Will Work for Tax Breaks!

Saft Corporation received a $95.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to open a 235,000 square foot lithium battery plant in Jacksonville, FL.. Saft got economic incentives from the state of Florida and the city of Jacksonville to build the plant, and construction of the 235,000-square-foot facility was further funded by a $95.5 million federal grant from the Department of Energy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, i.e. TARP!

Now here is a French company expected to create 300 jobs at $318,333.33 of taxpayer money per job...to make lithium-ion batteries for cars. This is, by most assessments, a dead end and the government looks foolish.

But, wait. It is actually more complicated. These batteries also have a U.S. Department of Defense application. The Defense Department can not rely on domestic American production for their needed products. So the government may have another motive and may have made a decision based on weakness and need.

What a mess.