# The Solyndra Scandal:Does It Have the Potential to Hurt Obama? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 15, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401 "2011-09-15T16:04:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/221 "2011-10-21T22:04:07Z")
Add one more half billion dollar green loan that went to a company manufacturing it’s product outside the country. [This one feeds jobs in Finland.](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/car-company-us-loan-builds-cars-finland/story?id=14770875) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/222 "2011-10-22T11:53:40Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Add one more half billion dollar green loan that went to a company manufacturing it’s product outside the country. [This one feeds jobs in Finland.](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/car-company-us-loan-builds-cars-finland/story?id=14770875) I need to learn more about this, but from what little I know at this point, I don’t like this either. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/223 "2011-10-22T12:28:30Z")
There are too many of these deals (Solyndra, Fiskars, etc.) to be coincidental. Might these all be part of a huge kickback scheme to provide funding for the 2012 election? THe whole “green” energy bsiness is dependent upon government handouts-withot subsidies, none of these bsinesse are viable. In Massachsetts, the state gov. is pushing the “Cape Wind Farm” project (offshore windmills). All the hardware will be bilt in China (Chinese stimulus), and the project depends upon ratepayers being forced to buy electrcity at 3.5-4X the current rate. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/224 "2011-10-22T16:58:36Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > There are too many of these deals (Solyndra, Fiskars, etc.) to be coincidental. Might these all be part of a huge kickback scheme to provide funding for the 2012 election? > THe whole “green” energy bsiness is dependent upon government handouts-withot subsidies, none of these bsinesse are viable. > In Massachsetts, the state gov. is pushing the “Cape Wind Farm” project (offshore windmills). All the hardware will be bilt in China (Chinese stimulus), and the project depends upon ratepayers being forced to buy electrcity at 3.5-4X the current rate. Why should anyone take anything you say seriously when your posts are so riddled with typos and other errors? Really. If you can’t deal with basic spell check, you shouldn’t be in Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/225 "2011-10-22T17:07:16Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Add one more half billion dollar green loan that went to a company manufacturing it’s product outside the country. [This one feeds jobs in Finland.](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/car-company-us-loan-builds-cars-finland/story?id=14770875) No it doesn’t . It feeds research and engineering in the US and they are opening a shuttered Ford plant in Delaware that will employ 2500 people. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/226 "2011-10-22T18:33:45Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I need to learn more about this, but from what little I know at this point, I don’t like this either. Here you go. > [@](#): > > Fisker’s loan has two parts. In the first part, Fisker used $169 million to support the engineers who developed the tools, equipment and manufacturing processes for Fisker’s first vehicle, the Fisker Karma. That work was done Fisker’s U.S. facilities, including its headquarters in Irvine, California which has 700 employees and plans to continue hiring. While the vehicles themselves are being assembled in Fisker’s existing overseas facility, the Department’s funding was only used for the U.S. operations. The money could not be, and was not, spent on overseas operations. The Karma also relies on an extensive network of hundreds of suppliers in more than a dozen U.S. states. > > The larger portion of the loan – $359 million – is supporting the production of Fisker’s Nina vehicles. Fisker is using this funding to bring a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware back to life and employing more than 2,500 workers. Fisker was attracted to this site in part by the opportunity to rehire some of the trained, dedicated workers who lost their jobs when that plant closed. > > Fisker’s production schedule was delayed by regulatory issues that were outside of its control, but the company has successfully raised more than $650 million in private sector investment to support its ongoing operations since closing its DOE loan. [http://energy.gov/articles/fisker-tesla-and-american-auto-innovation](http://energy.gov/articles/fisker-tesla-and-american-auto-innovation) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/227 "2011-10-22T18:35:34Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > No it doesn’t . It feeds research and engineering in the US and they are opening a shuttered Ford plant in Delaware that will employ 2500 people. Of course, that ASSUMES that somebody will buy electric cars. Right now the record is not good-Chevrolet projected selling 30,000 “Volt” cars..so far they haven’t come close. And that was a shuttered GM plant in Delaware (Joe Biden says so). ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/228 "2011-10-23T03:07:06Z")
We poured more money in a company that has never seen a profit, never mass produced a pencil let alone a car and ultimately supplied capital to a company who is making cars currently overseas. According to the article cited we haven’t seen so much as a picture of this car. The idea that we only funded projects in the United States from this company is an accounting joke. We pumped money into a company with a losing track record that doesn’t have a clue how to produce anything in volume or market it. These are not metrics to be dismissed with a hand wave and a yawn. It’s called a business plan and this company doesn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/229 "2011-10-23T10:08:31Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Here you go. > > [http://energy.gov/articles/fisker-tesla-and-american-auto-innovation](http://energy.gov/articles/fisker-tesla-and-american-auto-innovation) Thank you. That doesn’t sound nearly as bad as some were making it sound. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/230 "2011-10-23T13:08:10Z")
