[ExI] China and solar power

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> 
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>
>>... That ballroom costs the taxpayer nothing.  Why would you be opposed to that?

>...The companies "donating" the money have almost $300 *billion* in federal contracts.  What do you think?

No worries, in four years, the priority can be tearing down that ballroom.  But more importantly, all funds can be traced.  These companies with federal contracts can be identified by various means and scrutinized.

>> ... not because I have anything against solar but because taxpayers shouldn’t be funding power projects.

>...Long history, though.  The Feds built all the big dams in the West...

In the easily foreseeable future, all such projects end.  The federal government must borrow sufficient funds to cover the Social Security fund it borrowed and spent in the 1990s.  When that is paid off and Social Security reverts to pay as you go, the fed will do little more than collect Social Security and Medicare, with most of the rest of the revenue going to interest.

Of course that scenario only plays out if there is no Singularity.

>>...  The federal government is an unreliable investment partner.  Extrapolation to its bankruptcy is easy.

>...The South Koreans would agree with you on this point.  Keith

Ja, the South Koreans have a bit of a demographics challenge on their hands.  But they are not alone.  France is facing a similar problem with government debt.  Now I hear the government of Germany is also facing debt bomb.

I learned that the federal government had 679 million dollars invested in the Revolution Wind Power project.  Cancelled.  Alternative investors were found.  Currently the company is still saying they can complete on time (second quarter 2026) even though the federal government withdrawing funding delayed the project at least five to eight weeks.

Morale: no one should invest in any power infrastructure project in which the federal government is a co-investor.  

spike