Posted on 10/13/2011 5:32:07 PM PDT by Kaslin
Solargate: On the program's last day, a billion-dollar loan guarantee went to another politically connected solar outfit in financial trouble. Fiscal insanity is throwing good money after bad and expecting a different result.
They say haste makes waste. But then, so does government. And when you combine the two you get a real mess.
Such was the case when the Department of Energy found itself with $4.75 billion in unallocated loan guarantees as the stimulus loan program responsible for the Solyndra fiasco was ending at the end of September.
In the wake of the $535 million loan guarantee to a failing Solyndra whose major investor was also a major Democratic donor, last-minute loans were given to First Solar, SunPower Corp. and ProLogis. SunPower got a $1.2 billion guarantee. The question is why.
Whatever one's faith in solar energy as a future power source, one would have to question the wisdom of a loan to help build the California Valley Solar Ranch in San Luis Obispo County, a project that will help create 15 permanent jobs — about $80 million in taxpayer money for each job.
SunPower posted $150 million in losses during the first half of this year, and its debt is nearly 80% of its market value. The company is also facing class-action lawsuits for misstating its earnings. SunPower sold the solar ranch that received the federal loan to NRG, an energy company based in New Jersey that is still developing the project.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
jobs in MEXICO
This sort of thing is only a Crime Against the American Taxpayer when Republicans do it.
When Democrats do it, it’s Good Government and Growing the Economy.
Jobs anywhere but here
For a good time check out the energy etf’s TAN and FAN..
Huh... IBD doesn't usually make this kind of mistake. "Results" have nothing to do with this kind of corruption.
"How did a failing California solar company {SunPower}... receive a $1.2 billion federal loan guarantee three weeks after it announced it was building new manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, to build the panels for the project."
The United States Department of Energy needs to be entirely dismantled after the 2012 election, with only one exception. The National Nuclear Security Agency, which oversees the weapons labs, should be placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense.
Energy technology development at this point should be left to the private sector.
Is this question some sort of joke?
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