Corporate Integrity Project

Scandals involving Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing, Boeing and WorldCom have shaken confidence in America's corporate leaders. NLPC seeks to promote integrity in corporate governance, including honesty and fair play in relationships with shareholders, employees, business partners and customers. In doing so, NLPC places special emphasis on:

  • Asserting that the social responsibility of the corporation is to defend and advance the interests of the people who own the company, the shareholders. True responsibility is fidelity to one’s own mission, not someone else’s, or someone else’s political agenda.
  • Exposing the seeking of influence on public officials by corporations, which is the inevitable result of high levels of government spending and intervention in the marketplace.
  • Combating practices that undermine the free enterprise system, including philanthropic giving to groups hostile to a free economy.
Russian Oligarch Tries to Cash In on Obama's Crony Capitalism
Paul Chesser
01/10/2012 - 09:32

Alexi MordashThe Department of Energy announced on Friday it would not complete a low-interest, $730 million loan to Severstal North America, after it had given the company a conditional commitment in July under its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program.

DOE gave no reason for its disapproval of the loan, but it had come under scrutiny about its judgment after the collapse of solar company Solyndra, which was lent $535 million in taxpayer dollars.

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GM Recalls Chevy Volt
NLPC Staff
01/06/2012 - 16:45

Last night, NLPC Associate Fellow Paul Chesser discussed the Chevy Volt recall with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network. Here's a transcript:

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Chevy Volt Fleet Sales Rise, Government GM Purchases Increase
Mark Modica
01/05/2012 - 16:30

General Motors reported Chevy Volt sales of 1,529 for the month of December. The still unimpressive number is an improvement over previous months, but the gains were mostly driven by fleet sales. According to GM, 992 of the Volts sold were to retail customers while 537 went to fleet purchasers.

GM says the fleet sales were to corporate buyers and not to rental companies. The number of Volts sold to townships receiving federal grants remains unknown. The corporate sales claim makes sense as crony company, General Electric, starts to make good on its promise to buy thousands of Volts. Of course, GE benefits by selling charging stations for the vehicles.

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Taxpayers Take Hit as Solar Industry Implodes
Paul Chesser
01/04/2012 - 09:48

First Solar Logo

In a year where Solyndra became the face of the solar industry’s chronic failures, even the holiday season could not prevent one last flurry of layoffs in 2011.

The Mountain Enterprise (based in Frazier Park, Calif.) reported over the weekend that First Solar, Inc. – which the media sometimes identifies as the largest solar company in the world – laid off half its employees on Friday at its Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One project. The facility has been the subject of controversy in the local community over the effects it will have on land use, wildlife, and water usage.

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Chevy Volt Gets "Worst Product" Award
Mark Modica
01/03/2012 - 07:43

General Motors' much-hyped Chevy Volt has yet another distinction to add to its long list of commendations. We had all heard repeatedly about Motor Trends' Car of the Year award, Consumer Reports' recommendation and Jay Leno's love affair with the car, but the Volt now gets a less publicized, more deserved distinction from Yahoo Finance's 24/7 Wall Street site. The Volt has made the list of "The Worst Product Flops of 2011" and apologists for the vehicle are sure to, once again, attack the credibility of those issuing the opinion.

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Taxpayers' Leaf: Four Recharging Stops Needed to Go 180 Miles
Paul Chesser
01/03/2012 - 07:38

Nissan Leaf photoConsumer Reports has painted an ugly picture of the Nissan Leaf, as did an early enthusiast based in Los Angeles, who described his frustrations with the heavily subsidized, all-electric car in a recent column.

Now comes what must be the definitive example of the Leaf’s impracticality – this time from a (still) hard-core advocate, whose 180-mile Tennessee trek to visit family over the holidays required four lengthy stops to keep the vehicle moving.

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Time to End $7,500 Electric Car Tax Credit
Mark Modica
12/28/2011 - 09:59

Kelly photoPennsylvania Congressman, Mike Kelly, wants to end the $7,500 tax credit that affluent purchasers of electric vehicles are currently taking advantage of. The most hyped of these vehicles has been General Motors' Chevy Volt, but other plug-in cars, like Fiskers and Teslas, sell for close to $100,000 and make a strong case for Rep. Kelly's argument.

Let's look past the recent Chevy Volt fires. The value of a vehicle will be determined by the consumer. It does not matter if Jay Leno and other rich purchasers say they love their Volts. The real questions are, should taxpayers be paying the wealthy to purchase cars like the Volt, and what, exactly, are the taxpayers getting for their money?

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'Beyond Petroleum’ Gives Up on Solar
Paul Chesser
12/28/2011 - 09:50

bp solar no more

BP Solar, the alternative energy subsidiary of the oil industry giant which received a $7.5 million Department of Energy grant only four years ago, announced last week it would exit the solar business.

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Taxpayer-Subsidized Electric Vehicles Are a Bust
NLPC Staff
12/22/2011 - 10:15

NLPC Associate Fellow Paul Chesser was interviewed last night on Cavuto on the Fox Business Network. Paul asserted that electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt have failed in the marketplace, despite massive taxpayer subsidies. Here's a transcript:

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The MF Global Collapse Explained (And Why It Should Be a Crime)
Fred N. Sauer
12/21/2011 - 10:46

Corzine photoAnybody using the financial services industry puts their faith and trust in a whole lot of people they have never seen or ever will. We all rely on regulators and regulations that are instituted by state and federal governments.  In fact, almost anybody who has any savings probably has them parked in one of our financial institutions. To sharpen your focus on this, remember that about 80% of the balance of your checking account is tied up in loans that some strangers have promised to repay.

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