Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Green Technology and Realism

The recent issues regarding the DOE's "investment" in a solar panel company and its loss of more than $500 million bring to mind my long felt opinion of Government investments; really really dumb.

As the Hill states:

Republicans blasted ... administration officials Wednesday for green-lighting a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, a now-bankrupt California solar company with close ties to the White House.
The GOP attack at House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing focused on emails they said showed the White House tried to rush a final decision on Solyndra’s financing so that Vice President ... could announce approval of the loan guarantee at the September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s new factory.

"The documents demonstrate that, when DOE was reviewing the Solyndra guarantee in 2009, it was well aware of the financial problems the deal posed,” ... chairman of the panel’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, said Wednesday.

First in my experience the DOE is one of the worst managed agencies around, except for the old AEC nuclear part. Second any Government agency has no clue as to how to make an investment. Those that do would never work in the Government, they would do! Imagine any GS 14 sitting on some Board. You have to be crazy t think they could even ask a sensible question.

The problem is we have hundreds of these follies. Again I remind all of the Broadband program, tens of billions down the proverbial rat hole!The market is a real thing, it should reward success and punish failure. Thus the TARP should never have been, let them fail, it clears the market. Instead we have trillions stored up going nowhere. GM and Chrysler, they too should have failed. Instead we shoveled out taxpayer money and they want more, like any addict. There is not rational for this mess.