• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Investigators Probe White House Role in Massive Energy Loan

Renae

Renae

Banned
Suspended
DP Veteran
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
50,241
Reaction score
19,243
Location
San Antonio Texas
Gender
Female
Political Leaning
Conservative
House investigators said they have uncovered evidence that White House officials became personally involved in an Energy Department review of a hot-button $535 million loan guarantee to the now-failed California solar company Solyndra. The allegation surfaced in a letter House Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) sent to the White House Thursday night, saying he planned to accelerate efforts to understand an investment deal that may have left taxpayers out half a billion dollars. "We have learned from our investigation that White House officials monitored Solyndra's application and communicated with [Department of Energy] and Office of Management and Budget officials during the course of their review," the letter says.

-=-=-
Peter Lynch, a longtime solar industry analyst, told ABC News the company's fate should have been obvious from the start. "Here's the bottom line," Lynch said. "It costs them $6 to make a unit. They're selling it for $3. In order to be competitive today, they have to sell it for between $1.5 and $2. That is not a viable business plan."

Solyndra Investigation: Probe Into White House Role in Massive Energy Loan - ABC News
Click to expand...

This is lining up to be another disaster for Obama. While I feel terrible for the people whom lost their jobs at the factory, those jobs should never have been created. If the WH pressured the DOE to give loans to the company, and the main backer was a huge Obama financial backer, this story may hang over Obama well into 2012.
 
This was a crappy investment and Obama should face flak from it. The Solar industry is taking off, but that the competition is squeezing out the weaker players. The rapid drop in price is great for the consumer, but having a half-assed business plan and some government funding isn't going to cut it. Government funding would be better allocated for research funding or improvements to the overall industry rather than giving handouts to specific companies.
 
This is now more than just "a bad loan" there are implications that there was Washington pressure to push the loan through to meet a White House announcement deadline. What this does is identify political meddling in a PR announcement by the Vice President - which is linked to the President and his hailing of Solyndra as a model for green jobs. This has some potential for a moderate sized scandal - certainly not something that Obama needs during this election season, what with operation "Fast & Furious" still being investigated and blocked by the White House.

This from the Washington Post this morning:

Washington Post said:
Solyndra loan: White House pressed on review of solar company now under investigation
By Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, Published: September 13

EXCLUSIVE | The Obama White House tried to rush federal reviewers for a decision on a nearly half-billion-dollar loan to the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra so Vice President Biden could announce the approval at a September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s factory, newly obtained e-mails show.

The Silicon Valley company, a centerpiece in President Obama’s initiative to develop clean energy technologies, had been tentatively approved for the loan by the Energy Department but was awaiting a final financial review by the Office of Management and Budget.

The August 2009 e-mails, released exclusively to The Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to information provided by Republican congressional investigators.

Solyndra collapsed two weeks ago, leaving taxpayers liable for the $535 million loan.

One e-mail from an OMB official referred to “the time pressure we are under to sign-off on Solyndra.” Another complained, “There isn’t time to negotiate.”

“We have ended up with a situation of having to do rushed approvals on a couple of occasions (and we are worried about Solyndra at the end of the week),” one official wrote. That Aug. 31, 2009, message, written by a senior OMB staffer and sent to Terrell P. McSweeny, Biden’s domestic policy adviser, concluded, “We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews.”

White House officials said Tuesday that no one in the administration tried to influence the OMB decision on the loan. They stressed that the e-mails show only that the administration had a “quite active interest” in the timing of OMB’s decision.
Click to expand...

Bolded parts I thought were particularly interesting.


Full article here: White House pushed $500 million loan to solar company now under investigation - The Washington Post
 
This should sink Obama, but the media will turn a blind eye.
 
I thought it was Republicans who did this kind of thing.

And yes, it'll hardly see the light of day from the msm.
 
Erod said:
I thought it was Republicans who did this kind of thing.

And yes, it'll hardly see the light of day from the msm.
Click to expand...

Depends... if the Republicans make a stink about it and put it in front of a House investigation committee. Perhaps this will happen in March or April so as to maximize the timing and length of the investigation to coincide with Obama's Presidential run.
 
It was a bad idea all around, and Obama knew it, but since it wasn't his money, the "political" ROI for getting this company up and running was huge, except for one thing, oh yeah, they needed to stay in business long enough for Obama to win a second term.. Ooopsie..

I looked at getting off the grid myself earlier this year. I paid a team of consultants to really and truly look at all the options I had, and the real-time investment returns. To make a long story short, I decided to hold off on solar (And other combined renewable sources) power as a viable means of energy for our home. The ROI was horrible, almost approaching the ROI from buying a battery powered car..


Tim-
 
Here is what this shows.......We should NOT immediately pass any jobs bill. It should be dissected and debated before doing anything.

Once again we are shown where something had to be done "now" and due diligence was not done. Same with TARP and the bailouts.

Sorry, nothing bad would have happened if the time would have been taken to properly research the company. Not that it would like have stopped some from still supporting giving them a half billion dollars but when we are talking this kind of money NOW is never a good arguement.
 
This'll hurt Obama, no matter how his admin tries to spin it, which I heard today was going to be it's Bush's fault (never mind Bush's admin advised against the ill fated loan).
 
