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The Spectacle Blog
You know it is getting bad when the administration has to order an investigation of itself. There’s nothing new about government loans and loan guarantees being used as special interest pay-offs and tossed down one of Washington’s famous rat-holes. Of course, the administration has denied anything amiss with the $535 million loan from the Energy Department to now bankrupt Solyndra. Alas, this surely is not the only example of taxpayer funds wasted on inefficient “green energy” which will never be recovered.
The administration has felt forced to launch its own investigation. Reports the Washington Post:
The White House has authorized an independent review of all loan guarantees made by the Energy Department to foster green technology amid fallout from the bankruptcy this year of Solyndra, the California company that received a $535 million loan through the program.
White House officials said Friday that Chief of Staff William M. Daley ordered the review, which will evaluate the entire $35.9 billion loan portfolio made to support the private-sector development of new technologies that could help improve the economy and create jobs.
The review is a tacit acknowledgment that the loan program, defended by President Obama and his senior advisers for weeks, has raised enough internal concern that an outside assessment is necessary to clear the air and determine its future. The announcement came as congressional Republicans threatened to subpoena White House records relating to the Solyndra case if the administration does not produce requested documents.
The president worries about the Chinese producing green energy. Let them. If Beijing wants to waste its people’s money subsidizing inefficient technologies, let it. There’s no reason for Washington to do the same.
View all comments (6) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Doug Bandow
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/10/30/the-solyndra-scandal-advances
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Steve Jergins| 10.30.11 @ 8:02AM
Wow. $535 million. Just think of how many rapes that money could have prevented.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 10.30.11 @ 8:44AM
Doug: Alas, the Taxpayer's money wasted on "green energy" "will be" recover sometime in the distant future, as the American Taxpayer slowly but surely has to pay off our disgraceful Nation Debt. The original $535 million in this case is completely gone now, never to be recovered, but it's still there on the books as debt. So the original $535 million (now gone, but on the books) will one day still be paid back, for a total of $1.7 billion to the Taxpayer. And the best part of this $1.7 billion is, we're going to be double charged for this company and its useless product and yet, this is only the beginning (the tip of the Iceberg), there's billions more lost money out there paying for this useless technology that will also have to be repaid too. Lord, we are a bunch of Suckers!!! Green Energy is a loser, Global Warming is a lie, and if you don't believe me I've got proof. The ski season opened in early October out in Colorado, and yesterday it was snowing in New England, in October (it never does that!!). So go ahead Suckers, and try warming your home with solar panels, when there's ten inches of snow on them!!
Drill here, and start friggin' drilling "Now"!!
ft| 10.30.11 @ 1:56PM
Cronyism is one of the most insidious forms of corruption and exists in all branches of our government.
Consider also what just happened in a federal court in Texas as described at http://LawInjustice.com. A Dallas business owner was involved in a civil dispute and paid millions of dollars to lawyers, and when he objected to additional fees after settling the case, they had a “friendly” judge seize all of his possessions, without any notice or hearing, and essentially ordered him under “house arrest” as an involuntary servant to the lawyers. The business owner has been under this "servant" order for 10 months and is prohibited from owning any possessions, prohibited from working, etc..
PattyMor| 10.30.11 @ 4:31PM
Our government has become lawless, arbitrary, and capricious. Really does anyone think that Regulatory Agencies have the right to make laws. In some cases, they arbitrate the law, issue and collect fines. The whole thing is utterly out of control and John Boehner refused to reign in the money, so these agencies are free to stomp all over us.