Failing Solar Company Sun Power Receives Life Line of $1.2 Billion When Company In The Tank [2]
You thought it was just Solyndra, didn't you? You thought the White House, the Energy Department, and all the others around this Administration could not lose twice in the green energy deals, but that has happened. Whoever says lightening never strikes the same place twice has never met anyone from this Administration. Sun Power is the next Solyndra, but will the media pick up on it or stick only with what they have now?
It is odd that something that this could happen, but when we look at what happened in this case, it is a little different than the others. In the case of Sun Power we have a Democrats son, George Miller IV, son of Rep. George R. Miller III, (D.-Calif.). This Congressman's son lobbied for the company to receive this loan, when in fact a quick look at the books will show that the company carried a debt so large a bank would have been shut down by the Feds with the kind of money problems they were having, let alone a solar company asking for money from the government. This is not just a couple failed companies who happened to receive money from the tax payers of this nation, this is a movement coming from the top in Washington moving for more green energy spending when they know it is not going to work. I would not be surprised if by the election next year we do not see a few more of these companies who received money fall deeper and deeper into debt.
If this case shows anything it should show all of you how corrupt the system is in Washington. A lobbyist, as long as they are on the inside, can get whatever they want most of the time. In this case, this was something the Democrats in Congress and at the White House loved because the money was going to a green energy company that they could tout as the future of this nation. The only problem was these companies were never vetted the way they should have been, as we have seen with Solyndra. In the case of Sun Power, the son lobbyist went to dear old dad to help out the company he worked for, and it worked wonders for him and the company he represents. When this kind of money is involved you would hope and think that the government would look into the books of the company to make sure they were above water, to make sure they were going to continue with their venture unabated by debt or default. This was not the case in both Solyndra and Sun Power, now more questions have to be asked about where the money has gone and what companies that took this money should not have received it.
The President can sugar coat this for all of you out there, but the fact of the matter is these green companies are just not worth putting money into at this time. Their products are extremely expensive and the populace as a whole cannot afford to go out and convert to these kinds of green products. Even though the money is not well spent and we know that, the Administration and Democrats in the Congress are looking to give more and more money to companies just to say it went to green energy. This is no way to use the American people's money. The President can say it is a battle with China for the next great technology, but the American people are not buying it.
While the protesters sit on Wall Street complaining they are not getting enough from the government, maybe these protests should be moved to D.C. so they can ask their representatives why all of this money was wasted on companies that the government had to know were in fiscal trouble to begin with.
As if spending that money on a failed company could be the only downside to all of this, then we learn even more about where this money is going and how it will be used. According to the article in Human Events [2], some of the money loaned would be going to keep up a California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) in San Luis Obispo County. This, according to the Department of Energy, will create 350 construction jobs during the two year build and 15 permanent jobs. Seems like a lot of money for just 15 permanent jobs, wouldn't you say so? That is not all. The company will also be spending the money to open up and create jobs for a new solar initiative... in Mexicali, Mexico! Yes, folks, the federal loan given to Sun Power will not only create a small number of permanent jobs (if the company can stay around that long) but many more jobs will be created out of this country using the American taxpayer dollars. The American people should be furious!
What the American people seem not to understand is that this is our money and we should not be giving it to companies in this field at all. it is a very new venture and it is not proven, costing the taxpayers trillions of dollars in wasted cash because the Congress and the White House feel it is for the greater good to support the people that support them. If we thought Solyndra was bad, I have a feeling once more comes out about Sun Power, the more the American people will be shown that the money that has been spent was not spent wisely. While we are in the middle of economic issues in this nation, we need to make sure we know where all our money is going, even if it only is a few billion here or there. In this case, it is $1.2 billion and the people want answers. The Department of Energy has been lax in how they check on these companies, now it is time for more questioning of what not only the head of DOE knew but what the White House knew about these ventures. I cannot believe the President would just rubber stamp a loan, or his people for that matter, when they knew it could come back to bite them in an election season. Nothing about this seems right, but when you have people throwing money in your direction it is possible that whatever needed to be done to make people happy was done.
Going forward, we need to be more careful when we hear about this kind of spending, or any kind of spending for that matter. These companies should be allowed to succeed or fail on their own, not by the government trying to stabilize them because they know the venture is not working out. This is not what America is all about, although we have become used to it. To me, this is just a glorified stimulus plan that was hidden behind the words "loan" to make the people feel better. We need to know where our money is going and who is getting it, and if those companies were not checked out appropriately by the DOE or any other government entity, then more investigations are needed so the American people can be shown once and for all what happens when our politicians play politics with jobs.
