Obama Wasted Our Money for Political Gain
On August 2nd the House released an investigative report on Solyndra, the failed solar energy company, which shows beyond a doubt the Obama administration abused taxpayer dollars for political gain.
Solyndra received a $535 million loan, straight from our pocket, as part of Obama’s “green jobs” strategy. Indeed, Solyndra was considered one of the jewels in Obama’s green recovery crown. When Obama visited the plant in 2010, he highlighted Solyndra as an example of the “right thing to do for the economy,” claiming the plant would employ at least 1,000 high paying jobs.
As is so often the case with lofty oratory, the reality never lived up to the rhetoric.
First, the Obama administration pressured federal reviewers to sign off on Solyndra despite misgivings about the viability of the company and of the government’s loan model. Emails released by the investigators show the Office of Management and Budget responding to White House requests by saying “We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews.” The loan was ultimately approved, clearly under political duress as an OMB staffer remarked “given the time pressure we are under to sign off on Solyndra, we don’t have time to change the model.”
Solyndra’s CEO at the time hailed the “Bank of Washington” for coming to their aid.
It quickly became clear that Solyndra was in peril as it began to miss payments on the loan. A government analysis warned that the company would run out of money in September of 2011 and recommended that the government simply cut its losses. Instead, the government chose to restructure the loan, ultimately wasting MORE of our tax dollars than if they had simply allowed Solyndra to fail.
The investigators released emails which clearly indicate the decision to restructure the loan – which inexplicably put taxpayers LAST to recoup losses – was made for political reasons. One government analyst remarked that a Solyndra failure “would likely be very embarrassing for DOE and the Administration.” Another commented that she was “vastly confused by DOE’s decision to negotiate away their senior position in this transaction.”
The final insult came when White House Chief of Staff Jack Yew, perhaps sensing that Solyndra was beyond saving, decided to wash his hands of any further involvement in the Solyndra restructuring. Let me say that again to be sure it sinks in:
Despite the administration’s self-proclaimed “quite active interest” in securing the loan for Solyndra, just months before it failed, the White House distanced itself from any further decision making.
No doubt so that when it finally failed, they could blame it on OMB / DOE / Bush (which is exactly what they tried to do).
Still undetermined is exactly what role Obama bundler Robert Kaiser played in securing Solyndra’s loan in the first place. Emails show Kaiser “advised associates” on how to secure federal assistance for Solyndra. As it turns out, Kaiser’s family also had a “substantial” financial stake in Solyndra. Coincidence?
This is an example of Chicago Politics at its finest. We have a choice in 2012. Are you voting for four more years of cronyism and abuse of our wallets? “Bank of Washington” my ass… it’s the Bank of We the People. I say we shut the damn doors. #ABO2012
© 2012, Robert James. All rights reserved.
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If this had happened in the private sector, you can be sure that the person signing off on this loan would have been fired. Any large corporation with cash can go out and buy-up a start-up or take an equity position of any start-up. Lets just assume that it came to light that this aquisition was rammed through to benefit the start-up or venture capitalist who wanted to unload this start-up. The chief executive who authorized the purchase would be fired, his corporation would be investigated, the shareholder revote would drive down the share price, and worst yet – the biggest shareholder then files a lawsuit for misuse of corporation funds. When the wh does this, they cannot be held accountable, and we the shareholders are screwed.
The wh guaranteed a loan with taxpayer money to return favors to the venture capitalists who held this start-up. I don’t care if you want to be sure the venture capitalists are paid back for their investment, but don’t do it with my money and the future earnings of my children!!! I don’t give a crap if it is your money.
So, in this way, bo was right – he could look in the eyes of the person who started solyndra and say “you didn’t build that!” It was the taxpayers that did and now we are on the hook for >$500 million!
By the same account, should he now be saying “You didn’t make that fail!”? Heheh.
obama has been stealing tax payers money since he took office. That was his plan from the get-go, steal as much as possible. You can bet that a good portion of the money he is stealing and giving to his buddies will make its way into his own personal account when he leaves office. obama will be a very wealthy person, wealth way beyond what any former president has acquired and he will have absolutely no way to verify his source of income post white house occupancy. To top it all off, nobody will question his sudden billionaire status and he will enjoy his massive wealth that he has stolen from us.