Friday, September 23, 2011

Solyndra scandal exposes the lie of government 'investment'

Beware of a company that claims it can make widgets for $10 each, sell them for $8 apiece, and then "make up the losses on volume." No banker or venture capitalist would invest in such a foolhardy scheme. But substitute "solar panels" for widgets and that is exactly what Washington's professional politicians and career bureaucrats did with $535 million in loan guarantees for Solyndra LLC, the now-bankrupt California company that was the centerpiece of President Obama's "clean energy future." The funding came from Obama's $859 billion economic stimulus program. Ultimately, Solyndra may prove to be the only Energy Department loan guarantee that explodes into a scandal rivaling Teapot Dome or Credit Mobilier for venality and abuse of the public trust. However, there are at least 16 more such loan guarantees worth in excess of $10 billion, all approved by the same cast of characters at the White House and the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for the current mess. And many other federal departments and agencies have provided billions of dollars' worth of loan guarantees, so nobody should be surprised if Solyndra is only the first of many similar outrages under the Obama economic stimulus regime.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/09/solyndra-scandal-exposes-lie-government-investment#ixzz1Yq6ObGgI

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