Obama Officials Defend Solar Loan to Bankrupt Firm

Obama administration officials on Wednesday defended a $528 million loan to a solar-panel company that went bankrupt this month, claiming the firm fell victim to global economic trends but that federal investment in alternative energy must continue.

The testimony came as Republican and Democratic lawmakers raised sharp questions about the decision that ultimately left taxpayers on the hook for millions, and as newly released emails show administration officials were raising doubts about the loan proposal to Solyndra months before it was finalized.

It is indeed the tip of the iceberg.

A $1Billion loan from the DOE to SolarCity inc, whose main contract is for military bases and housing. Whose CEO is a major bundler for obama, so far this year has bundled 200K for him, and been in the WH 4 times since 09. This was on Boomberg 6 days ago.

Also, Solalex, and Tesla both heavy loans, both with big bundler donors to obama. Tesla has a big investor—Al Gore. No kidding.

Pure pay to play. And obama did it again today at a company in NC owned by a dem county commissioner who is donor. This has to stop.
Flies in on AF 1, and goes to a plant that has....25 employees— kid you not.

Hold up a minute. Think about this: Solyndra had the backing of an extraordinary successful and wealthy businessman who knows how to manage companies, money and risks. The Obama Administration Department of Energy experts underwrote the market and financial risks before agreeing to the loan guarantees. Professional Solyndra upper management, capable of making good business decisions, continued to adjust the company business plan and gave assurances to Congress that everything was going to be OK. Then, bankruptcy and loss of a 1000 jobs and $500MM of taxpayers'money. This demonstrates that even competent, experienced and successful businessmen cannot be successful in artificial green industry investments supported by ideology and not by the marketplace. Solyndra should be investigated for all the reasons previously stated, but should also be used as an example of why this type of government driven social engineering should be eliminated.

Today on FoxNews with Megyn Kelly, Alan Colmes said the following: "You've got to actually put taxes on coal and non-sustainable energy to create a demand for green energy and the problem is the right wing wants to use this (meaning the Solyndra event) to stop the move to green energy."

He articulated, and even rephrased it several times, exactly what has been Obama's plan from the beginning, tax and regulate our main sources of energy until they cost more than green energy and then people will buy green energy. The real problem is that by then our economy will be destroyed. Republicans should make a campaign ad out of his comment.

This entire episode is a case in point about why liberals and business don't mix.

Liberals think that people get money through 'funding'. Academics, researchers, professors, non-profits, they all get their money from grants and other funding sources. But 'funding' is a front-end transaction: if your intentions are good, if you are persuasive, if you grease the right wheels, you get your 'funding' approved. This is the mindset that liberals grow up with. Funding doesn't require results.

Contrast that with 'income', which is where people in the real world get their money. 'Income' is a back-end transaction. After I have provided a service, manufactured a product, created an idea, innovated a new process, then - and only then - will people pay me for it. 'Income' requires results and achievement.

This is one reason that liberals have contempt for business and profit. They see that a corporation made $1 million in a year, and they think that is money that 'should' have gone to someone else. Their mindset is not that such money was generated as 'income', rather it is money that was ill-gotten. And why is it ill-gotten? Because if the liberals had their way, they never would have 'funded' that business.

Now combine the liberal ideals of 'green' businesses with liberals being in charge of the Treasury. They get to 'fund' the corporations that they think SHOULD get the money. Whether the business can actually sustain making an income never even enters their minds! All they care about is that the right people have been funded. Of course, it doesn't hurt that a large portion of the funds recirculate back to the liberals in the form of political contributions...

Obama's plan from the beginning, tax and regulate our main sources of energy until they cost more than green energy and then people will buy green energy.

Exactamundo. The Republican campaign needs to re-visit this truth early and often. In fact, I'm waiting for something impeachable to emerge from this scandal; at the least, heads will roll. GOP, do not let the public forget.

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