U.S. House of Representatives to probe Solyndra’s bankruptcy

The United States House of Representatives is set to investigate the collapse of a solar startup which obtained a hefty amount of funding from the government, to identify possible misrepresentation on the part of the company or if state officials overlooked details that could have determined whether the firm had the capability to pay back its debts or not.

House committee on energy and commerce chairman Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan, said his committee will probe circumstances surrounding California-based Solyndra L.L.C.'s immediate suspension of operations and planned filing for bankruptcy next week in Delaware.

Obama’s Enron

Rich Lowry

National Review

Sept 3, 2011

We have seen the future, and it went bankrupt.

If the praises of high-ranking Obama-administration officials were a viable business plan, the solar-panel maker Solyndra would be an industrial juggernaut. Vice President Biden insisted that the jobs created by the California-based firm would “allow America to compete and to lead like we did in the 20th century.”

In a visit to Solyndra in May 2010, President Obama called it “a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism.” He all but redefined the traditional statement of Americanness to encompass motherhood, apple pie, and the conversion of sunlight into electricity through cylindrical thin-film solar cells, the specialty of Solyndra.

Obama and Biden were literally invested in Solyndra’s success. The company got a half-billion-dollar federal loan guarantee, the first in a highly vaunted Department of Energy green-jobs program, as part of the stimulus. This was supposed to be the new economic model: government and its favored industries cooperating to lead the country into a green, politically approved recovery.

The showcase firm is now filing for Chapter 11 in an embarrassing blow to the premises of Obamanomics. At least the Obama administration can’t be accused of practicing industrial policy the old-fashioned way and picking winners. It is evidently quite ready to pick losers, too…

Read the full article here