Friday, September 9, 2011

The Solar-Gate Scandal and the Connection to President Obama's Speech

For those of you that haven't been following the Solyndra scandal, here's a quick summary via Daily Caller:

A solar energy company that intends to file for bankruptcy received $535 million in backing from the federal government and has a cozy history with Democrats and the Obama administration, campaign finance records show.

Shareholders and executives of Solyndra, a green energy company producing solar panels, fundraised for and donated to the Obama administration to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And this:
Not only does the now-bankrupt solar energy firm Solyndra have a cozy financial relationship with the Obama administration, company representatives also made numerous visits to the White House to meet with administration officials, The Daily Caller has learned.

According to White House visitor logs, between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials and investors made no fewer than 20 trips to the West Wing. In the week before the administration awarded Solyndra with the first-ever alternative energy loan guarantee on March 20, four separate visits were logged.

George Kaiser, who has in the past been labeled a major Solyndra investor as well as a Obama donor, made three visits to the White House on March 12, 2009, and one on March 13. Kaiser has denied any direct involvement in the Solyndra deal and through a statement from his foundation said he “did not participate in any discussions with the U.S. government regarding the loan.”

But the countless meetings at the White House seem hardly coincidental. Kaiser, in fact, is responsible for 16 of the 20 meetings that showed up on the White House logs.

In the meetings on March 12, Kaiser met with former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Austan Goolsbee at 11 a.m., Senior Advisor Pete Rouse at 3 p.m., and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council Heather Higginbottom at 6:30 p.m. On the 13th, Kaiser met with Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Jason Furman at 9 a.m.

Other Solyndra officials that made the trek over to the White House include Chairman and Founder Christian Gronet on September 22, 2009, at 9:30 a.m.; and Board Members Thomas Baruch and David Prend.

Baruch went to the White House May 7, 2010, and September 20, 2010, at 8:40 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. Prend visited on September 21, 2010, at 9:15 p.m.
The visitor logs also show that a number of members of the administration though a loan guarantee for Solyndra was pressing enough to take meetings. Former Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel and Adviser Valerie Jarrett even took meetings with Kaiser.
Solyndra, being so successful, Obama wants to do more of it via his call in last night's speech for more infrastructure spending. A Capitol Hill friend emails to tie this scandal in with Obama's speech:
What I find particularly nefarious is the high level — and still rising — control of the private sector by the public sector.

That’s why one of my areas of focus is this emerging Solandra scandal.

If government capital (lifted in the night by politicians extolling insincere platitudes) is the fuel of government-approved lines of business, then we have some monster that is neither private (under its own control) nor public (under the voters’ control).

All of infrastructure is at risk of becoming just another category under which the government hands out special favors to special people.
Further, Obama says his plan is “paid for” but later, in the same speech, hands the unpaid invoice to the Super Committee. Not exactly “paid for.”

10 comments:

  1. "What I find particularly nefarious is the high level — and still rising — control of the private sector by the public sector."
    Your friend has it the wrong way round, it's private interests using the regulatory power of the state to boost profits, dump losses on the taxpayer and shut out the competition.

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  2. My son's step-dad ran a shift at Solyndra. He caught on last year that there was a scam going down.
    It seems that all those panels being "shipped to customers" were actually shipping to a warehouse where they sat. I picture the Lost Ark nestled among them.
    Impressive buildings, though.
    Great speech last night. I laughed, I puked.

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  3. So did any of the loan money turn into campaign donations to Obama?

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  4. Solyndra just got raided by the FBI - http://bit.ly/pdP0nB

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  5. Followed by next raid at the White House. News censored!

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  6. Two points:

    1. They were probably raided by the FBI to bury evidence that might embarrass the Obama Administration.

    2. Private capital from the owners of the business would have forced the owners to make the business profitable or even see that there was never a business to begin with. Government money always makes a company weak and the owners unable to do the hard work of determining whether or not the business is profitable.

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  7. the whole deal smells weird.
    Any RATIONAL business would have ramped up as orders increased.
    They had MUCHO capacity already on line. The new HUGE facility was WAY over the top.
    Somebody phoned in his due diligence or...??
    I'll talk to my kid's step-dad and see if there's any more to this...

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  8. The evidence mounts and mounts and still you people do not know what to do. All you do is talk!

    The Constitution gives us a weapon against such as Obama...it is called IMPEACHMENT. Where are your calls for this...it is warranted!

    The President of the United States is the Chief Executive charged with maintaining the va;lidity of the nation, stewarding its finances and then, when his term runs out, handing over a secure ship of state to the next President.That is what The State of the Union was to be!

    Obama has not presented a budget for the nation since his arrival in office and his Democratic controlled Congress never asked him for one. Where are you outcries re this? Instead he has spent us into sure bankruptcy, destroyed the great experiment in people governing themselves and you just write words and wring your hands...

    America is done and you, the educated, the economists, must bear a large responsibility for what has happened!

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  9. Crony capitalism is bad, but to be fair, it's a bipartisan problem. Schwarzenegger and the GOP abetted Solyndra just as much as Obama.

    What makes this worse is that green energy is bad business even by crony-capitalist standards. When the government subsidizes oil companies, it's still wrong, but at least you'll end up with some oil, which people can actually use. With green tech, you're throwing money at technologies that have either never been shown to work or are far too costly to ever be practical.

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  10. Uh, yeah right, Alice Maxwell, I'll just "call" for an impeachment,... as if I matter and as if it would do anything. Dream on.

    Note: Bill CLinton was impeached and it made not a wit of difference.

    The Only Thing educated economists Can do is educate the populace.
    Those who were on the Keynesian side bear a large responsibility for what has happened, while those who have written and spoken at great lengths about Austrian economics deserve praise for doing what they did. WHich, I suspect, is a whole lot more than Alice Maxwell did,... or did you simply forget to include the URL to your website where you loudly informed the public as to what's what and tell everyone what You did to make things better?

    - clark

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