High Gas Prices Eat Into Nonprofits' Funding

This story merely served as yet another reminder of just how precarious and dependent upon cheap gasoline so many of the more vulnerable members of our society really are. Here is delmarvanow.com with the details:

Rising gas prices are siphoning money the Food Bank of Delaware would rather spend to feed a record number of low-income families, at-risk kids and impoverished seniors.

“We definitely feel the impact,” spokeswoman Kim Kostes said. Every added $1 pumped into its trucks and vans could provide four nutritious meals, she said.
Gas in Delaware hit an average of $3.82 per gallon Sunday, and is expected to soon top $4 a gallon.

The food bank now is also working to raise the last $1 million effort for a $2.7 million to add a kitchen to expand its Milford site, serving southern Delaware, where need is growing fastest, she said. “Gas cards are great,” Kostes said, but money for operations and a new kitchen is also needed.

For nonprofits, rising gas prices mean not only higher costs for food and goods, but also a drop in donations, because people already suffering in the recession “just aren’t feeling like they have as much to give,” said John D. Baker, spokesman for the Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies.

The worst-hurt programs are those like the food bank and Meals on Wheels, which directly involve transportation or delivery, he said.

Some longtime volunteers at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover, where Meals on Wheels rolls out 700 meals each weekday, are starting to ask for help buying gas, said Executive Director Carolyn Fredricks.

Some volunteers have asked for shorter routes, some long routes have been split and there have been modest gas reimbursements when donations made them available, Meals on Wheels Deputy Director Ken Bock said.

Still, he said, paid staff members often end up doing a lot of deliveries that were done by volunteers before gas prices spiked.

Leaders of Delaware nonprofits say they already have been poaching from other budgets, doing more fund-raising and asking for gas card donations to help cover rising costs.

“We appreciate every bit of help,” said Newark Senior Center Executive Director Carla Grygiel. “We need it.”

Fuel costs are up 39 percent from last year for the center’s thrice-weekly member pick-up bus, she said. But the center is determined not to raise its $1 fare.

“We can’t raise our fees to our people who take the bus, because they are our most frail individuals,” Grygiel said, adding even a $1 fare “is difficult for some of them.”

Right now there is still enough latent wealth spread out around our economy to keep rising gasoline prices from turning into a potential humanitarian disaster. So what is going to happen when the day finally comes that those prices do rise to $5.00 or $6.00 a gallon or even more?

Christine O'Donnell Used Super PAC Money to Buy Copies of Her Own Book

Now here is a story guaranteed to make any thinking person's head hurt. Failed Delaware Senate candidate Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell, the most hilariously inept candidate for major office in recent memory (and that is saying a LOT), not only has her very own super PAC but has used it to buy copies of her own book. Here is Talking Points Memo with the details:

She may, famously, not be a witch, but here’s a bit of money magic from former Delaware Republican Senate candidate and recent Mitt Romney endorser Christine O’Donnell: her political campaign gave $142,000 to her super PAC, which proceeded to buy copies of her book.

Federal Election Commission reports filed by her campaign and super PAC this week show that the money her campaign gave to her super PAC represents just under 62 percent of the $229,985 the PAC took in during 2011. $19,912.30 of that money went towards an August 20th purchase labeled “PAC Fundraising Non-Residual Books” from a book shop in Philadelphia.

O’Donnell’s book, “Troublemaker,” had a list price of $25.99. If the books were purchased at that price, the campaign would have gotten around 766 copies. It’s unclear how all those copies were used for fundraising purposes since O’Donnell only received contributions from 16 individuals in the second half of the year. If all of them received a copy, she would have 750 copies of the book on hand.

Despite extensive media coverage of her book launch, “Troublemaker” failed to fly off the shelves, as Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out back in August. The book only sold 2,000 copies in the first two weeks it was out. It’s unclear if the copies O’Donnell purchased counted during that period counted towards the total. But even if the super PAC only got a slight discount off the cover price, her super PAC would have purchased over half of the books sold in the first few weeks. If they bought them at the current Amazon price of $14.32, the PAC could have purchased 1,390 copies.

You'll recall that back when her hideous tome was released, O'Donnell managed to briefly reemerge into the headlines when she stormed off the set of an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan because the latter was asking her questions about witchcraft and sex. In my August 20th post of last year, "Why is CNN Still Interviewing Christine O’Donnell?" I questioned why CNN would give airtime to a such a total political loser. And given the completely lackluster sales figures from her book, that question is even more valid.

Some will also no doubt be outraged that O'Donnell can get away with using campaign funds to so transparently enrich herself. But that doesn't bother me as much as wondering just who it is that is so brain addled yet can still afford to donate over 200 Large to Christine O'Donnell the year AFTER she lost her Senate race by a landslide?


