The Solyndra “scandal” is trotted out every few months as part of the big-vs.-small-government debate in this country, but it is not and never was a scandal. The federal clean-energy loan program that the infamous solar-panel maker was a part of was designed to finance risky ventures, and Solyndra was a reasonable risk.
The Bush and Obama Administrations both selected Solyndra from 143 applicants for the program’s first loan, and investigators found no evidence that political interference made that happen.
But no matter how often independent fact checkers debunk charges of crony capitalism, Washington Republicans won’t be deterred from pushing a No More Solyndras Act, vowing to kill the loan program. Government aid isn’t supposed to guarantee success; subsidized farms and entrepreneurs with Small Business Administration loans fail all the time. Some students who receive Pell Grants probably end up drunks on the street.
There’s a legitimate debate to have about Solyndra and green industrial policy, but it’s not the debate over imaginary corruption we’ve been having. Solar power has increased over 600% since 2009, partly because of the low prices that doomed Solyndra. The $90 billion for clean energy in the stimulus actually crowded in private investment, luring an additional $100 billion in matching funds from the sidelines.
Yet Republicans haven’t argued against subsidies for manufacturing. In fact, they’ve argued that the stimulus shipped manufacturing jobs overseas, which is ludicrous. It has increased the domestic content of U.S. wind turbines from 20% to 60%. Politics aside, that’s a good thing. It would be a shame to trade our dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign turbines, solar panels and lithium-ion batteries, all products that were invented in the U.S.
The full article is available here
The full article is available here
