Prison Labor: In the world of politics it's all in the marketing.
Prison labor helps U.S. solar company manufacture at home (IN OTHER WORDS, Exploitative Prison labor is good b/c it brings jobs back to America.)
Inmates working for Unicor, which has existed since the 1930s, have long made things like license plates and goods for the military. Solar panels were added to its list of products so that inmates could acquire skills in a new and growing industry and help government efforts to use more renewable energy.
The vast majority of Unicor's 12,000 inmate workers make products for the federal government, but as federal budgets have shrunk in recent years the company has been trying to attract more contract work from private businesses. About 10 percent of its inmate workers are now engaged in such work.
Suniva was founded in 2007 by solar scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and it has grown rapidly. While the private company doesn't disclose its financials, a federal contract from 2014 said Suniva had $93 million in annual revenue.
The average wage for inmate workers in the Unicor programs is 92 cents an hour, though employers pay a significantly higher amount to Unicor for overhead and other costs. Inmates responsible for court-ordered fines, victim restitution or child support payments are required to use half their earnings to meet those financial obligations.
Suniva would not give any details on its financial arrangement with Unicor, citing government restrictions on the disclosure of contract terms. Unicor also declined to offer details on how individual contract manufacturing agreements are structured.
(HMMM. WONDER HOW MUCH PROFIT UNICOR MAKES OFF OF THE PRISON WORKERS? )
Suniva has raised more than $200 million from investors including Goldman Sachs, venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates and Prelude Ventures and private equity firms H.I.G. Ventures and Warburg Pincus. It has also received $6.8 million in Department of Energy grants.
Goldman Sachs would not comment on its investment in Suniva.
(BOY THAT GOLDMAN SACHS SURE KNOWS HOW TO TURN A PROFIT).
You know, a society losing its moral compass is one of the signs that it is headed for collapse.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-solar-prison-suniva-insight-idUSKBN0OQ0DT20150610