Obama's Investment in Green Jobs - Really Paying Off

Fremont, CA based Solyndra, a manufacturer of solar panels, was touted by President Obama last year as a prime example of how investment in green technology was going to generate untold gazillions of jobs. Obama and other politicos visited the company for photo ops and speeches.

Solyndra closed its doors yesterday, filing for Chapter 11. 1100 people will lose their jobs. The 1000 additional jobs that Obama had announced that the company was going to add never materialized. A half billion dollars of Federal money, our tax dollars, was loaned to the company by the Obama Administration. That money was spent by the company, and is gone - completely wasted.

Solyndra follows two other solar panel manufacturers into bankruptcy in the past month. Spectrawatt, of NY, filed for Chapter 11 on Aug. 19. Evergreen, of MA, filed 4 days earlier.

All three companies cited as reasons for failure being their inability to compete with Chinese companies producing the same products for 40% cheaper.

Renewable energy products and companies will become important in our society when the technology becomes effificient enough and inexpensive enough for mass deployment - and when they can produce enough energy to justify the expense. The Federal Government cannot speed this up through artificial regulation or by pouring billions of our tax dollars into companies that are doomed to failure. Free enterprise will be the answer.

Update - the FBI raided Solyndra's HQ on 9/8, executing mulitple search warrants. What they were looking for wasn't released. I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that the owners made off with a bunch of our money.

There is also discussion about relationships between Obama campaign operatives and company executives, and over 20 visits by those company executives to the White House.

Never fear, Obamaites ... Your henchman Holder will ride to the rescue and squash any real investigation.

Update II - Emails and other evidence has come to light indicating that Obama Administration officials knew of financial problems at the company prior to issuing the half billion dollar loan.