Solyndra: GOP whining 'bout Private Investors being paid first - Politico

[sfpcjock]

That just sound like something they'd do, right? :rofl: As soon as this American venture opened China dropped the price of their heavily government-subsidized solar panels. This is what you're up against here.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63654.html"> Solyndra scandal: Making sense of it - Politico

At this point, House Republicans say the potential wrongdoing they’ve found centers on how Obama officials skirted a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 when helping restructure Solyndra’s loan earlier this year, citing a clause under which outside financers were not allowed to jump ahead of taxpayers to be paid back in the event of default.

...not long after Obama left, the company started teetering. It closed one of its factories in the face of a sharp drop in solar panel prices from foreign competitors, primarily in China.

[ThomWV]

1. That tells you one thing, the majority of the investors must have been small investors

Because they will let a little guy die in the street, but a rich man must be rushed to the witch doctor.

[Imajika]

2. No..

That isn't what happened here. From what I understand it was very big and connected investors that got shielded at tax payer expense.

I haven't been following this super close, and it is obvious the Republicans are blowing this "scandal" out of proportion, but it does look pretty bad. The Obama administration made some mistakes here.

[galileoreloaded]

5. Actually, it was an Obama "bundler" named Kaiser......

and it's highly irregular, frankly.

[Imajika]

6. Yeah, that's what I thought too..

Kaiser is the name I remember as well, an Obama bundler. The whole thing looks kind of bad.

[sad sally]

7. This morning on the Democracy News hour (Link TV), Amy Goodman

and Juan Gonzales had Joe Stephens (WA Post) on, who said WH logs show George Kaiser visited the WH 16 times in the first 60 days after the President took office; red flag warning?

Then the e-mails from Dec 2010 where DOE was concerned about the refinancing request for another $100 million and the idea that if Solyndra went down it would be bad for the President; red flag warning?

The selling point of the solar panels Solyndra was making was ease of installation, not efficiency nor cost, which is more negative fodder for those who are fighting green industries (oil, gas, coal industry).

[sfpcjock]

10. Obviously not great news, but they needed to game things like the Chinese dumping "to..

prevent one project in hundreds from failing," as Jon Stewart put it last night.

Not everything can be foreseen, however. It looks easier in hindsight. The reality I see is that we need MANY MORE alternative energy ventures here where R&D can be done in America and we have those resources. Otherwise, we are going to get "super safe" Exxon fracking, and dirty shale oil poured onto our aquifers, and the North slope of Alaska drilled for a small amount of oil where it will never ever be able to be cleaned up if anything goes wrong--and we can be sure that it will.

[KamaAina]

9. So far the repukes' star chamber has failed to implicate Kaiser directly

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1939129&mesg_id=1939129

But the select emails, which were leaked to the Washington Post in advance of the hearing, contained no evidence that George Kaiser, a prominent Obama fundraiser, had any direct influence or involvement in the Solyndra loan....

Under questioning from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, both Jonathan Silver, director of the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, and Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, testified that they have never met or spoken with Kaiser.

[Broderick]

14. He gets the assets too without open bidding

Tax payers are fucked for 500M.

[JuniperLea]

15. Obama came in on the tail end of this fiasco...

It began under the BushCo admin, and was pushed hard...

THe pre-app on this loan went in on 8/8/06... on 5/6/08 the final app went in.

[Imajika]

16. The Bush DoE rejected the Solyndra loan..

The Obama Administration somehow resurrected it.

There is almost certainly nothing criminal here, but it looks bad and it appears pretty obvious Solyndra was a terrible gamble. The government shouldn't have given them any loan guarantees. Period.

[JuniperLea]

17. That's not how the official BK time-line reads...

It was posted in this thread... it was in the works for three years before Obama took office... there was no gap in the process... nothing was dropped... nothing was resurrected.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x773301

[Imajika]

20. The Bush DoE panel unanimously voted to shelve the Solyndra loan

I'm not sure how you are missing this as it is being reported everywhere.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/solyndra-blame-bush-obama-officials/story?id=14513389&singlePage=true

From the article:

"Republicans pushed back hard against this version of events, unearthing internal Energy Department emails that indicate the panel evaluating the loans had made the unanimous decision to shelve Solyndra's application two weeks before Obama took office."

This whole thing began under the Bush administration and was unanimously shelved pending more information.

And quite frankly, Grunwald is the guy who wrote on June 24th that Solyndra was looking healthy. Oops.

[JuniperLea]

21. Yes, reported everywhere... that makes it the truth I suppose?

What a crock.

[Imajika]

22. I don't understand, are you disputing these DoE emails?

The loan did not go forward under the Bush administration no matter how much you may wish it did. It was initiated under Shrub's presidency but not finalized. Jr's DoE did not approve the loan, instead they suspended consideration of it.

And if there is a scandal is it going to end up being about the loan restructuring that took place in 2011 under the Obama DoE which subordinated tax funds to private investors.

As I said, there is almost certainly nothing criminal here. Obviously these sorts of loan guarantees are often risky which is why the government does it. It just doesn't look good and is going to be very bad press for the President and lead to a years worth of mostly show trial investigations.

It's just bad all around and there is no use trying to sugar coat it.

[OHdem10]

3. Remind they did not whine when the same thing happened in Enron

Anderson, Lucite and the world marches on: Investors
first is GOP gospel.

[sfpcjock]

4. Good point. When it was Enron and the Bush cronies they couldn't even be bothered to answer the phon

to answer the phone from California Governor Gray Davis to impose regulation on the shell game Enron was playing. This is what deregulation brought us: Enron and Ken Lay.

[MerryBlooms]

8. Whitewater witch hunt redux. *sigh n/t

[JuniperLea]

19. Yep

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x773301

[sfpcjock]

11. That Custom-Tailored Obama Scandal You Ordered Is Finally Here - Daily Show (video)

A good report on it.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-15-2011/that-custom-tailored-obama-scandal-you-ordered-is-finally-here"> That Custom-Tailored Obama Scandal You Ordered Is Finally Here - Daily Show (video)

[Supersedeas]

12. thanks for the link

[JuniperLea]

18. Custom tailored, indeed...

Follow the time-line... this is a BushCo deal...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x773301

[sfpcjock]

13. "Five myths about the Solyndra collapse" - Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/five-myths-about-the-solyndra-collapse/2011/09/14/gIQAfkyvRK_blog.html"> Five myths about the Solyndra collapse - Washington Post, 9/14/11

"There are still plenty of nagging questions about the collapse of Solyndra, the California-based solar-panel maker that went bankrupt last month after getting $535 million worth of loan guarantees from the Obama administration. Such as: Did the Energy Department fail to do due diligence? And did the White House intervene inappropriately in pressing for the loan guarantees?

But as Solyndra becomes the newest political chew toy, there’s been no shortage of hyperbole about the affair — especially over what it means for energy policy more broadly. On Tuesday, for example, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who chairs the oversight subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that Solyndra’s downfall proves “that green energy isn’t going to be the solution.” That’s quite a leap. So here’s a look at five overheated arguments about Solyndra’s bust:

1) This scandal is no big deal. To the contrary, evidence is mounting that there was something irregular about the way the Solyndra deal got greenlighted. My colleagues Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig have obtained e-mails showing that the White House pressed the Office of Management and Budget to hurry up in reviewing the deal (note, however, that this only came after the Energy Department had approved the loan), even as OMB officials voiced concern about being rushed.
..."