For energy conversion de-vices, a small materials firm in Rochester Hills, Mich., 2003 is a year with a remarkably familiar ring to it. There have been large losses, the defection of a large corporate investor and promises of major developments and profits around the corner. BCD may deserve a place in the Guinness Book of World Records: It lost money in 36 out of the 40 years it has been a publicly traded company. The puppetmaster of this long-running farce is Stanford Ovshinsy, the 81-year-old inventor who claims to have most of the world's big problems already wrapped up. "Our company is invaluable. We have the answers to the economy and to the environmental situation," he says with an utterly sincere expression. Then he pauses: "Not to sound grandiose about it."
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