How is this not money laundering??

naturegirl

Gold Member
Aug 9, 2011
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NW Georgia
How can this even be legal?? Am I the only one that has a problem with this??

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Sanjay Wagle was a venture capitalist and Barack Obama fundraiser in 2008, rallying support through a group he headed known as Clean Tech for Obama.

Shortly after Obama’s election, he left his California firm to join the Energy Department, just as the administration embarked on a massive program to stimulate the economy with federal investments in clean-technology firms.

Following an enduring Washington tradition, Wagle shifted from the private sector, where his firm hoped to profit from federal investments, to an insider’s seat in the administration’s $80 billion clean-energy investment program.

He was one of several players in venture capital, which was providing financial backing to start-up clean-tech companies, who moved into the Energy Department at a time when the agency was seeking outside expertise in the field. At the same time, their industry had a huge stake in decisions about which companies would receive government loans, grants and support.

During the next three years, the department provided $2.4 billion in public funding to clean-energy companies in which Wagle’s former firm, Vantage Point Venture Partners, had invested, a Washington Post analysis found. Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers.

Obama’s program to invest federal funds in start-up companies — and the failure of some of those companies — is becoming a rallying cry for opponents in the presidential race. Mitt Romney has promised to focus on Obama’s “record” as a “venture capitalist.” And in ads and speeches, conservative groups and the Republican candidates are zeroing in on the administration’s decision to extend $535 million to the now-shuttered solar firm Solyndra and billions of dollars more to clean-tech start-ups backed by the president’s political allies.

Lots more here: Venture capitalists play key role in Obama&rsquo;s Energy Department - The Washington Post
 
I do not have a problem with the government hiring experts from private industry. What I do have a problem with, is that the DOE is currently the most inept, inefficient, and corrupt, dept. in D.C. And I fear we've only seen the tip of the iceberg.
 
I do not have a problem with the government hiring experts from private industry. What I do have a problem with, is that the DOE is currently the most inept, inefficient, and corrupt, dept. in D.C. And I fear we've only seen the tip of the iceberg.

Do you have a problem with those 'experts' funneling billions back to their 'former' employers??
 
Of course I do, but I also know that there are only a few companies doing this kind of work. That limits the field of "experts" somewhat.

This stinks to high heaven. But we must be cautious when it comes to distinguishing between an appearance of conflict of interest or absolute corruption. This may prove the latter.
 
What we have is the need to hire guys who have a clue from the private sector, so this may be no more than that.

However, given the record of companies involved in this field who go broke in short order, one can definitely detect a definite rodentide oder and see it floating in the air.
 

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