Anyone see the report on Sunrise Solar on CNN? Obama mentioned many times

[jtuck004]

and not nearly favorably. Here's a link to a print story - http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/politics/obama-solar-poster-boy/index.html

Basically this guy created a solar-panel-powered attic fan, company name Sunrise Solar. Did well for a few years, then one day was contacted by the White House, brought to more than one Obama or Biden gatherings and trumpeted as one of our solutions. Did really well for a year or so. Has pictures on the wall with Obama on one side, Biden on the other. Everything in the fan is made in the U.S., except the solar panel. He had one US mfr, they quit making the small panel. He tried another, they supplied garbage. He tried others, but the only reliable supply of what he needs is from China.

So the administration, Obama, has now imposed a 250% tariff on imports of solar panels from China (anti-dumping), because of their unfair competition. He is facing a big fine for something involving the panels.

His prices, and business, bega a real struggle to survive. He spent about 3-4 minutes harping on about how he was being ignored, Obama's policies were hurting him. Ended with a letter from the WH explaining why the tariff (which only affects us, other countries are buying their output, don't really need us) is necessary.

Here is a real issue. He has half a dozen jobs, runs a shop. Their best year was 2 million gross, so he probably made a couple hundred thousand plus the productive assets he owned increased. Now he is making much less, nearly shut down, so his best years may be behind him. And this is supposed to make our country stronger.

He doesn't see his real enemies as the pattern of disinvestment in the U.S., the theft by the banks, lack of investment in education, Americans happily living in too big homes driving too big SUV's all supported on trillions in debt. He just gets up, has half a dozen employees, and faces the shutdown of his business so a big mfr in another state can stay open. And a fine from an administration that used him to support their policies.

I don't mean to minimize his plight, but this guy wants the easy way out, doesn't really care about any American jobs except those at his place. (Ironic. He grabs a solar-powered calculator to show some figures - I wonder how many American jobs that probably-Chinese-made solar panel on the calculator represented?).

It is short-term thinking, of course, but are you ready to see your job, your creation, your whole business and all of its jobs trashed so others can keep theirs?

His only choice is to find an American mfr (perhaps not possible for the price needed to sell?), or fire everyone and find something else to do. That does open a big hole for a competitor, perhaps someone who would work harder to get U.S. made panels, although it is certainly possible that it can't be done economically, regardless of the tariffs.

Is it better for this country if he shuts down because the price is too high to sell in our marketplace? A solar-powered attic fan is a good energy saver, which is good for all of us, but will only be bought at the right price. What if people wind up buying a Chinese copy (the same tariffs don't apply to fully manufactured goods, they pay import taxes. Or maybe we get nothing, and the Chinese sell them to the rest of the developing world? If the gov subsidizes him, he will put many thousands in his pocket.

From his perspective it is grossly unfair, and there are hundreds of thousands of people for whom this story will resonate. They think "gov" is hurting them and they don't see how that helps. This guy used to own a roofing company, saw a problem, developed a solution, was probably making $250K for a couple years, and now sees it going down the drain, just like home values, just like millions of jobs, and he is left to flounder. And he is being asked to vote for Obama because the alternative is worse - that's a tough sell to him and his ex-employees, I suspect.

It's not that we can't do anything. We could declare the inability of millions to afford college in the face of no opportunity, as well our appalling lack of modern production, a national emergency, subsidize public universities and open up their knowledge to whole communities at no cost, teach modern manufacturing techniques, put some seed money out there for, spend a few trillion (40?) updating the plants we have let sit (we need updating in a LOT more than solar panels), create the jobs program that should have started in 2009...heck, we could just subsidize a small panel mfr, which would result in tax dollars going straight into owner's pockets. But it would keep a part of an industry here.

But we aren't.

I wonder what the outcome will be...

[brush]

1. solar fan

Last edited Thu Aug 23, 2012, 10:58 PM - Edit history (2)

CEOs are paid the big bucks to be creative business thinkers and agile problem solvers who figure out ways to adjust to markets, trends and supply problems. This guy's solar panel supply line dried up. Maybe he needs to redesign the fan for what's available on the market. I live in Vegas and there are plenty of houses with solar panels on their roofs. That means they are installed very close to where an attic fan would be installed. With those two elements that close together physically, there must be some way to hook up a roof solar panel to an attic fan that will run off the energy the panel generates. Duh! Get busy redesigning the fan and stop whining that the president screwed you. Solve the problem.