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BS: Solyndragate
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BS: Solyndragate |
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Subject: BS: Solyndragate From: Sawzaw Date: 13 Nov 11 - 09:41 AM Well Well Well ABC News Emails: Obama White House Monitored Huge Loan to 'Connected' Firm Newly uncovered emails show the White House closely monitored the Energy Department's deliberations over a $535 million government loan to Solyndra, the politically-connected solar energy firm that recently went bankrupt and is now the subject of a criminal investigation..... .....The White House also noted to ABC News that the Bush administration was the first to consider Solyndra's application and that some executives at the company have a history of donating to Republicans. The results of the Congressional probe shared Tuesday with ABC News show that less than two weeks before President Bush left office, on January 9, 2009, the Energy Department's credit committee made a unanimous decision not to offer a loan commitment to Solyndra. Even after Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, analysts in the Energy Department and in the Office of Management and Budget were repeatedly questioning the wisdom of the loan. In one exchange, an Energy official wrote of "a major outstanding issue" -- namely, that Solyndra's numbers showed it would run out of cash in September 2011. There was also concern about the high-risk nature of the project. Internally, the Office of Management and Budget wrote that "the risk rating for the project sponsor [Solyndra] seems high." Outside analysts had warned for months that the company might not be a sound investment. Peter Lynch, a New York-based solar energy analyst, told ABC News it took only a cursory glance through Solyndra's prospectus to see there was a problem with their numbers. "It's very difficult to perceive a company with a model that says, well, I can build something for six dollars and sell it for three dollars," Lynch said. "Those numbers don't generally work. You don't want to lose three dollars for every unit you make." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Rapparee Date: 13 Nov 11 - 10:00 AM My mind reels with replies, but I shan't feed the trolls. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Bobert Date: 13 Nov 11 - 11:46 AM There's a reason why this isn't stickin' except in the minds of the usual suspects... You know, the same 17% of people who thought that Dick "Heartless" Cheney was doing a fine job as VP... LOL... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Bill D Date: 13 Nov 11 - 12:25 PM They made a bad guess that Solyndra would manage to survive. It was an attempt to give solar power a boost, but not well analyzed. Good intentions sometimes cloud things and lead to bad decisions. There ARE solar projects that are workable and marginally profitable, and the basic idea of solar panels has been proven. Too damn bad that Solyndra was not looked at more closely. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: artbrooks Date: 13 Nov 11 - 03:36 PM The entire point of loan guarantees is to provide financing for things that are seen to be socially desirable but that are not financial sure things - banks don't loan money unless they are absolutely sure that they will get their money back with a reasonable (or unreasonable) profit. It's expected that a certain percentage of them will default...that's what the guarantee is all about. Besides the energy program, other examples are student loans and VA home loans. I'm not yet convinced that Solyndra's loan guarantee was a political payoff, which is what is being alleged (in those terms or not), and carefully selected excerpts from some 80,000 emails aren't about to convince me. There is an investigation ongoing, and I shall make no more comments on the topic until a report is issued. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Arkie Date: 13 Nov 11 - 04:38 PM I do not like a waste of government money irregardless of which party is behind it, but I would have a much greater concern if there was a pattern of waste rather than an isolated incident. Even when intent is honorable and homework is done some things fail. Sometimes shady folk get their hands on government money. Time to get really upset when the situation is repeated. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: pdq Date: 13 Nov 11 - 06:55 PM "Time to get really upset when the situation is repeated." Well, how about a 1.2 billion dollar gift from the US taxpayers to another solar energy company, this one's chief lobbyist is the son of powerful Democrat Congressman George Miller... remember the name SunPower, you will be hearing it often |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: olddude Date: 13 Nov 11 - 07:37 PM Who is so surprised ... Well as someone once said "The great thing about Heaven is there are no lawyers or politicians" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Don Firth Date: 13 Nov 11 - 08:24 PM The Daily Caller, the news website where pdq got this story, was started by former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson. Carlson set it up to be the conservative answer to the Huffington Post. Hardly unbiased. There's quite a little arsenal of such papers whose primary purpose is to take pot-shots at Obama. Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: pdq Date: 13 Nov 11 - 08:36 PM If Propaganda Minister Firth doesn't like the last website I posted, he will really dislike this one... more about US taxpayer big bucks for corrupt SunPower |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Bobert Date: 13 Nov 11 - 08:43 PM Here's the real story... You know, the part that the ObamaHateBrigade don't want you to know... In the 80s we watched Japan take away our steel industry... This was under Reagan... How did it happen??? Japan subsidized their steel industry and wiped out a segment of our industrial base... Any arguments there??? Spaw lives in Ohio and he can attest to that reality... Youngstown, Ohio, where the Jenette Blast Furnace had pumped out steel since the 1800's went black and lots of jobs were lost... So here we are some 30 years later and the Obama administration figures that if we can get on top of producing solar technology then we can get back some of what we have been losing... Horrors!!! Now lets look at where the money went... Did it disappear into black holes or given out as multi-million dollar bonuses like Wall Street crooks??? Maybe I should let the righties Google it up and see how this money was spent... Yeah, I think that's what I'll do but if they are unwilling to tell the truth here then I'll tell the rest of the story... So, righties... You got 24 hours to tell us where the money went and how it was spent and what we taxpayers actually partially own as a result... The only "gate" here" is LIARGATE... Come on, righties... Please give us an accounting of where the $$$$ was spent... PLEASE!!! B` |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Don Firth Date: 13 Nov 11 - 08:51 PM Well, pdq, when it's obvious that a slam-campaign is going on, it's pretty revealing to know who's doing it, and why. A pot-shot at Obama and a pot-shot at the green energy movement with one pull of the trigger. Two for the price of one! "Propaganda minister?" JEEZ, look who's talking!! Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: artbrooks Date: 13 Nov 11 - 10:32 PM Sunpower. Nice people. Made the panels on my roof. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Jack the Sailor Date: 14 Nov 11 - 12:11 AM Pdq's idea of an unbiased, no propaganda, news source shows a picture of a man's face coming out of a horse's ass. Pdq. If that is not you in that picture, shame on you. shame, shame, shame, shame. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: EBarnacle Date: 14 Nov 11 - 10:57 AM At present, no Solar cell company has been able to establish itself and survive in the face of carbon industry up front costs without government subsidies anywhere in the world. Solyndra and its peers will not be self sustaining in the near future. Their primary function in our culture and society is as a technology feeder for the rest of American industry. Solyndra, even its failure, has provided work and training for workers who are now going to other companies in the electronics field. If you want to redevelop American industry, you have to create the conditions to make it possible. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Jack the Sailor Date: 14 Nov 11 - 01:16 PM As I understand it, Solyndra had a working solar technology far superior to anything currently being sold and that they convinced reporters and investors that the only hurdle to be overcome to was to bring unit manufacturing costs down to commercially viable levels. It was thought that this could be done while keeping the manufacturing jobs in the USA. The Chinese responded by increasing subsidies and generally lowering the competitive price of solar panels world wide. It seems to me that it was a risk worth taking, and that intense interest in the project in the Department of Energy and in the Administration was understandable. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: MarkS Date: 14 Nov 11 - 07:02 PM I prefer to wait for a solar powered windmill. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: Bobert Date: 14 Nov 11 - 09:52 PM Well, given the rightie's opportunity to answer the simple question of how the money was spent and none has stepped forward I think I'll re-issue my challenge to them... Hey, they don't mind sticking up some sinister thread indicating some Watergate level scandal but when confronted about facts they run like "pigs from a gun"... Okay, ObamaHaters... One more time... How did the money get spent??? Come on, ya'll... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: GUEST Date: 14 Nov 11 - 10:05 PM retired are you, pdq? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Solyndragate From: artbrooks Date: 15 Nov 11 - 03:28 PM It appears that the two major investors in Solyndra were a foundation backed by a Democratic contributor (and which is structured so that he has no access to any profits made by the foundation's investments) and the Walton (Walmart) family, which mostly contributes to the GOP and entities further to the right. The loan that was guaranteed by the DOE program was about 1/3 of the total capitalization, most of which came from private investors who were also left holding an even bigger bag than the feds. More here from Politifact. |
