As details are coming out on the extravagance of Solyndra’s $733M plant, complete with robots & spa showers, we find out, as IBD reports, “The Department of Energy is set this week to announce whether nine federal loan guarantees amounting to $6.5 billion for green energy projects will get final approval.” Well, at least two of them have been, as of today. The Obama administration approved the loans worth more than $1B for solar energy projects in Nevada and Arizona. And what a coincidence, as Gateway Pundit identifies a connection:
It’s as if Solyndra never happened. The Obama Administration is giving $737 million to a Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve. PCG is an investment partner with SolarReserve. Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law happens to be the number two man at PCG.
Adding insult to injury, as that previous IBD report also notes, the total number of full-time, permanent jobs that these nine federal loans would create, “according to the DOE's own figures, a grand total of 283. That is nearly $23 million per job.” It’d be laughable if it wasn’t so damn infuriating. The Hill indicates that out of the $737M being loaned to Tonopah, a grand total of 45 permanent jobs will be created (that’s a little over $16M per job!). No efficiency like government efficiency.
And the icing on the cake is given by Breitbart’s Big Government in ascertaining what Obama knew and when he knew it:
According to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times, President Obama was warned nearly a year ago that Energy Secretary Stephen Chu’s department was not rigorous enough in vetting loan recipients and they ran the risk of funneling federal money to companies that shouldn’t receive it, or didn’t need it. And the warnings came from the President’s top economic advisers Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner.
Now that we know what the President knew, and when he knew it, it’s instructive to look at how his administration reacted to the information provided by the President’s top economic geniuses. The White House ignored their advice and doubled-down on the risky and fruitless endeavor of “investing” in unproven companies like Solyndra.
And with the additional loans approved today, we see quite clearly that this president hasn’t learned a damn thing. He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do, despite the inefficiencies, waste, exorbitant costs to taxpayers and blatant cronyism.
ADDENDUM: On Thursday, Neil Cavuto had a candid talk with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on the rush to spend the remaining money, but little regard given towards the value of that spending. Johnson says, "This is the wrong way to try and spend taxpayer's money, and we just ought to let these programs expire and return that money to the taxpayer."
