Economic movers and shakers need to look carefully at Solyndra case
Tom Patterson
East Valley resident Tom Patterson (pattersontomc@cox.net) is a retired physician and former state senator.
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Rich posted at 8:42 am on Sat, Sep 17, 2011.
The government isn't good at venture capital? Knock me over with a feather. At this point the government isn't good at much of anything. They're even falling down on the old standbys of guarding the shore and delivering the mail. The idea of them getting involved in healthcare at this point seems like a recipe for negligent homicide. Government needs to cut back, get uninvolved in things and give them a chance.All tax credits and guaranteed loans produce is failure and stagnation. Let the next advance in solar power come from a guy with his arm in a sling who fell off his roof installing the prototype. That's the way America should work. And would if the government would just stop sitting on it.
samkat posted at 7:09 pm on Sat, Sep 17, 2011.
"In the Solyndra case, the White House tried to rush the application review process so that Vice President Biden could announce the loan guarantees at the gala ground-breaking ceremony. The reason a solar company was selected in the first place was to advance a policy agenda. And then, when trouble loomed, the government moved to assure that the taxpayers would take the hit."
In this case, it was clearly the White House that created the mess rather than the Department of Energy which recommended to not award the contract.
davidflucier posted at 7:25 am on Sun, Sep 18, 2011.
It's a good thing that the US didn't take the same attitude when it came to developing the electric industry, the railroads, the telephone system, the interstate highway system, the clean water system, agriculture, dams and waterways, and the airline industry, etc, etc..
If you don't innovate and attempt to develop something new, progress comes to a halt. None of this comes without risk.
To expect a risk free environment is as foolish as it is short sighted.
"All wars are going badly until they are won."
NothingButTheTruth posted at 8:14 pm on Mon, Sep 19, 2011.
So Obozo is both an idiot and crooked? We already knew that. After all, he was a community organizer instantly promoted to US Senator and then boosted into the white house for the same purposes they are all place there to do. If you don't know what that is, you haven't been paying attention, or your name's davidlucifer.
sockratties posted at 9:28 am on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.
Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow said Solyndra was a once promising company that had increased sales revenue by 2,000 percent in the past three years. The $535 million loan guarantee was sought by both the Bush and Obama administrations, he said, and private investors also put more than $1 billion into Solyndra. Since 2008, Solyndra:
• Spent $1.3 million on lobbying activities, including paying 5 different firms over $800,000 to lobby on its behalf.
• Relied heavily on The Revolving Door - 17 lobbyists who have worked on its behalf are connected to over 30 different offices or Members of Congress.
• Lobbied on 18 bills, ranging from the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2012 to the Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008.
• Lobbied on issues focused on Budget/Appropriations, Defense, Energy/Nuclear, Taxation/Internal Revenue Code, and in particular issues related to Department of Energy loan programs.
This bankruptcy is also related to both the lack of demand and Chinese competition. People aren’t buying a lot of solar panels when they don’t have jobs and don’t spend a lot of money making a foreclosed house greener. Add in the fact that Chinese solar panels are less than 1/2 the price of the ones Solyndra could make and you have a prescription for failure.
VofReason posted at 1:00 pm on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.
Can we get rid of Bydler and give Rich his own column. Too funny.
Slabside posted at 5:49 pm on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.
Beydler could be replaced by a circus monkey.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 6:25 pm on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.
davidlucifer, no one can deny the need for innovation, but to allow a blithering idiot like Obozo to spend countless trillions of borrowed money is an exercise in insanity. I doubt Obozo has enough sense even to wash his hands after using the restroom. Only a socialist cretin like Obozo would give Obozo a pass on this newest fiasco.