Would never turn down another $16 muffin.
Posted on 09/24/2011 12:10:24 PM PDT by Libloather
The Phony Solyndra Scandal
By JOE NOCERA
Published: September 23, 2011
**SNIP**
Do the Republicans know this? Of course. Do they care? Of course not. For an hour and a half on Friday morning, they peppered the two men with questions about this “taxpayer ripoff,” as Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, described it, knowing full well that Harrison and Stover would invoke their constitutional right to remain silent. Joe McCarthy would have been proud.
The purpose of the hearing — indeed, the point of manufacturing a Solyndra investigation in the first place — is to embarrass the president.
**SNIP**
But if we could just stop playing gotcha for a second, we might realize that federal loan programs — especially loans for innovative energy technologies — virtually require the government to take risks the private sector won’t take. Indeed, risk-taking is what these programs are all about. Sometimes, the risks pay off. Other times, they don’t. It’s not a taxpayer ripoff if you don’t bat 1.000; on the contrary, a zero failure rate likely means that the program is too risk-averse. Thus, the real question the Solyndra case poses is this: Are the potential successes significant enough to negate the inevitable failures?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Didn't stop the RATS from questioning Enron officials.
Defending this criminal conduct is a joke. THAT is crude.
Would never turn down another $16 muffin.
It’s nice to see the NY Times admit that what the federal gov’t does best is invest in money losing enterprises.
Joe McCarthy was a flaming patriot compared to the commie/Marxists in the EH.
Joe McCarthy was a flaming patriot compared to the commie/Marxists in the EH.
and it’s just a coincidence that a bundler for Obama was at the top of this pile of crap.
Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.
This needs to be translated from its native liberaleze: Government is SUPPOSED to waste hard-earned-taxpayer dollars. Government can shred the dollars, burn it, give it away, steal it, or, in this case, give it to Solyndra with nary an afterthought as to its ramifications.
Nice try NYT.
Where are the safeguards? How much should we risk, for what return? When should we pull the plug?
The fact is, many of the safeguards were in place at the DOE. They were over ridden by politics.
Hence, we need to limit how much we can afford to spend on this stuff. We already have a huge national lab structure in place, and grants to universities.
We can’t afford to be venture capitalists as well as underwriters of basic research.
If it were George W. the impeachment proceedings would have already begun! The times would have been demanding his head on a platter. Man the liberal media is so very predictable!
Oh good grief. They got a “going concern” letter from the auditors. That’s CPA talk for going bankrupt.
All questionable and poorly thought out enterprises that hurt the public need to be questioned. Regarding Solyndra, it doesn’t help that China has a highly competitive advantage with much lower wages, safety, and health standards than the US requires. I found little known GOP presidential candidate Buddy Rhoemer’s speech/history lesson on protective tariffs very interesting and worth further examination.
Joe McCarthy was a flaming patriot in comparison to the commie/Marxists in the Whitehouse and at the NYT.
Risk-taking with MY DAMN MONEY. If the NYT wants to take a risk in the private market place fine. The FED can go straight to hell with this Marxism.
If they were good business plans, they could get private sector financing. There is no requirement for the government to "invest" in bad ideas.
Big Joe needs to read this:
“Before he became Solyndra’s chief financial officer, Wilbur G. Stover was at the center of one of the largest price-fixing scandals in U.S. history.”
http://www.baycitizen.org/solyndra/story/solyndra-finance-no-stranger-scandal/
So, leftists like corporate welfare. I wish the GOP would run against corporate welfare, but they can’t pretend to be against it, they aren’t.
Odd that Nocera doesn't mention a single federal loan program for "innovative technologies" that ever paid off.
Suggests he couldn't think of one...
Joe, ol' buddy, ol' pal, perhaps there is a reason why the private sector "wouldn't take the risk" with Solyndra or the other solar energy schemes. It's called "high liklihood of failure."
The New York Time’s new slogan is ‘We suck-up more to dems’ ... The rest of us are stunned - it’s hard to believe they can suck up more than they already do ...
I certainly wish the GOP candidates didn’t believe in this kind of thing. All forms of corporate welfare should be abolished.
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