Posted on 09/20/2011 10:36:09 AM PDT by Kaslin
An investigation by the Energy and Commerce Committee has revealed that, for political reasons, the White House rushed a $528 billion federal loan to solar firm Solyndra, which went bankrupt two weeks ago. Taxpayers should be outraged. Not just about Solyndra, but about the inherent corruption of government's entire push to pick winners and losers in the energy sector, and micromanage the economy in general.
In case anyone has missed it, here's a refresher on what happened with Solyndra. After the Department of Energy had tentatively approved Solyndra’s loan, White House officials unduly pressured the Office of Management and Budget to give final approval. Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to appear at the company’s groundbreaking ceremony and the White House didn’t want to miss its photo opportunity. Even then Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel wrote to ask if there was anything he could do to speed the process along. Officials worried that rushing to approve the loan meant they didn’t have enough time to assess the risk to taxpayers. But, the loan went ahead and so did Biden’s photo op.
President Obama touted the project as central to his green jobs plan, visiting the company in May 2010. Solyndra was the first solar company to receive a loan from a federal program to support green energy, a promising symbol of all those green energy jobs still to come. Then, two weeks ago, Solyndra went bankrupt. Now subject to an FBI investigation. The failed company leaves 1,100 people out of work and taxpayers liable for $528 billion in federal loans.
Solyndra was the darling of Obama’s green business plan, but a bad bet from the beginning. Blinded by its close ties to Solyndra executives and its zealotry for green jobs, the White House chose to ignore warnings from the Government Accountability Office that the firm was headed for failure. Private credit ratings agencies also warned that the project would run out of cash in September 2011. Failing to conduct due diligence with public money, the White House got caught up in “corporate favoritism, big-money politics, and Chicago-style deal making.” They cajoled the OMB into approving an enormous loan – hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars – for political ends. Worse yet, Solyndra is not the only green energy firm propped up by taxes to go under. At least four other green energy firms that each received between $500,000 and $6 million dollars in federal loans have also gone bankrupt.
The Solyndra scandal raises the larger problem of government involvement in energy investment, and the economy in general. The problem is simple: Government’s primary motive is politics, not profit. This produces bad business decisions. Big money goes to projects which sound attractive to voters, are politically well-connected, or produce good photo opportunities, but not necessarily to the projects that produce the best results. Government ends up investing in a solar panel company that goes bankrupt, or a bio-ethanol product that does nothing to improve energy efficiency.
A savvy private investment firm would certainly never rush the approval of a half-billion dollar loan in order to take advantage of a photo opportunity. Private investment insures accountability: invest in a business that suddenly goes belly-up and you lose your investment. When its your own money on the line, you do your homework to make sure you won’t lose your shirt. The private investor wants to make a profit and therefore looks for projects with good prospects of success.
Taxpayers should keep this in mind the next time the President or another politician talks about making “investments” with taxpayer money. Do you really think that government is going to take the same care investing your money as you would?
When it comes to energy policy, the United States desperately needs clean, reliable, domestic energy sources. From this source will flow new jobs, new wealth, reduced environmental impact, and independence from Middle East oil states. But incompetent investment by politically-motivated bureaucrats is not the way to achieve this goal. If America is to have a hope of green energy and jobs, it will be through private investment in promising companies and technologies – not through government officials playing high stakes roulette with other people’s money.
Solar energy? Just check all the solar energy stocks. They’re cratering in price - nearly everyone.
Figures Mr. Obama thought it was a fine idea to dole out our money to failing business models.
If he weren’t the president, I’d say he was a meathead.
“independence from Middle East oil states”? We could do that now and they know it. With the condition our economy is in right now, we can’t afford all this clean energy crap. I can see us looking into it when things are going good but for now, we need stop all this experimental crap. Their timing is all wrong............ unless kickbacks are involved.
“the White House rushed a $528 billion “
I know they’re out of control, but I believe it was $528 million, not billion.
Solynda Green jobs is P E O P L E!
Yeah, it’s million, not billion, but if you do a Google search “solyndra 528 loan” you’ll see a number of articles showing the amount as “billion” instead of million, including a few mainstream sources (like the Chicago Sun Times, which has “billion” in the headline, and “million” in the text of the article). Not a whole lot of editing and fact checking going on out there.
I take that back. It looks like it’s just the Chicago Sun Times and the Townhall piece above that have the numbers wrong.
Here’s the Chicago Sun Times article: http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/7687173-418/528-billion-solyndra-solar-loan-deal-has-white-house-scrambling.html
It’s from last Thursday, and they still haven’t corrected the headline.
We need to pursue genuine routes to energy independence - ALL of them.
We need to drill everywhere we can, exploit our vast coal and gas reserves, employ safe nuclear energy, and reserach new energy sources.
The Solyndra people were crooks and Obama used them for political gain. But the government can and should encourage research into alternate energy sources with TAX INCENTIVES to do so. Not tax payer dollars.
We can thank ChiFi for that one.
We should not jump to conclusions that windmills are all bad. They clearly have some good uses that might be sorely missed if we just stopped windmill usage in its tracks:
Control of bird over-populations. Those blades work Wonders!
Often in the middle of huge treeless fields, its the only shade for miles. On those blaringly hot sunny days, just stand straight and tall, and side step a few millimeters every minute or so...
Someday, we might find they can power our automobiles. Cruising 80 mph down that stretch of interstate, all that slipstream we currently just waste away - we can capture ALL that (and I bet more too!!) !
That cesspool/lake is the crapper that our money is going into.
Solyndra was nothing more than a vehicle to syphon money from the american taxpayer for the One World government.
The whole Global Warming hoax was created so that the Socialists in the American government can steal from that taxpayer.
Notice how no one has mentioned that Obama made a $100,000 investment in Solyndra’s predecessor.
By September 2012 we will be overwhelmed with news regarding scandals resulting from Obama Stimulus.
When corrupt Democrats are given a trillion dollars to spend on their benefactors pet projects, scandals are the result.
Obama will go do in history as not only the most incompetent President but also the President overseeing the most scandal ridden.
Fast and Furious will look like a child’s game compared to the stuff yet to be uncovered.
By September 2012 we will be overwhelmed with news regarding scandals resulting from Obama Stimulus.
When corrupt Democrats are given a trillion dollars to spend on their benefactors pet projects, scandals are the result.
Obama will go do in history as not only the most incompetent President but also the President overseeing the most scandal ridden.
Fast and Furious will look like a child’s game compared to the stuff yet to be uncovered.
Just the amount of money that was handed out in Obama Stimulus begs for many major scandals.
Whether any of these money scandals involves guns like F&F may not happen.
China is likely the “second mouse” in the saga about “green energy”. (The second mouse gets the cheese.)
Just wait until Algore’s Fisker electric $100k playtoy Finnish built auto craters next year. Another $500 + million down the crapper. How’s that hope, change, jobs program goin’ for you?
This Sh!t is almost beyond criminal
. No! It. Is. Not.
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