Bonus: "Hey little girl, you want it all. The furs, the diamonds, the paintings on the wall"

Mass Layoffs Hammering the Solar Power Industry

Green energy is the wave of the future that is going to save our economy by being a huge driver for employment. Or so says the bullshit propaganda. But despite oil prices hovering in the low triple digits, the solar industry is having huge problems, as reported by Forbes:

Japanese solar company Sanyo plans to lay off about 140 employees in California, or about 40 percent of its manufacturing workforce in the United States, as it shifts its strategy in order to compete with large rivals, particularly those from China.

Sanyo is closing the 30-megawatt factory in Carson that makes silicon ingot and wafers – the materials for making solar cells – after setting up shop there in 2003. Production will stop at the end of March to coincide with the end of the company’s fiscal year, said Aaron Fowles, a Sanyo spokesman, on Friday. The company plans to liquidate the assets and close the factory for good in October.

But wait...there's more:

The planned factory shutdown by Sanyo follows a series of layoffs and solar factory closures in the United States and elsewhere over the past year. Manufacturers have struggled to survive when there is a glut of solar panels and the wholesale prices for them have fallen by 40-50 percent. The glut is partly caused by the lowering of government subsidies in big solar markets such as Germany and Italy in 2011.

Earlier this month, California-based Amonix said it was letting go 200 of the roughly 300 workers at its North Las Vegas factory, which it opened last year with a promise to bring lots of local jobs. Amonix said it needed to cut staff so that it could modify the production equipment and start making a new line of solar energy systems later this year. Some workers there told the Las Vegas Sun that they didn’t know their employment would be so temporary.

Also earlier this month, Boston-based Satcon Technology, which makes power conversion equipment for solar electric systems, said it was laying off 35 percent of its workforce and shutting down a factory in Canada. Two German manufacturers who set up factories in the United States, SolarWorld and Solon, have shuttered some of the production here.

Several manufacturers who didn’t have enough money or unable to reduce their costs quick enough to stay in business have filed for bankruptcies, including Solyndra, SpectraWatt and Evergreen Solar.

So what's the problem?

Some manufacturers blame their Chinese rivals for the pileup of unused solar panels and the big drop in prices. SolarWorld, which runs a solar panel factory in Oregon, joined six other manufacturers in filing a trade complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce last October. The companies contend that Chinese manufactures are selling their products at prices far below the cost of producing them, and they are able to do that because they receive heavy and unfair subsidies from the Chinese government.

The fact that Chinese workers are willing to do the job for a fraction of what Americans are paid is no doubt a factor, as is the fact that China essentially has no environmental regulations. Look, we can argue all day about whether large scale solar power really has the potential to replace fossil fuels (as I've said before, I'm not a subscriber to that theory). Nevertheless, even if it could be part of the answer, I think it is clear from this story that as long as we have unrestricted globalization, what solar power will certainly not be able to do is create a substantial number of new good paying jobs in this country as politicos like President Hopey-Changey would like us to believe.

Addendum: After composing this post, I found another story about an impending solar company bankruptcy, this time in Delaware. Here is Canadian Business with the details:

A Delaware-based solar power company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

New Castle-based Suntricity Power listed estimated assets of between half a million and a million dollars, and estimated liabilities of between $100,000 and $500,000 in its filing Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington.

Suntricity, founded in 2007, designs, sells and installs solar energy systems for residential and commercial customers.

Bonus: "Who loves the sun? Not everyone"

NASCAR Track Tries to Hide Declining Attendance by Widening the Seats

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this post into a Kunstler-esque screed putting down NASCAR fans as if they are solely responsible for dragging America down into the abyss these days. The fact is I really don't care what floats your boat as far as entertainment goes. I have my own guilty pleasures and at one time in my life was spending a couple of thousand dollars a year as an NFL season ticket holder. As long as your entertainment doesn't begin to fog your brain to the point where you might actually consider voting for the likes of Newt Gingrich or Donald Trump, I say knock yourself out.

Still, I couldn't help but find this story from ESPN amusing:

Dover International Speedway in Delaware is hoping to make race fans' experience a little more comfortable by widening seats in the track's outdoor grandstands.

The speedway announced Thursday that the process of increasing seats from 18 inches to 22 inches will start next year and will be complete by 2014.

Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover Motorsports, says the widening comes in response to fans' suggestions. The change will reduce the capacity of the speedway from 140,000 to 113,000.

I could start making all kinds of tired, overused jokes about fat, lazy ass Americans here, but will refrain from doing so. Instead, I'll just point out the audacity of Dover Motorsports President Denis McGlynn trying to pass off the fact that he is shrinking his available product base by 27,000 and trying to pass it off as if he gives a shit whether the more bovine attendees at his auto races are able to wedge themselves into the seats or not. Fact is, if Dover Motorsports could still sell 140,000 tickets to their auto race, they would, and wider fan posteriors be damned.


Bonus: My personal favorite auto racing song