Opinion Forum

Take the Money and Run

September 16th, 2011

A blog article at American Thinker cites the Wall Street Journal (to which I don’t have access) as follows:

One investor behind Solyndra blurted out the truth. The loan was needed and needed urgently to fatten up the company and show a going concern (with a factory, etc).

Why?

From the column:

There was another motivator — Solyndra’s management and investors had an eye on an initial public offering.

“There was a perceived halo around the loan,” said an investor with knowledge of the company. “If we get the loan, then we can definitely go public and cash out.”

The huge loan would be a selling point in an initial public offering. The company promoters could point out that the loan gave them credibility — that the government had vouched for their viability and prospects.

The private investors would cash out and when the loan came due and the company was unable to pay, taxpayers would be the ones left holding the IOUs.

Take the money and run.

Maybe the government folks who do their “due diligence” on such matters should hire some private investors to help them — just as hackers get hired to deal with internet security.

(This article was first published at The PJ Tatler.)

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: due dilligence, guarantee, investigators, IPO, loan, Solyndra
Categories: Economics, News, Politics | Comments (2) | Home

2 Responses to “Take the Money and Run”

larry | September 17th, 2011 at 9:23 am

Dan
You did a great job of putting a humorous spin on yet another questionable action by this administration. One thing for sure with this administration, you will never run out of dumb and crooked things to write about.

Dan Miller | September 17th, 2011 at 9:57 am

And now, for some more of the story.

Ex-employees of the failed solar panel company Solyndra have applied for aid under the federal government’s Trade Adjustment Assistance program, the Labor Department has confirmed.If approved, the employees of what was once touted as a leading exemplar of the White House’s green jobs program will be eligible for more federal funds to enable them to be retrained for other jobs.

It would be an ironic coda to the saga of Solyndra, which manufactured solar panels and received $527 million in loan guarantees from the Energy Department and praise from President Obama during visits to the firm’s California headquarters.

Now those green workers will be seeking the government’s help to find work again and not necessarily in the conservation jobs sector.

A source at the department confirmed the request for assistance was received on Sept. 2, just two days after the company filed bankruptcy, placing all 1,100 employees out of work.

“It is being evaluated,” the source told IBD, noting that most applications take 60 days for approval.

If that were the end, er, rest, of the story it would be a good one — story, that is. But wait! There’s more. It also slices and dices and can launder your shirts. From the same article,

The request was made by a representative of the 1,100 ex-employees and covers all of them. The department estimates the aid will cost $13,000 per worker for the coming year.The TAA program offers help to domestic workers who have lost their jobs due to the trade practices of foreign countries. The assistance includes job retraining, allowances for job searching, health benefits and up to 130 weeks of income support.

The program is up for reauthorization. Extending a TAA expansino has held up free trade agreement involving South Korea, Panama and Colombia.

The White House, acting on concerns of Big Labor allies, has demanded that a $575 million extension be included in the trade deals. Congressional Republicans have resisted, citing the program’s cost, but said they are willing to deal.

Funding for the Solyndra employees would come under the existing authorization. “Should the TAA extension be passed, the Solyndra employees would automatically be rolled into the new program,” the source said.

Oh well. It’s just ObamaMoney. There is, however, apparently no truth to any rumor that his raffle proceeds will help fund it.

The video here is well worth watching. Back off from your keyboard, lest it require extensive cleaning.