WH Under Fire For Pressure on Loan

[red states rule]

More wasted tax dollars on the "green" jobs agenda Obama keeps pushing. Now it looks like the WH pressured folks to approve government backed loans for this solar company






Obama administration officials on Wednesday defended a $528 million loan to a solar-panel company that went bankrupt this month, claiming the firm fell victim to global economic trends but that federal investment in alternative energy must continue.

The testimony came as Republican and Democratic lawmakers raised sharp questions about the decision that ultimately left taxpayers on the hook for millions, and as newly released emails show administration officials were raising doubts about the loan proposal to Solyndra months before it was finalized.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said the program was "shrouded in secrecy and uncertainty," questioning whether the loan represented "one bad bet" or the "tip of the iceberg."

Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the White House budget office, acknowledged that Solyndra's bankruptcy will "limit the government's recovery of funds." He called the outcome "very unfortunate."

But at a hearing Wednesday, he said administration officials provided a "thorough examination and analysis" of the loan proposal and said a "challenging global solar market" has made business harder for companies like Solyndra.

Jonathan Silver, director of the Energy Department's energy loan office, also said a combination of factors -- namely China flooding the marketplace with cheap solar panels and the European buying market tightening as a result of their economic troubles -- has caused solar-cell prices to plummet


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/14/officials-raised-concerns-solar-firms-solvency-ahead-bankruptcy-emails-show/#ixzz1XykpObLj

[Thunderknuckles]

It's not Obama's fault, it's China and Europe
I want a :harpy_cackle icon!!

[red states rule]

It's not Obama's fault, it's China and Europe
I want a :harpy_cackle icon!!

and in time the WH, Obama, and his drones will blame Bush as well

The fault lies with libs like Obama who are CLUELESS on how the private sector creates jobs.

It takes a demand for anything that is sold. Somehting libs like Obama will NEVER understand no matter how taxpayer they piss thru trying to disprove it

[Gaffer]

Got this in an email so can't verify it just yet. But it tells a lot about administrations, especially the current one.

The percentage of each past president's cabinet who had worked in the private business sector prior to their appointment to the cabinet. You know what the private business sector is…a real-life business, not a government job. Here are the percentages.




T. Roosevelt..........38%




Taft......................40%




Wilson .................52%




Harding.................49%




Coolidge............. 48%




Hoover .................42%




F. Roosevelt.........50%




Truman.................50%




Eisenhower..........57%




Kennedy...............30%




Johnson................47%




Nixon.....................53%




Ford......................42%




Carter....................32%




Reagan..................56%




GH Bush............... 51%




Clinton .................39%




GW Bush................55%




And the winner is:




Obama............... 8%

[red states rule]

Sounds right to me Gaffer. Name me ONE thing Obama has done that has had a positive effect on the US economy

He does not have a clue on how the economy works and how the private sector grows

[Gaffer]

Sounds right to me Gaffer. Name me ONE thing Obama has done that has had a positive effect on the US economy

He does not have a clue on how the economy works and how the private sector grows

I can't think of a thing he's done that has a positive effect on the economy or anything else. He has shown us that academics don't know shit. But I wouldn't count that as positive.

[red states rule]

I can't think of a thing he's done that has a positive effect on the economy or anything else. He has shown us that academics don't know shit. But I wouldn't count that as positive.

Here is something for you Gaffer. This was from YESTERDAY!

It at first you don't succeed.........





The U.S. Energy Department hopes that a new solar energy project will result in about 900 construction and permanent operations jobs.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said today that his department had finalized a $1.2-billion loan guarantee to Mojave Solar for the development of the Mojave Solar Project. When complete, the 250-megawatt solar generation project in San Bernardino County will increase the nation’s currently installed concentrating solar power capacity by approximately 50%.

Abengoa Solar Inc., the project sponsor, is the source of the estimate on construction and permanent operations jobs.

