Would you hand your $2 billion investment portfolio to a social worker?

From the Michigan View:
Henry Payne/ The Michigan View.com
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow has a graduate degree in social work. So last week, she invested $2 billion of your tax money in the lithium-ion battery production industry.

Ain't spending other people's money fun?

Actually, "invested" is hardly the term you would use for someone who has no background in the financial industry. Financial advisers "invest" your money in anticipation of a financial return. Social workers-turned-pols confiscate their clients' money through taxation then "spend" it to solve global warming.

Financial advisers consult research analysts and study the structure of a business and whether it is in a viable market. Senator Stabenow just stares into a crystal ball and says batteries are the future. Because, she says, "I can feel (global warming) when I'm flying."

Stabenow says she will introduce her Battery Innovation Act to coordinate all aspects of advanced battery production, from research and development to manufacturing where she and her colleagues have handed over billions more of your money to politically-connected corporations. All this even though she has never coordinated a parade, much less a battery manufacturing firm.

She says "she hopes (it) spurs a growing market."

Would you hand over $2 billion of your money to a broker with Stabenow's resume? Would you hand her $2?

Of course, the skill Stabenow does bring to the table is that she can issue edicts creating guaranteed markets for her "investment." Where will her batteries be sold? She and President Obama have mandated that all 600,00 vehicles in the federal fleet be converted to hybrid-battery power.

What's more, she and the president - himself a social worker - want to essentially mandate America's car fleet be battery-hybrids with a 56 mpg fuel economy standard by 2025.

How does a social worker know the future of the most complicated manufacturing product on the planet? How does a lifetime pol who has never worked in the capital markets know that it will "generate billions in private sector economic activity, creating thousands of jobs and making America competitive in advanced battery technologies"?

Easy. In America these days, social workers mandate the future.

Henry Payne is editor of The Michigan View.com
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110717/MIVIEW/107170342/Would-you-hand-your-$2-billion-investment-portfolio-to-a-social-worker?#ixzz1SW3mBpDv