Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Solyndra is the Epitome of a Public/Private Partnership



Solyndra is another example of how a public/private partnership is doomed to failure. ABC News (surprisingly) reported the following:

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.

You would’ve thought that the monstrous failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would put an end to the plaudits of crony capitalism. But here we are again, with the taxpayers bending over and grabbing their ankles, while the politicians and bureaucrats stuff their pockets and lord their power over we plebeians.

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

No comments: