that happen. ********** ADDED: From ace commenter Dennis below, ” Remember each time your opposition has to resort to these kinds of attacks they lose and also demonstrate that their ideology cannot survive in the marketplace of ideas .”
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‘Is There Anything You Can Do to Stop Them’
