From the Fiscal Times: Solyndra Went on a Spending Spree After Getting Loan
Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said they saw questionable spending by management almost as soon as a federal agency approved a $535 million government-backed loan for the start-up.
A new factory built with public money boasted a gleaming conference room with glass walls that, with the flip of a switch, turned a smoky gray to conceal the room’s occupants. Hastily purchased state-of-the-art equipment ended up being sold for pennies on the dollar, still in its plastic wrap, employees said.
As the $344 million factory went up just down the road from the company’s leased plant in Fremont, Calif., workers watched as pallets of unsold solar panels stacked up in storage. Many wondered: Was the factory needed?
“After we got the loan guarantee, they were just spending money left and right,” said former Solyndra engineer Lindsey Eastburn. “Because we were doing well, nobody cared. Because of that infusion of money, it made people sloppy.”
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On Friday, company executives are scheduled to appear before a House committee investigating how Solyndra obtained its loan and whether the Obama White House rushed its approval for political reasons. Chief Executive Officer Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover were supposed to face a grilling about the company’s spending and collapse, but they announced Tuesday that they would assert their Fifth Amendment rights because of a criminal probe of the company by the Justice Department.
Full story at the Fiscal Times h/t to Tom Nelson
The birds on my feeder are twittering. They say: ” IF THE GREENS WANT TO DO SOMETHING GOOD THEY SHOULD BUY US MORE BIRDSEED.”
“Darren are you referring to the Sci-Fi movie of the 70s? LOL, where they recycled people before euthanizing them into food?”
yes , the harowing moment of discovery in Soylent Green.
Stan Stendera at 3.24 am. Actually I feed the birds too. And water them from my rain water tank that the government subsidised. I give them a bit of wholemeal bread, and bird seed for the little ones and then bigger seed for the parrots. They are quite tame too now, the cheeky blighters. The sit or fly near my computer rooms window and look down at me. I wonder if the government would subsidize my expenditure per week, about close on $15 – $20 particularly during their mating and breeding season and cold weather. I fear for them as it is unusually cold for early October, going down below zero at night. Hope the hatchlings can cope with it.