Going through 535 million in 2 years... and nothing to show

[John Milmont]

FBI searches bankrupt solar energy company touted by Obama - CNN.com

I don't know if you guys have followed this one, but it seems amazing this company of 60 people went though 535 million dollars in 2 years. I wonder how many yacht's they have?

 

[Jim Craik]

John,

Yes this Solyndra thing seems to be a real boondogle. Although you note that the company had only 60 "people". When they closed down, they laid off 1,100 employees.

This is very bad, Obama touted them and they failed.

We need to get to the bottom of this. Just like when Bush touted Enron, we need to......

Oh wait, nothing came of the Bush Enron scandal.

 

[Jeff Young]

Actually Jim, a lot of people went to jail after Enron.

I had some dealings with Solyndra. Their major problem was that they could not compete with the Chinese who basically control the solar panel market and were/are suspected of dumping panels into the US below cost.

This wasn't a fraud situation, it was a probably bad business model given the Chinese competition.

John,

Yes this Solyndra thing seems to be a real boondogle. Although you note that the company had only 60 "people". When they closed down, they laid off 1,100 employees.

This is very bad, Obama touted tham and they failed.

We need to get to the bottom of this. Just like when Bush touted Enron, we need to......

Oh wait, nothing came of the Bush Enron scandal.

 

[Terry Oxandale]

I understand the Chinese product was set a nearly 1/3 the price of the Solyndra product. So either highly highly inefficient, or very poor planning.

 

[John Milmont]

I wonder if I could have gotten stimulus money for an air conditioner business in Antarctica. Seriously though, someone must have had some connections to get this money. I think the most basic analysis would have revealed strong overseas competition. Or maybe its because solar panels are a "green" energy source and get special expedient approval for funds like this...

Another question would be: How did American industry become so uncompetitive with the rest of the world?

 

[Jeff Young]

There is a fair amount of money flowing to all sectors of the power grid. Doubtful that connections really had anything to do with it. We lag behind in the actual manufacture of panels, wind turbines, towers, etc.

A solar panel is not really high tech (at least yet). It's basically a bunch of laminated sheets with diodes. The Chinese make stuff like that CHEAP, and then sell it here CHEAP. But try enforcing a warranty against a Chinese manufacturer of panels.

So it's not that we are necessarily uncompetitive in all things, but in this particular market for this product we may be.

 

[Mark]

If we don't start to serioualy consider protecting ourselves from the Chinese influence, we are all going to be truly fooked. They are buying all the coal and all the gas forcing energy prices sky high and flooding our markets with cheap goods. I have no idea what can be done frankly. Perhaps it's time to buy up assets in China. Think I'm going to change my name by depole to Mr. Wong and get to work..............

 

[Fred W Ballinger]

I have no idea what can be done frankly

China should let it's currency find its natural level.

The problem is, as quoted below.

Cheers

Fred W B

China keeps the yuan pegged to a basket of currencies, most notably the U.S. dollar. As of August 10 2011, a dollar was worth 6.4121 yuan, its highest level in 17 years. China is allowing the yuan to gradually rise to slow export growth and offset inflation.

Despite this rise, many analysts think the Chinese government keeps the yuan artificially low. China does this to keep its products cheaper than U.S. products, thus increasing its exports to the U.S.

 

[Mark]

You're right Fred, I forgot to mention that in my pre-apocalyptic ramblings.

I'll get m' Wok...........