Remember all the talk of how government-sponsored “green jobs” would save the economy?
Because of the way the government gets its money, “government sponsored” ultimately means financed by taxpayers, with no one in particular being in charge. So the “workers” sit around:
HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) – Workers at LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell Target 8 that they have so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games, reading magazines or watching movies.
They say it’s been going on for months.“There would be up to 40 of us that would just sit in there during the day,” said former LG Chem employee Nicole Merryman, who said she quit in May.
“We were given assignments to go outside and clean; if we weren’t cleaning outside, we were cleaning inside. If there was nothing for us to do, we would study in the cafeteria, or we would sit and play cards, sit and read magazines,” said Merryman. “It’s really sad that all these people are sitting there and doing nothing, and it’s basically on taxpayer money.”
Two current employees told Target 8 that the game-playing continues because, as much as they want to work, they still have nothing to do.
“There’s a whole bunch of people, a whole bunch,” filling their time with card games and board games,” one of those current employees said.
Not to worry, though. The president was there for a ground breaking!
The plant all started with such great hope, and a presidential groundbreaking in July 2010.
“This is a symbol of where Michigan is going, this is a symbol of where Holland is going, and this is a symbol of where America’s going,” President Barack Obama told a crowd at the groundbreaking.
Nicole Merryman was among the first in line for a job.
“It was something exciting, and I thought it would be better for the family, more overtime, more money,” said Merryman, who said she worked on a line that folded the battery cells.
The company’s goal: 300 employees pumping out 15 million battery cells a year. Its biggest customer: The Chevrolet Volt.
Except none of that worked out as planned, because nothing ever does. Only, when the government plans it, it works out worse because government bureaucrats are more stymied than even normal corporate bureaucrats.
You’d think they might have learned from the failures of other government-sponsored economies, but you’d be wrong.