“Solar panel manufacturing — a potential source of middle-class jobs, and an important reason the White House was so high on Solyndra, which made its panels in Fremont, Calif. — is another story” – States NY times article.
We can not get away from politics in our modern life, politics are everywhere, we live in civilized countries, we have our leaders but sometimes the games which politicians play are not always clean and Environmental friendly energy and technology is not an exception. Back in August 31, 2011 Solyndra filed for bankruptcy the bankruptcy which the Republicans are now rabidly “investigating” because Solyndra had the misfortune to receive a $535 million federally guaranteed loan from the Obama administration. Moreover the solar panels which the company produced were very high-priced to begin with. This factor made Solyndra co. uncompetitive in the marketplace. Solyndra didn’t have enough influential and prosperous customers to create the necessary economies of scale. Also the executives of the company failed to dedicate additional money that would have allowed the company to stay in business.
On other hand, “The Obama Administration betrayed American taxpayers when it dumped hundreds of millions of public dollars into Solyndra while ignoring clear warnings about the company’s dire financial situation,” Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement. Before receiving the loan from the Obama administration in 2010, Solyndra had been singled out by both Republicans and Democrats as a promising government investment. If there is another version of the bankruptcy of Solyndra, it’s the theory that the White House gave the company a loan guarantee, and then turned a back to its problems, because “its largest investors were funds linked to Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser, an Obama donor.”
These sources clearly show us that the bankruptcy could have been prevented if the government payed more attention to the problems of Solyndra and helped them at the right time, but politics never change.
Sources used:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/opinion/the-phony-solyndra-scandal.html?_r=0
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/obama-fundraises-with-players-in-solyndra-scandal/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/08/09/the_dregs_of_the_solyndra_scandal.html