You mean this is still in the news? I hadn’t heard about it for long enough that I forgot about it. I thought it was, as predicted, a storm in a teapot. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/231 "2011-10-24T02:11:55Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Thank you. That doesn’t sound nearly as bad as some were making it sound. Of course it doesn’t. It’s a dot gov cite which happened to leave out any details like the connections between the President and major contributors or the fact that the loans were made in direct conflict to the viability of the projects involved. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/232 "2011-10-24T02:40:52Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Of course it doesn’t. It’s a dot gov cite which happened to leave out any details like the connections between the President and major contributors or the fact that the loans were made in direct conflict to the viability of the projects involved. It also leaves out that Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ marriage is on the rocks, and who they think is going to win Dancing With the Stars. The purpose of providing the cite was to correct the misinformation you posted in post 221. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/233 "2011-10-24T02:57:45Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > It also leaves out that Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ marriage is on the rocks, and who they think is going to win Dancing With the Stars. The purpose of providing the cite was to correct the misinformation you posted in post 221. You posted a bullshit GOVERNMENT reference to a government program. Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ marriage has nothing to do with it besides you’re clownish attempt to derail a thread. I’ve provided cites regarding the connection between major donors, the companies receiving the loans, and the White House. In the case of Solyndra the failure was predicted by the White House’s own budget advisers. They predicted it to the exact month of failure which wasn’t very far away from the day the loan was originated. I’ve also provided cites regarding loans made to businesses that have provided no US jobs and show no track record of producing a profit. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/234 "2011-10-24T03:41:55Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > You posted a bullshit GOVERNMENT reference to a government program. Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ marriage has nothing to do with it besides you’re clownish attempt to derail a thread. I’ve provided cites regarding the connection between major donors, the companies receiving the loans, and the White House. In the case of Solyndra the failure was predicted by the White House’s own budget advisers. They predicted it to the exact month of failure which wasn’t very far away from the day the loan was originated. > > I’ve also provided cites regarding loans made to businesses that have provided no US jobs and show no track record of producing a profit. > [@Magiver](#): > > Add one more half billion dollar green loan that went to a company manufacturing it’s product outside the country. [This one feeds jobs in Finland.](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/car-company-us-loan-builds-cars-finland/story?id=14770875) You have done no such thing. Your own cite states that none of the loan money has gone to Finland. It’s feeding jobs in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/235 "2011-10-24T12:28:53Z")
No, I am afraid it is not feeding any jobs in the US. > [@](#): > > With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work. > [@](#): > > But two years after the loan was announced, the company’s manufacturing jobs are still limited to the assembly of the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car in Finland. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/236 "2011-10-24T14:26:59Z")
Despite the best efforts of the Obama administration, the fury over these scandals continues to rise. When will it end, we wonder? And when will it begin, we also wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/237 "2011-10-24T20:27:32Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Despite the best efforts of the Obama administration, the fury over these scandals continues to rise. When will it end, we wonder? And when will it begin, we also wonder. It’s not like there are people out there protesting the influence of big businesses on government. [Cincinnati:](http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111012/NEWS01/310130011/Occupy-Cincinnati-protesters-plead-not-guilty) “Besides proclaiming the public’s right to be in public spaces at all times, the protesters also have spoken out against the influence of big business on government.” These things tend to percolate slowly to the surface and with each passing day more and more information is coming out. Solyndra was only the first. Between the FBI investigation and the house probe there will be a treasure trove of material for the 2012 debate on just this loan. That will be followed by at least the next 2 loans. The political day is young. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/238 "2011-11-01T02:42:43Z")
And another one down, another one down, another one bites the dust… Exit another 43 million dollars of tax payer money - [Beacon Power Corp.](http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/190641-second-energy-dept-backed-company-goes-bankrupt). “Beacon sought bankruptcy protection two days after the White House ordered an independent 60-day evaluation of the Energy Department’s loan programs aimed at ensuring effective management and monitoring.” ---
**Author:** ![Bloodless\_Turnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Bloodless\_Turnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloodless_Turnip)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/239 "2011-11-15T17:36:01Z")
New news item on this: [Solyndra: Energy Dept. pushed firm to keep layoffs quiet until after midterms](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-department-of-energy-pushed-hard-for-company-not-to-announce-layoffs-until-after-2010-mid-term-elections/2011/11/15/gIQA2AriON_print.html) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401/240 "2011-11-15T18:30:54Z")
It’s shocking. The right wingers who wouldn’t vote for Obama against Hitler, are upset about Solyndra. They are talking to each other again. Most people see it as a small time problem, that was based in trying to create green jobs. Sometimes companies fail. Imagine that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-solyndra-scandal-does-it-have-the-potential-to-hurt-obama/596401.md?page=13)