“Investments in solar generation facilities like the Mojave Solar Project are critical to our effort to create good, clean energy jobs in America and compete with countries like China in the global clean energy race,” Chu said. “This project will supply local utilities with energy, help drive down the cost of solar power and fund more than 900 American jobs, all at minimal risk to the taxpayer.”

The Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office administers the Title XVII Section 1703 and Section 1705 loan guarantee programs, and the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/09/energy-department-presses-ahead-with-solar-investments.html

[Gaffer]

Here is something for you Gaffer. This was from YESTERDAY!

It at first you don't succeed.........

Let's put more money into failed programs. All the loan guaranteers need to be prosecuted when the next administration takes over.

I get the feeling the magic negro has a scorched earth policy for the economy.

[red states rule]

Let's put more money into failed programs. All the loan guaranteers need to be prosecuted when the next administration takes over.

I get the feeling the magic negro has a scorched earth policy for the economy.

That is all Obama is offering right now Gaffer

100% recycled stimulus on 100% recycled paper

[red states rule]

The Solyndria probe broadens and the usual "greenies" here are silent.





The Treasury Department's inspector general has opened a new front in the investigation of the government loan to Solyndra, the now bankrupt company that had been touted as a model of President Obama's ambitious green energy program, ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity/iWatch News have learned.

The new probe involves the $535 million loan, arranged by the Energy Department, but actually processed by the Federal Financing Bank, a government lending institution that falls under Treasury's control. Already, the FBI and the Energy Department's inspector general have executed search warrants at Solyndra's headquarters and questioned company executives.

"We're going to look at everything the FFB had to do with its role in this thing," Rich Delmar, a spokesman for the Treasury Department's inspector general, told ABC News and iWatch News.

Earlier this month, iWatch News and ABC News disclosed that Solyndra received a rock-bottom interest rate of 1 to 2 percent -- lower than those affixed to other Energy Department green energy projects. The low rate was set even as an outside agency, Fitch Rating, scored Solyndra as a B+ -- "speculative" -- investment. Energy Department officials said the bank set the rate, based on formulas including the payout length, and that Solyndra did not receive special treatment.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/solyndra-loan-now-treasury-launching-investigation/story?id=14521917

[red states rule]

Watch the "smart people" (as Gabby calls them) say they did not know what they were doing

<IFRAME height=315 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UO8SNGJAGD0" frameBorder=0 width=420 allowfullscreen></IFRAME>

[fj1200]

I wonder how much of that money came back, or was preceded by, campaign donations.

[red states rule]

I wonder how much of that money came back, or was preceded by, campaign donations.

Does Obama spend any money that does not benefit him politically?

[red states rule]

Let's put more money into failed programs. All the loan guaranteers need to be prosecuted when the next administration takes over.

I get the feeling the magic negro has a scorched earth policy for the economy.

Guess what? There are other green energu FLOPS that the taxpayers are paying for





Well, well, well. It seems Solyndra isn't the only company to have crashed and burned, despite a massive injection of stimulus money. FoxNews reports (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/despite-stimulus-funding-solyndra-and-4-other-companies-have-hit-rock-bottom/) that at least four other companies received government funding, and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. Adding insult to injury, two of these companies were supposed to create (or was it save?) "green jobs."

Evergreen Solar Inc., indirectly received $5.3 million through a state grant to open a $450 million facility in 2007 that employed roughly 800 people. The company, once a rock star in the solar industry, filed for bankruptcy protection last month, saying it couldn't compete with Chinese rivals without reorganizing. The company intends to focus on building up its manufacturing facility in China.
SpectraWatt, based in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., is also a solar cell company that was spun out of Intel in 2008. In June 2009, SpectraWatt received a $500,000 grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of the stimulus package. SpectraWatt was one of 13 compaines to receive the money to help develop ways to improve solar cells without changing current manufacturing processes.

The company filed for bankruptcy last month, saying it could not compete with its Chinese competitors, which receive "considerable government and financial support."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/townhall.comstaff/2011/09/15/move_over_solyndra_four_more_government-funded_flops