Posted on 09/22/2011 5:05:51 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said they saw questionable spending by management almost as soon as a federal agency approved a $535 million government-backed loan for the start-up.
A new factory built with public money boasted a gleaming conference room with glass walls that, with the flip of a switch, turned a smoky gray to conceal the room’s occupants. Hastily purchased state-of-the-art equipment ended up being sold for pennies on the dollar, still in its plastic wrap, employees said.
“After we got the loan guarantee, they were just spending money left and right,” said former Solyndra engineer Lindsey Eastburn.
Lobbying expenditures of $160,000 a year in 2008 and 2009 accelerated as Solyndra’s financial and political troubles mounted. By 2010, such spending had grown to $550,000. So far this year, Solyndra has reported spending $220,000, but that number will grow as more reports filter in.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
A liberal concept, run by liberals using taxpayer money —— and people are shocked it was mismanaged?!
"Hey, let's use that jobs money to eliminate jobs!!!"
Comments from Guys In White (GIW), “Damn, thanks for all the money, but most importantly, thanks for the lack of accountability.”
The outward exhibit of prolific spending was probably a front to conceal the actual act of swindling the lion’s share of the money. Half a bil is LOT of bread, I don’t care how well appointed your conference room is.
‘Good high paying Green jobs that cant be shipped to China’ ping!
Nice pic of Obama touring Solyndra at comment #1.
Perfect example of liberalism.
I think there were only one or two sane comments on this, but that is not surprising.
Here's the real secret: The money went into the economy.
Do you believe that fancy new buildings get built without hiring workers, buying materials, visits by food trucks, and so on?
Do you think that all the design and engineering of a new technology is going to be wiped from memory, or that the equipment and product 'sold for pennies on the dollar' isn't going to be used?
And if you think that the money spent on excessive executive salaries *isn't* going to be invested (by these Captains Of Industry) in Job Creation, ta-da, then you should also think that tax cuts for the wealthy can expire with no bad effect, since that money will not be invested in Job Creation, ta-da, either.
Our problem, according to both left and right economists, is that money is not flowing through the economy. Failed businesses and successful business both 'create jobs'. That's where the statistics about small businesses (real ones, not doctors and lawyers and consultants) creating most jobs come from---people invest, most businesses fail, but in the end you get your GDP.
Lesson over, you may now go back to getting "Kenyan" and "community organizer" into your posts as many times as you can.
Selling a $6 product for $3 might have also been a problem...
It would be fitting if years from now in one of the abandoned offices scattered with papers and filth, Dagny Taggart finds a motor.
in the late 90’s, a co-worker left our firm and went to work for a company that spent money like water. They hired him at 70% more than his existing salary, he hired two junior people away at similar increases. They had offices in a new building in Tyson’s Corner, they had a private bus service to pick them up from the train station and their company offered a car service to take them home after Friday night happy hour.
Their offices were decadent, they all had windows, large personal workspaces, the list goes on and they had very “cool” clients that wore jeans to work and liked to have meetings outside.
They were all looking for work in less than a year when the tech bubble burst and the venture capital fled to safety, like start-ups with business plans and long term growth strategies.
You mean that people spend other folks money more recklessly than their own? Who could have imagined that?
“The outward exhibit of prolific spending was probably a front to conceal the actual act of swindling the lion’s share of the money.”
We think alike. :)
It’s pretty hard to “disappear” that kind of money. The best bet is to obfuscate its disappearance in a flurry of questionable expenditures. That way if you ever get busted, it will be beyond the endurance of the average person to figure out what went on.
And if it’s beyond the average person, then the politicians involved are safe.
Twin articles in the Compost and Slimes today-via WH direct pipeline.
Solyndra execs have been thrown under the bus and the process of whitewashing the DOE has begun.
This is Enron on the government teat.
Unfortunately, for that future Dagny, it will likely be the motor from a Chevy Volt.
Rush said yesterday, of course I can’t prove it but most of the money ended up in Obama’s campaign funds and the DNC.
Overspending and mismangment? Sounds like a government production. We need to slash corporate welfare and tax the commie billionaires to kingdom come who have purchased it so they have better things to do with what money they have left than to promote international fascism and communism.
I just need a few investors and a Gov’t loan to get it off the ground....
If any of the FReepers here are interested in getting in on the ground floor.....please send your checks to:
US Buggy Whips INC.
(payable to M-Cubed)
That money was borrowed from the taxpayers and it didn't create long term employment for anybody. We have a nice big expensive building that isn't producing anything. It's like building a bridge that nobody ever uses.
Wealth is not created by useless public works projects. Wealth is not created by printing more and more money and dumping it into the economy.
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