As if President Obama didn’t have enough bad news last week, Solyndra, which manufactures solar panels, filed for bankruptcy and laid off almost its entire work force of 1,100. Going down the tubes with it, of course, is a $535 million loan that was guaranteed by the federal government as part of the stimulus program.
And it seems the White House put pressure on the Department of Energy to OK the loan.This is looking more and more like ‘Chicago Way’ political patronage; the president rewarding his friends. Even if it wasn’t, it is still criminally stupid
While Energy Department officials steadfastly vouched for Solyndra — even after an earlier round of layoffs raised eyebrows — other federal agencies and industry analysts for months questioned the viability of the company. Peter Lynch, a longtime solar industry analyst, told ABC News the company’s fate should have been obvious from the start.
“Here’s the bottom line,” Lynch said. “It costs them $6 to make a unit. They’re selling it for $3. In order to be competitive today, they have to sell it for between $1.5 and $2. That is not a viable business plan.” (Obama’s Patronage Pigs Can’t Fly)As stated in the article, no investment officer would have granted such a loan, and if she did, she would be fired for gross incompetency. In fact, said loan officer would end up on the business end of a federal lawsuit for such bald-faced malfeasance. Government bureaucrats who produce nothing and who pay no price for wasting billions of taxpayer dollars are woefully ill-equipped to pick winners and losers.
This was just one company. Imagine the money-wasting debacle an Obama “Jobs” program would be. Corruption, fraud and waste on a grand national scale. This and other government-sponsored financial fiascos argues against giving one more dime to the Obama Administration for a "jobs" program.
Accountability at the Local Level
The way you build infrastructure is at the local and state level, in discrete pieces as its done now. Those projects are funded by taxes and people hold governors and mayors responsible for the efficient completion of such projects. Accountability at the local level. The state has a budget and the government has a vested interest in getting the project done ahead of time and on-budget. It’s a model that has worked well. When it doesn’t, people get voted out of office, or worse, put on trial and sent to jail.
How do the states fund these projects? Revenues from working people and the businesses that hire them. No economic activity, no revenue. Create a favorable climate for the jobs providers and the rest will take care of itself.