X Factor said:
This'll hurt Obama, no matter how his admin tries to spin it, which I heard today was going to be it's Bush's fault (never mind Bush's admin advised against the ill fated loan).
Click to expand...

Yep, that ain't gunna work this time.. "It", apparently, is NOT Bush's fault. :)



Tim-
 
X Factor said:
I think what he meant is that he's heard it's only Republicans who do this kind of thing.
Click to expand...

A year or two ago I did a Google search for no-bid government contracts. At especially the state and local levels you will find both Democrats and Republicans criticizing both Republicans and Democrats for committing crony capitalism.

And everybody doing nothing but pointing fingers at the other party for the kickbacks they dole out to their own corporate patrons does little to actually address the problems of this issue.
 
This whole thing stinks. It appears that Obama was more interested in being the "Green Camander in Chief" as Michelle Malkin put it than thinking about what he was doing and the risk to $535 million future tax dollars we still don't see and won't anytime soon.

Emails point to getting air time being the reason fot the bige push to loan these phonies money that President Bush's administrations said no to it 4 times.

Calling this just another in the list of Obama Boondoggles is being way too dam nice.

Personally this goes right back to the HOAX of "Global Warming." being used to promote corruption.


The writting was on the wall before Obama and his cost us all so much:
The answer to the question “What did they know and when” is this: They KNEW Solyndra was a risky, lousy deal for taxpayers. They KNEW on Aug. 19, 2009 that the financial models their credit reviewers used predicted Solyndra would run out of cash in September 2011. They KNEW it would fail. But they forged ahead, took our money to prop it up, and pimped the company in front of the TV cameras, anyway.

Michelle Malkin
Click to expand...
 
IMO, this is Obama's Watergate moment! Did he know is the question,, and if he didn't know, then why not? Either way, he, Obama, miffed on this one...



Tim-
 
Wow.

Fast and Furious
Gibson
Philly voter intimidation
stimulus 1 going to unions, and states that were friendly to the campaign
etc. etc. etc....

The corruption goes on and on.

This thug in the white house is done, stick a fork in him.

j-mac
 
MrVicchio said:
This is lining up to be another disaster for Obama. While I feel terrible for the people whom lost their jobs at the factory, those jobs should never have been created. If the WH pressured the DOE to give loans to the company, and the main backer was a huge Obama financial backer, this story may hang over Obama well into 2012.
Click to expand...

Why does the government have to get involved in companies loans??

This is not the government's job to loan money to companies, that's what BANKS are for. WE are not a Socialistic country.

Haven't we learned anything about all the bail outs that didn't work??

This is another example showing us that the government should stay away from the private sector and let companies find their own solutions.

I am sure that all these blunders will come up during the final debates with Obama.
 
1Perry said:
Here is what this shows.......We should NOT immediately pass any jobs bill. It should be dissected and debated before doing anything.

Once again we are shown where something had to be done "now" and due diligence was not done. Same with TARP and the bailouts.

Sorry, nothing bad would have happened if the time would have been taken to properly research the company. Not that it would like have stopped some from still supporting giving them a half billion dollars but when we are talking this kind of money NOW is never a good arguement.
Click to expand...

"We have to pass it, so you can see what's in it."

Sorry I couldn't help myself. :mrgreen:
 
Solyndra | Comparing Solyndra To Other Government Waste | Mediaite

SolyndraVMilitary.gif
 
samsmart said:
A year or two ago I did a Google search for no-bid government contracts. At especially the state and local levels you will find both Democrats and Republicans criticizing both Republicans and Democrats for committing crony capitalism.

And everybody doing nothing but pointing fingers at the other party for the kickbacks they dole out to their own corporate patrons does little to actually address the problems of this issue.
Click to expand...

So completely correct. The Democrats and Republicans are simply beholden to (slightly) different corporate masters. Partisan fools are quick to note the embarrassing kickback scandals of the opposite "team," while downplaying those of their favored party. If there is one truly bipartisan thing happening in DC (and elsewhere), it's corruption. Oh - and sex scandals.
 
You know what ?? I just want a higher grade of politician …. this goes on all the time, in both parties, but damn, when you get it as blatant as this ….. well it just makes one wonder how stupid are the officials we elect ?? Or is it that they just think the public is so stupid they can't add 2+2 ?? Hmmm well seeing they have one here deflecting this by pointing the the defense budget items .. I guess maybe they do.
 
MrVicchio said:
This is lining up to be another disaster for Obama. While I feel terrible for the people whom lost their jobs at the factory, those jobs should never have been created. If the WH pressured the DOE to give loans to the company, and the main backer was a huge Obama financial backer, this story may hang over Obama well into 2012.
Click to expand...

Kinda looks like this company took off during the bush administration. Specifically.


(February 2006 - October 2006: In February, Solyndra raises its first round of venture financing, worth $10.6 million from CMEA Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and U.S. Venture Partners. In October, Argonaut Venture Capital, an investment arm of George Kaiser, invests $17 million into Solyndra. Madrone Capital Partners, an investment arm of the Walton family, invests $7 million. Those investments are part of a $78.2 million fund.)

And.

(December 2006: Solyndra applies for a loan guarantee under the 1703 program.)


Bush admin pushed Solyndra loan guarantee for two years | Grist
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom