WASHINGTON, D.C. (YBH.ME) – FOX News reporter John Stossel reports today about Serious Materials, a window-maker headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. The article, published over at Real Clear Politics, is entitled “Big Government’s Cronies” and picks up on an FBN segment Mr. Stossel did last week. In the article, Mr. Stossel makes a compelling case that Serious Materials is a politically-favored company. Both President Obama and Vice President Biden have endorsed the company at public events and an Obama appointee is married to a Serious Materials employee.
Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials.
As the President moves forward with his initiatives, the government will overtly or covertly be in the business of picking more and more winners and losers. A growing government means bigger budgets that will undoubtedly trickle down to government-preferred companies, many with ties to the very governments who are choosing who gets tax dollars. This has long been the case in the defense industry, but is relatively new in other areas of the economy.In the case of Serious Materials, Cathy Zoi, an Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is married to the vice president of “policy” at the company. Serious Materials didn’t get an actual tax subsidy. They instead received a tax credit, meaning they owe less in taxes than their competitors do. According to Mr. Stossel, a spokesman for Serious Materials contacted him and said his article and FBN segment is “full of lies, but she wouldn’t say what those lies are.” The Minnesota Freedom Foundation, the group that broke the story to Mr. Stossel, stated that Serious Materials and/or its employees appeared with or were mentioned by the President or Vice President six times last year at public events.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has highlighted the Serious Materials story on her show, calling the company an example of how the stimulus was working. Ms. Maddow didn’t highlight the ties between the Obama administration and the company. She only referred to the fact that the company has expanded U.S. production. That expansion was made possible in part by Mr. Obama’s stimulus act.
Serious Materials re-opened a non-union plant in Vandergrift, PA last year. The company also bought a Republic Windows plant out of bankruptcy that was the highlight of news reports after workers staged a “sit-in” that was supported by President Obama after the company laid off workers without notice last year. The company is also re-opening a Chicago area plant in the near future.
Mr. Stossel also states that, Andersen, Pella, and Marvin, the nation’s three biggest window-makers, did not receive the “green” tax credit given to Serious Materials. Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious materials, was named Entrepeneur of the Year in 2009 by Inc. Magazine, and has gotten admiring write-ups in the venerable Wall Street Journal. Son of a GE engineer, and with a background in e-commerce, Mr Surace has stated he was brought to the green fold by his viewing of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth.”
A Serious Materials blog post takes issue with Mr. Stossel’s assertion that they received a special tax credit read their rebuttal here.
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John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
