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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (5329)	2/26/2009 7:07:58 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 86352

First Solar cuts manufacturing costs to below US$1 per watt Press release; Michael McManus, DIGITIMES [Thursday 26 February 2009] First Solar recently announced that it reduced its manufacturing cost for solar modules in the fourth quarter to US$0.98 per watt, breaking the US$1 per watt price barrier. First Solar began full commercial operation of its initial manufacturing line in late 2004. From 2004 through today, manufacturing capacity has grown 2,500% to more than 500 megawatts in 2008, the company said. First Solar's annual production capacity will double in 2009 to more than 1 gigawatt, the equivalent of an average-sized nuclear power plant. These escalating volumes have been accompanied by a rapid reduction in manufacturing costs. From 2004 through today, First Solar's manufacturing costs have declined two-thirds from over US$3 per watt to less than US$1 per watt, it said, adding the company is confident that further significant cost reductions are possible based on the yet untapped potential of its technology and manufacturing process.

To: Brumar89 who wrote (5329)	2/26/2009 7:14:36 AM
From: enginer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 86352

The Bid/Cover ratio remains very positive, but cannot go on forever. see mam.econoday.com and mam.econoday.com When the bid/cover shows rejection of buying new debt from us, the interest rates required to attract new buyers will steadily increase. Then the dollar will really be headed towards the toilet. If we cannot now afford the deficit, how much less at 10 - 12% interest rate to people who know the only source of these ponzi-scheme payments is "printing presses."

To: Brumar89 who wrote (5329)	2/26/2009 7:56:30 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86352

First of all, the reported deficits by Bush were not telling the whole story. If you want the whole story, then look at the annual increase in our national debt. They can hide what goes on by not including things like the Iraq war in the budget, but they can't hide the debt. It increased by $8 trillion over Bush's 8 years. That $1 trillion in deficit spending we had to borrow for every year he was in office. That was unforgiveable because he had a choice to be more fiscally conservative, because the economy was doing ok for awhile there and he had a GOP majority in both houses for 6 years. Now the economy is in the toilet and we are in a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Reagan faced something similar in the early 80's and he concluded that he needed to spend his way out of it, which he successfully did. The US did exactly the same thing after the Great Depression. Spending on WWII is what pulled us out of it ultimately. Obama is doing the very same thing, although our economy is larger now and needs greater spending to accomplish the same thing. It's Keynsian thinking. I'll tell you though, I'm horrified watching it all. My rational brain tells me that Keynsian economics works, and I have graduate level studies in economics and finance under my belt, so I'm not new to the thinking. However, my gut rebels against the idea. Mostly, I feel like a cornered dog. We can't sit back and watch the Great Depression again and history tells us exactly what to do, but the medicine tastes really awful. It's like chemo to cure cancer. Chemo kills part of your body and wipes out your immune system. The cure can feel worse than the disease sometimes. Throughout this, I simply remind myself that 90% of our national debt has been piled on while Republicans were in power. Most of our debt was piled on during the Reagan years and during the Bush Jr years. That's a historical fact, which is a very inconvenient truth for the GOP who fancy themselves fiscal conservatives, despite all the evidence to the contrary. So while the GOP continue to delude only themselves that the Dems are the big spenders, the Dems are trying to clean up the mess that they inherited.