Posted on 09/06/2011 4:14:52 PM PDT by SmithL
Solyndra, the solar-cell company whose collapse last week triggered a national debate over green jobs, filed its bankruptcy papers Monday, listing $859 million in assets and $784 million in secured loans.
The company's biggest lender was the federal government, which loaned Solyndra $528 million in 2009 to build a new factory near its Fremont headquarters. As part of an effort to boost renewable power companies, the government offered Solyndra as much as $535 million for the project, but the factory cost slightly less to build than expected.
The government will not, however, be the first creditor in line during Solyndra's bankruptcy proceedings. A $69 million loan this spring from the company's private investors will be repaid before taxpayers get their money back, according to a creditors' agreement cited in the bankruptcy filing.
Solyndra's former employees, most of whom were laid off last week, also hope to receive money from the company.
Research and development engineer Peter Kohlstadt filed a class-action lawsuit against the company Friday, arguing that Solyndra violated California's WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) by laying off employees without 60-days' notice. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, seeks 60-days' pay, 401(k) contributions and health benefits for the more than 1,100 employees affected, who were let go without severance.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The government has no business entering into any covenant that does not place the taxpayers’ interest first. Someone failed to do their duty in agreeing to such a covenant (and it would not terribly surprise me to find that that person has a connection to the beneficiaries of it).
This is rank and open corruption and screwing of the taxpayer!
A guy came into my shop back in the early 90’s. He was driving VW Rabbit and had a couple of solar panels tucked under his arm. He wanted us to fabricate some brackets to mount the panels on the roof of his car.
He said he was going to put an electric motor in the car and a bunch of batteries and it would run for free.
I did some figuring and told him what it would cost. So then he says, “Oh, I thought I could just cut you in on the profits”.
I laughed in his face.
I guess people like him are getting government money now.
how about this instead: "The government has no business entering into business with the taxpayers' money."
Not that it makes any difference after the way the government treated Chrysler investors. Apparently, legal binding terms mean nothing when the government steps in.
“the companys private investors”
Soros and Buffet?
Even if he did this, he’d be paying you to help him power his radio. :)
What? So your opinion is that the voluntary $69 private investment (primarily from George Kaiser) should be first in line to be repaid over the $535 million that the taxpayers involuntarily invested in this failure?
If that’s really your argument, may I suggest that you’re on the wrong website?
Why don’t they sue Obama and Algore? They’re the ones that lied to them.
I think bizprofessor is sort of overlooking the idea that the biggest investor was the taxpayer, and as such, WE should have been senior to any private investors. Their covenants should not trump ours.
In the case of the Gov’t and the unions ripping off Chrysler bond holders, biz professor is right. Solyndra is different.
That’s the problem of crony capitalism. It screws up normal business equations and rules.
The list, ping
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Our responses crossed in the blogosphere....looks like me more or less agree on what the problem is.
This is the new economy, same as the old economy.
it’s part of any ‘Private/Public’ partnership or commonly known as Corporatism.
yep, or crony capitalism or corporate socialism or fascism. They all apply. They all stink. They are all the opposite of free market capitalism.
This is nothing compared to how I’ve seen 8(a) government contractors rip off the government. The big ones aren’t much better but the 8(a)’s are less subtle, usually because the owners aren’t as smart. That was Solyndra’s mistake. They could have had an RFP custom-made for them, get the award, and stay in “business” forever producing nothing.
DU is treating this like it’s no big deal.
“no notice to the employees sucks but I guess the $$$ is gone...”
I said:
It sounds like a piss-poor investment, a waste of tax payer money, and someone needs to have hearings on it. That’s a hell of a lot of money for nothing.
If this happened at a private company, that person would have been fired within an hour, and would probably be looking at criminal charges.
Can’t wait to see what the reply to that would be.
Who now has more than half a billion dollars of taxpayer money?
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