The Democrats’ Big Green Bust

Investigation and New Book Confirm Dems Knew Solyndra and Other Green Companies Were A Bad Bet, But Gambled Taxpayer Dollars Anyway 

• A recently released report on now-bankrupt Solyndra offers evidence that Obama’s Department of Energy was well aware of the risks of its high-stakes gamble with taxpayer dollars.
• The report comes on the heels of inventive new denials from President Obama attempting to shirk responsibility for his administration’s decision to throw $500 million at a company fraught with risk.
• The Democrats’ refusal to admit their policies have failed is sadly all too familiar. A new book documents how President Obama simply could not understand when advisors told him their green spending spree was not creating jobs and chose to double down on more of the same, just as he is doing today.

A recently released report on now-bankrupt Solyndra offers evidence that Obama’s Department of Energy was well aware of the risks of its high-stakes gamble with taxpayer dollars: 

“DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY KNEW OF SOLYNDRA RISKS, FORMER FBI AGENT FINDS”: (Ronnie Greene, “Department of Energy Knew of Solyndra Risks, Former FBI Agent Finds,” iWatch News, 3/29/2012) 

SOLYNDRA “POCKETED A HALF-BILLION DOLLAR DOE LOAN BUT NEVER TURNED A PENNY IN PROFIT BEFORE SHUTTING ITS DOORS”: “The Department of Energy was fully aware of the risks in backing Solyndra Inc., a start-up company that pocketed a half-billion dollar DOE loan but never turned a penny in profit before shutting its doors, concludes a former FBI agent hired to examine the company’s books.” (Ronnie Greene, “Department of Energy Knew of Solyndra Risks, Former FBI Agent Finds,” iWatch News, 3/29/2012)

REPORT OFFERS FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT OBAMA TEAM “IGNORED RED FLAGS” IN SUPPORTING SOLYNDRA IN 2009 WITH “MAIDEN GREEN ENERGY LOAN”: “The expert’s report, filed this week in Solyndra’s voluminous bankruptcy case in California, could embolden critics who say the government ignored financial red flags in supporting the solar panel maker with President Obama’s maiden green energy loan in 2009.” (Ronnie Greene, “Department of Energy Knew of Solyndra Risks, Former FBI Agent Finds,” iWatch News, 3/29/2012)

The report comes on the heels of inventive new denials from President Obama attempting to shirk responsibility for his administration’s decision to throw $500 million at a company fraught with risk:

OBAMA RECENTLY CLAIMED SOLYNDRA WAS “NOT OUR PROGRAM, PER SE”: (David Jackson, “Obama: Solyndra ‘Not Our Program, Per Se,’” USA Today, 3/22/2012)

WASHINGTON POST FACT-CHECKER GIVES OBAMA TWO PINOCCHIOS:“While the original law may have set up the loan guarantee program, Solyndra received its loan through an expansion of that program that the administration was quick to take credit for. (The Biden news release mitigates this a bit, but the reference to the 2005 law was not attributed to Biden.)

“We find it hard to believe that any reasonable person could interpret Obama’s remarks this week as anything but a distinct effort to put the blame for Solyndra in some one else’s pocket. The president should accept responsibility, not shirk it.” (Glenn Kessler, “Obama’s Solyndra Shuffle,” The Washington Post, 3/23/2012) 

“DOCUMENTS: WHITE HOUSE WAS ALL-HANDS-ON-DECK AS SOLYNDRA COLLAPSE NEARED”: (Ben Geman and Andrew Restuccia, “Documents: White House Was All-Hands-on-Deck as Solyndra Collapse Neared,” The Hill, 3/23/2012)

RELEASED E-MAILS: WHITE HOUSE REGARDED SOLYNDRA AS “ONE OF THEIR PRIME POSTER CHILDREN”: (Philip Klein, “Emails Show Obama Donor Discussed Solyndra Loan with WH,” The Washington Examiner, 11/9/2011)

OBAMA’S RE-ELECT DEVOTED ITS FIRST AD TO DEFENDING SOLYNDRA:“Don’t think Chicago is deeply concerned about the brand damage that the Solyndra semi-scandal can wreak? Of all President Obama’s vulnerabilities (Isn’t this race supposed to be about the economy?), Team Obama chose to attack Solyndra right out of the gate, placing Obama, literally, in a sea of solar panels, amid quotes proclaiming him to be cleaner than clean — wallowing in the future.” (Glenn Thrush, “Decoding Obama’s First Ad: S-O-L-Y-N-D-R-A,” Politico, 1/19/2012)

The Democrats’ refusal to admit their policies have failed is sadly all too familiar. A new book documents how President Obama simply could not understand when advisors told him their green spending spree was not creating jobs and chose to double down on more of the same, just as he is doing today:

NEW BOOK: OBAMA TO TOP ECONOMISTS ABOUT FAILURE OF GREEN SPENDING BINGE: “I DON’T GET IT. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE NO JOBS?”: “Week after week, Romer would march in with an estimate of the jobs all the investments in clean energy would produce; week after week, Obama would send her back to check the numbers. ‘I don’t get it,’ he’d say. ‘We make these large-scale investment in infrastructure. What do you mean there are no jobs?’” (Jordan Weissmann, “There Are Way Fewer Green Jobs Than You Think,” The Atlantic, 3/26/2012)

“THE NUMBERS RARELY BUDGED,” AND OBAMA WAS WARNED THAT HIS GREEN SPENDING “WOULD PRODUCE AN INSIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF JOBS RELATIVE TO THE COUNTRY’S WORKFORCE”: “But the numbers rarely budged. The U.S. clean energy industry was so microscopically small that even doubling or tripling the size of it, a major accomplishment that could take years, would produce an insignificant number of jobs relative to the size of the country’s workforce.” (Jordan Weissmann, “There Are Way Fewer Green Jobs Than You Think,” The Atlantic, 3/26/2012)

OBAMA DOUBLED DOWN ON MORE GREEN SPENDING SPREES IN STATE OF THE UNION: “Our experience with shale gas, our experience with natural gas, shows us that the payoffs on these public investments don’t always come right away.  Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies fail.  But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy.  I will not walk away from workers like Bryan.  (Applause.)  I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here.

“We’ve subsidized oil companies for a century.  That’s long enough.  It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that rarely has been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that never has been more promising.” (“Remarks by the President in the State of the Union Address,” The White House, 1/24/2012)