U.S. approves sale of fed-backed Mich. battery maker A123 to Chinese

If anyone is wondering just how China is acquiring their technology and are able to use it to modernize their military, here is one of the best examples in the last five years. Once brought up in a previous article (see also here), here is an update on the plight of the A123 battery making company:

Washington — The Obama administration approved the sale of most of bankrupt battery maker A123 Systems’ assets to Chinese firm Wanxiang Group Corp.

The company’s U.S. subsidiary, Chicago-based Wanxiang America, said it has received approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to complete its acquisition of substantially all of the non-government business assets of A123 Systems, Inc.

The solution to US debt? Sell Alaska

Maybe what Russian professor Igor Panarin had to say quite a few years ago, although off on the timing, might slowly be coming to fruition.

The prospect of once again hitting the federal debt ceiling has provoked the ritual round of hand-wringing about the intractable nature of this $US16 trillion conundrum. But there is a simple, elegant option that involves no tax increases, no spending cuts and just a bit of imagination.

Sell Alaska.

That’s right. Put the entire state – from Juneau to Deadhorse, from the Bering Strait to the Beaufort Sea – on the auction block.

Absurd? No more absurd than the spectacle taking place right now as we skid closer to the fiscal cliff.

Chinese billionaire to scoop up failing car battery maker that got $240M from feds

A struggling Massachusetts-based company that makes batteries for electric cars and got $240 million in stimulus money is being saved from bankruptcy by a Chinese billionaire who could move operations overseas.

A123 Systems received a $241.1-million grant from the Obama administration three years ago and more than $125 million in State of Michigan tax credits in the hopes that the company would create jobs, while leading the country away from conventional gas-guzzling vehicles and toward clean energy.