Liberty bond 10000 joke

Someone told me a little joke the other day which is a variation of a joke which has been around quite some time. It happened that an elderly businessman philanthropist was enjoying a cup of tea in his top-floor office one fine day when one of his assistants walked in with an old bottle, telling his boss that it had been found in a tin box which had been left and forgotten in one of the many storage rooms in his office building. The maintenance crew was cleaning out old stuff to make room for new stuff and this was something they were going to throw away. The philanthropist took the bottle and blew away some accumulated dust which was probably at least a hundred years old. After the assistant left, the philanthropist stared at the bottle for a while. He finally decided to take the cork off just for the sake of curiosity. Immediately, a Genie popped out and very politely greeted the elderly gentleman. In gratitude for his being given his freedom, he told the philanthropist that he would grant him any wish. The philanthropist immediately and eagerly took out a map of the Middle East and pointed to the region near Lebanon. He asked the Genie if he recognized it. The Genie said he had known that region for more than 40 thousand years. The elderly gentleman then explained that in his old age, he would like to see if this entire region could be made peaceful once and for all. The Genie sadly shook his head and told the man that even the most powerful Genie would probably not be able to grant that wish. Did he have something else that he wished for dearly? The man was quite disappointed but said he did have something else he wished for. He had been trying to find a buyer for an old Liberty bond he owned - could the Genie find him a buyer for his Liberty bond 10000? The Genie looked at the man very seriously for a couple of seconds and just grinned. Then, he asked the elderly gentleman if he would let him take another look at the map of the Middle East - perhaps there was a way after all .... 

Green Energy

The complete list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies (shows tax dollars), as of October, 2013: 

Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*, SpectraWatt ($500,000)*, Solyndra ($535 million)*, Beacon Power ($43 million)*, Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million), SunPower ($1.2 billion), First Solar ($1.46 billion), Babcock and Brown ($178 million), EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*, Amonix ($5.9 million), Fisker Automotive ($529 million), Abound Solar ($400 million)*, A123 Systems ($279 million)*, Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*, Johnson Controls ($299 million), Brightsource ($1.6 billion), ECOtality ($126.2 million), Raser Technologies ($33 million)*, Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)* Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*, Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*, Range Fuels ($80 million)*, Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*, Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*, Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*, GreenVolts ($500,000), Vestas ($50 million), LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million), Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*, Navistar ($39 million), Satcon ($3 million)*, Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*, Mascoma Corp. ($100 million). 

*Denotes companies that have filed for bankruptcy. The amount also does not include other state, local, and federal tax credits and subsidies, which push the amount of money these companies have received from taxpayers even higher. So, what can we learn from these numbers? 

Proof of Funds

In many businesses, one must show proof of product before the buyer produces proof of funds when he is asked to do so. If your buyer hesitates, just walk away. Someone who cannot produce proof of funds after you have shown him what you're selling, has NO funds. Even if he is being financed, he MUST show proof of funds. Period.