Posted by
Richard on Friday, October 10, 2008 12:39:10 PM
Do most of you remember that movie “Oliver” wherein he goes up with his gruel cup and asks for more? Keep this in mind as you read this article about Google's energy proposal.
I received an email about a plan by Google to invest in alternative energy, and at first it occurred to me that nobody has seemingly pick up on this bit of news. Being the curious type that I am, and thinking as well that it might not be that bad an idea, I googled Google’s plan. I got in return many results to various links, the leading one being Google’s actual plan.
Now I will admit I am very much the layperson when it comes to financial matters. I can pay my bills on time, balance my checkbook, etc. and that is about it. Investing I leave up to professionals in 401Ks and other plans. As for the technical parts of the plan, I could follow along relatively well enough to get a feel for the proposal.
Two things mostly stood out in mind.
1) The commentary section was loaded with many professional science types, engineers and others that put forth various additions to the plan or offered some suggestions that might be included in this draft. Both pros and cons of all the sections were weighed in upon. Nevertheless, the general opinion seemed to be one of agreement. All well and good so far.
2) There was no real mention as far as I could tell about how this was going to be financed. I did not see any thoughts on making this venture open to public offering or investments. The authors of the plan did not seem to make any comments one way or the other on how they planned to raise the 4.4 trillion dollars they said would be needed as a start-up cost. In addition, the net profit would be 1.4 trillion dollars. Somehow, it does not seem like a good investment to me, that is to say spending 4.4 trillion to net only 1.4 trillion, but again I am no financial wizard. That in itself set up a red flag.
So I continued along on the various links look for some indication about how this was going to be paid for, and by whom.
One link had a nice comment that in effect stated that it was nice to see a rich company finally putting its money where it’s mouth is, but again there was no mention as to how much was being put forth.
Finally, I hit upon a sight called Market Watch. Herein are a couple of quotes;
Google last month announced that it would begin partnering with General Electric Co to lobby Washington lawmakers and promote the use of alternative energy. (Bold, underlined italics mine)
Ah ha! So here is the red flag waving now. I followed a link from that story to yet another and viola; here is some more interesting news;
“The chief executives of Google Inc. and General Electric Co. said Wednesday that their companies are launching a joint lobbying effort in Washington to promote alternative-energy technologies…The lobbying effort will include "development of specific policy proposals, alliance building, advocacy, information programs and public relations…I believe in free markets, but to a certain extent we worship false idols over time."
As a friend of mine used to say, let me understand this; Google wants to spend 4.4 trillion dollars and plans to lobby congress for the money. Well this is rather easy to understand, they want a meal ticket and they want the US Taxpayer to fund it.
Well Google while I believe your plan certainly has merit, as we’d all like to see an energy independent America, I can only say to you, not on my dime. I am all for the United States developing alternative energy sources, heaven knows we can’t keep going the way we are now and expect to survive. But I also believe that it should be free market that foots the bill, not the taxpayers.
So here are a couple of proposals to raise the cash.
One would be to create a private company, instead of a non-profit one because that almost guarantees picking the pockets of the American Taxpayer and make initial public offerings of shares of stock. I promise you, you WILL get investors.
A second alternative would be to get a LOAN from the Feds, and publicly sign a promissory note for the 4.4trillion to be paid back over the 22-year length of the proposed plan. I will even forgo interest on the loan. In addition, when and if the company shows profit then the company will pay the American taxpayers a percentage of that profit, since it was they that actually invested in the plan by loaning you the money. The distribution of the above-mentioned profits can be worked out over time.
Personally, if I were Google I would go for option number one, as it involves only investors taking risks and not risking already tight taxpayer funds.
Now getting back to the beginning of this piece. I can somehow envision Google going to Washington with a bowl and asking;
“Please sir, can we have some more?”
To view Google’s complete plan click
here
Read comments by Marketwatch.com
here and here