Al Gore could become world's first carbon billionaire

[Buzz Killington]

How is this different than any other "self made man" in US history?

Like Dick Cheney, perhaps?

 

[elcap15]

I don't care if he's worth $1B, all I care is that he's investing in companies that the government is throwing hundreds of $millions or $billions at in grants.

So am I. On a much smaller scale obviously.

Im no huge Obama fan, but its stupid not to follow the money.

 

[PapaG]

Good for him. Putting his money where his heart is and getting richer as a result.

The big thing I don't hear people talking about much is that the electrical system in America is old and very inefficient. We think of ourselves as all modern because we had wide spread electricity before anybody else. But a lot of what's being used today is old inefficient technology. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that stuff should be replaced and the companies that are successful in doing so are going to make a ton of money as a result.

This is also just one example. Maybe Al and his buddies are gonna make a ton of money on that deal. But what other investments are they making and getting zero return on?

Probably not the ones they are making fear-mongering movies about, speeches, and advising his own party on in terms of legislation.

This is Cheney/Halliburton on steroids.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I don't really think that there's a reason for a stink about Gore making money off of Green Energy.

As said, he's been a private citizen for almost a decade now. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall and starting investing in something that a) he knew about and b) speculated that it'd get even bigger in the future. He advanced (I'd say "created", but that's too strong) an idea that dovetailed nicely with his investments, and won the Nobel Peace Prize for it.

I don't agree with his premises or prescriptions, but I don't think he's doing anything wrong or illegal. Maybe I'm being naive.

 

[maxiep]

For those who are fine with Al Gore making this kind of money off of his investments, I never want to see another "Halliburton" or "Bush's Oil Buddies" from you.

 

[maxiep]

How is this different than any other "self made man" in US history?

You're right. Al Gore is Dick Cheney.

 

[maxiep]

BTW, I don't think Gore has done anything particularly wrong at all. My only beef with him is, like Michael Moore, he's an incredible hypocrite.

 

[Eastoff]

I argue both. The investment is in a scam, and the people have been scammed to pay for it.

I also pointed out I'm against corporate welfare of any kind. It gets a little tricky when the govt. is buying weapons from defense companies, but I don't see any reason why it couldn't come at a price - like not being able to sell to anyone else.

We should also stop the corn industry! They have clearly received more money in subsidies over the years. Why do you think the terriffs on sugar are so high? That is an industry propped up by the government. Where is your thread about that? Where is your thread about Dick Cheney getting money routed to his prison system in Texas he invested money into while he was in office?

 

[Eastoff]

Probably not the ones they are making fear-mongering movies about, speeches, and advising his own party on in terms of legislation.

This is Cheney/Halliburton on steroids.

how many people have died for green energy?

 

[barfo]

For those who are fine with Al Gore making this kind of money off of his investments, I never want to see another "Halliburton" or "Bush's Oil Buddies" from you.

There is a big difference. Gore was a private citizen when he made these investments. As a private citizen, there are no more restrictions on his business dealings than yours or mine. Cheney was VP when he allegedly funneled government contracts to Halliburton.

[For the record, I am not accusing Cheney of anything at all. However, if it were true that he did do what others have alleged, then it would be a very different matter than Gore's investments, because he was a public servant at the time, Gore was not. Cheney's actions would have been illegal; Gore's were legal.]

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

We should also stop the corn industry! They have clearly received more money in subsidies over the years. Why do you think the terriffs on sugar are so high? That is an industry propped up by the government. Where is your thread about that? Where is your thread about Dick Cheney getting money routed to his prison system in Texas he invested money into while he was in office?

Dude, I'm against farm subsidies, terriffs, and govt. propping up businesses. It stinks of the same sort of things that Ayn Rand wrote about in Atlas Shrugged - companies getting into bed with government to get legislation passed to assure their success.

I had issues with Haliburton, but when I did a bit of research I found that Haliburton is simply one of a very few companies qualified for the work the govt. needed and was paid $billions during the Clinton Administration as well. If it were some new company that a republican invested in that was getting $billions in grants, I'd be equally up in arms.