"Actually the loan department didn’t deny the loan to Solyndra on Jan. 9, they just said the application wasn’t ready to proceed. The loan was turned down without prejudice and Solyndra was eligible to reapply. Anybody who’s ever applied for a loan will recognize this sort of issue. "
They didn’t deny the loan they just turned it down. HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
That made me laugh out loud.
That put’s it on President Obama’s shift and the testimony by Jonathan Silver that it wasn’t pushed by the WH isn’t going to stick on the wall since it was a part of Obama’s political platform. When the President asks if the loan will be approved in time for a political speech then the pressure to get it done is pretty substantial.
It looks bad simply because it implicates Obama administration officials pressuring decisions for political expediency as opposed to thorough vetting and fact-based decision making. It shatters the illusion of bringing change to DC and is simply disappointing. So yes, it is hurtful. It alone will not be significant but it contributes to a general sense of a lack of competence.
Additionally. the people who were sending the emails urging the OMB to rush their decisions either (1) had no clue how open records requests work or (2) that what they were doing was in any way inappropriate- either way, very bad. Also, that the OMB complied with a rush request for a half billion dollar loan should be investigated.
And the words “turned down” and “eligible to reapply” have eluded you. Clearly the loan was reestablished during this administration and there was a desire by the President to use it for political purposes.
Agreed. I don’t give a rat’s ass how we get the prices down on alternative power sources, so long as we do it quickly. The long term benefits of weaning ourselves off of petroleum far outweigh the cost. If we can do it here in America, great. If not, then it needs to happen anyway.
The loan was neither denied nor turned down on January 9th. It was not granted - but it was not turrned down either. As I quoted in my last post, the Board voted to continue due diligence in considering the loan. That’s not a denial. It’s a postponement.
There is no evidence that the White House pushed for this loan to be granted. You do not have any emails ordering that the loan must be granted. You do not have any testimony that the White House pressured the loan officials. You do not have any evidence that contradicts the sworn testimony of the officials that they were not pressured.
As far as it “being on Obama’s watch” - ignoring the years of involvement by Republican officials in order to frame this as a political move by Democratic officials who came in in the last couple months is painting a false picture.
There is no evidence that Obama administration officials pressured the loan board.
The emails do not contain any language insisting that the loan be passed. The emails are only concerned with scheduling an announcement.
Furthermore, the loan officials provided sworn evidence before congress that they were not pressured to make the loan. No evidence has been provided to contradict this.
From what I’ve seen, that’s basically the story in a nutshell. The DOE made something like $45 billion of these loans, with an expectation that about $2.5 billion would go bad. The experts that Congress consulted in creating the stimulus gave the program as a whole one of the highest multipliers of any part of the stimulus package. The DOE sped up its due diligence process to get the money into the economy faster, because that’s the whole point of stimulus, and because they’d been criticized for being too slow in the past. Solyndra used the money to get a brand new factory up and running (stimulating the economy, but at probably a really shitty multiplier for that particular half billion), but got out competed by heavily subsidized Chinese competition. So far Solyndra’s $538 million loan was the only one to fail, leaving us still well under the expected $2.5 billion expected in failures.
Or, as Matt Steinglass put it, “if our government were merely as dumb an investor as Richard Branson, I think we would all be pretty satisfied.”
Wow, that’s a surprise. The President and a flock of WH lawyers don’t incriminate themselves with a paper-trail of pressure. They just made a few phone calls to see how things are doing because that’s what President’s do, check on loans. It’s like a hobby only for some reason the phone calls are linked to people who are top fund raisers and major contributors.
So to review, the loan was “postponed”. Contributions were made. Phone calls were made. A loan that has been wallowing for over 3 years becomes the pet project of the President and is granted. the company folds within a year.
Meanwhile a military general testifies that he was pressured to to include language in his testimony supporting another pet project of the President.
I don’t see how it can’t hurt Obama. It was stupid and foolish and ignored advice available from people who had vetted it. It’s not the stupidest thing or the most expensive boondoggle that an administration has forced through to please a backer (that would be the Iraq war), but it was reckless.
I’d say George Bush’s chances of re-election are pretty slim at this point.
This is still being vetted in the papers so it’s got feet. The loan was re-structured to favor private investors over taxpayers. There is the usual money trail between contributors/lobbyists and the WH which will surprise no one but the public will look at the end results. The President personally involved himself in a deal for political purposes that fell through in less than a year. The taxpayer is on the hook for trying to save 1000 jobs for 6 months at a cost of $500,000 per employee.
Taken out of context, sure. In context, the Solyndra loan is a write off but the DoE’s green tech lending program appears to have been quite successful overall.
Of course, from a soundbite standpoint only the first half of that sentence will matter.
The Sunday talk shows did not pound on it. I was surprised. It would seem you would have to an extreme righty to harp on an attempt to create jobs in the green sector.
Then the auto loans are a great counter to it. They announced that GM is hiring more workers and they have raised the starting rates 3 bucks.
It is pleasing to me that the right is so bereft of actual intelligent issues that they have to start pointing at perfectly normal things and shriek about how outrageous they are:
Obama’s dog shit on the White House lawn. Tyranny!!!111
Nobody objects to the program. Invest sound money in something green. Nothing wrong with that. this loan dragged on for over 3 years and went down in flames 6 months after it was approved.
Use it for political fodder to boost your image then it naturally draws the failure further into the light. It’s like using family values as a platform and then trolling for trouser trout in the men’s room at an airport.
You’re missing the point. The question is if this has potential to hurt Obama. The answer is clearly, yes, it does. If the question were, did Obama pressure the loan board, then that’s another discussion. Regardless of whether the administration actually pressured a particular decision, the emails clearly display pressure for expediency of a decision, which simply looks bad.