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Solyndra shuts its doors

Incompetence, criminal activity, or both. You pick...

Obama admin reworked Solyndra loan to favor donor *| ajc.com


 
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1Perry said:
Should the administration not be aware of all of this and the ramifications before simply throwing away a half billion collars?
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Of course. The greater picture dictates the loan was a bad idea. However, Solyndra's specific type of solar system was and is still worth investing in. The capacity to generate electricity from sun light largely independent on the angle is a significant break through.
 

It may be worth investment, but that investment should be private funding and not taxpayer funding.
 
Hey what's a half billion among friends - I mean after all they did create jobs for awhile, and just think now the workers can receive unemployment benefits which Nancy Pelosi assures us is an economic stimulus as they will still have money to spend.
 
Can you say cronyism.

It's too bad that Obama will skate on this no matter what is turned up.
 
LesGovt said:
It may be worth investment, but that investment should be private funding and not taxpayer funding.
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It was. The government at the time provided no actual money as I understand the loan guarantee. Essentially it offered much of the same deal as it offers to banks financing nuclear plants.
 
obvious Child said:
It was. The government at the time provided no actual money as I understand the loan guarantee. Essentially it offered much of the same deal as it offers to banks financing nuclear plants.
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It may be only a loan guarantee - but now it has come due with the failure of the company. That is what a guarantee means.
 
obvious Child said:
It was. The government at the time provided no actual money as I understand the loan guarantee. Essentially it offered much of the same deal as it offers to banks financing nuclear plants.
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This is true; however, guaranteeing a bad loan could leave American taxpayers on the hook for much if not all of the $535 million.
 
Did you know Solyndra was picked by the Bush administration and worked two years working to get the loans for them. It was Bush and the Republicans who created the loan system for risky energy alternatives. Also the Walton family (of Walmart) was involved with Solyndra.

Ultimately it was the China government who killed Solyndra when they flooded the market with low priced alternatives.
 

Yes, and do you realize that Bush didn't authorize the loan nor did Bush make the loan?
 
Conservative said:
Yes, and do you realize that Bush didn't authorize the loan nor did Bush make the loan?
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It was the same career DoE officials that made the decision. $535 is big potatoes for you and me, but in terms of Washington, DC it's chump change. KBR- Haliburton has defrauded our government much more and that really IS crony capitalism. They also responsible for the electrocusion (in the showers) of some of our military in Iraq.
 

Chump change? Half a billion dollars? Just goes to show that money doesn't matter to you since you don't understand where it comes from. Unbelievable that you cannot take responsibilty for any liberal screw up. Obama loves having people like you support him. The double standard is staggering.
 
You bet, it's small potatoes, here is a comparison:

 

Its ok though, the big Chinese companies (suntech, JA, Trina, etc) still can't outcompete American companies like First Solar with cost and efficiency.
 
pbrauer said:
You bet, it's small potatoes, here is a comparison:

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Talk about distortion, it isn't the role of the govt. to gamble with taxpayer money but it is the role of the govt. to defend this country. If there was waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars in the military spending, then prosecute but quite trying to equate the two expenditures.
 

This is true but there is massive fraud and waste in the programs they are designed to do and it must be addressed also. It's not much of a defense though as the fraud and waste is every bit as big under Obama as it's been under anyone.
 
Partisanship aside, it is a good, and complex question. This is just one example of a root issue when you look at competition globally.

For example, say you as a nation are against steroid use. However, you play an international sport and ever other nation uses steroids. You can stick to your guns and be a loser, or you violate your ideals and go out and compete to win. Nations have to make these hard decisions, sometimes it's life and death, or the slow decay of an economy, etc. Fortunately most of us when we make such choices, it's only in our homes, or in maybe a small industry segment where the only losers are in terms of dollars, not lives (usually!).

This can be applied to so many political issues. Too big to fail for example. Sure it's bad, but if globally we get spanked by giant companies that have no such restriction, what's your call? Let a foreign power dominate or play to win?
 

The problem is in doing nothing while GE ships job after job to China. The problem here is the huge conflict of interest. The problem here is that nearly everyone noted that money alone was never going to make this company solvant.
 
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