Zoomi Life

Established in 2007, the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program (overseen by the Department of Energy) has yet to loan out even a penny.  Surprised?

Glaring holes in the New York Times report, however, fail to note the real issue here: first, the money wasn’t “to help reach Obama’s goal of 1 million electric cars” since it was allocated well before Obama even started campaigning for office.

So why is the money just sitting there?  Probably because the program’s directorate, the DoE office overseen by Lachlan W. Seward, hasn’t done anything except leech funds from it to pay their own salaries.  Up until very recently, nobody cared about this fund, so there was no pressure on the people in Seward’s office to hurry it up.  Now, with the focus on industry bailouts, struggling auto sales, and environmental concerns, the office is suddenly under scrutiny.

Exactly the kind of thing bureaucrats like Seward don’t like.  So he’s pretending to be taking the “careful approach” to ensure that our money is “well invested.”

On top of that, the filing deadline for getting to the money was December 31st, which was apparently when most auto companies (like Tesla Motors) filed.  I guess before December, this loan program wasn’t such a big deal, so why not just sit on it and ride out the cushy job?

Now, of course, the offices are like bees hives of activity, humming away as they try to “look busy” and get a few of the loans approved and out, so they can be “on the job.”

Welcome to bureaucracy.

Source: The New York Times