JoeB131
Diamond Member
LAMBRO: Barack Obama, investor-in-chief - Washington Times
ABCNews.com - Breaking news, politics, online news, world news, feature stories, celebrity interviews and more - ABC News
A lot of the money was given to businesses that Mr. Obama thinks will be good for the environment, though his investment decisions didnt always work out the way he hoped.
Consider the White House-backed solar energy firm Solyndra Inc., which declared bankruptcy this week after pocketing a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. Critics called the deal a stimulus black hole.
When Mr. Obama visited the Solyndra factory in May 2010, he called the company a success story that was leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future.
He was quite proud of his investment, boasting at the time, Less than a year ago, we were standing on what was an empty lot, but now here was this shiny, new factory that is the result of those loans backed by his administration.
It was later learned that the White House fast-tracked Solyndras loan application, rushing Mr. Obamas pet project through without a lot of serious checking. Federal investigators said that the administration had bypassed procedures to safeguard the taxpayers investment.
ABCNews.com - Breaking news, politics, online news, world news, feature stories, celebrity interviews and more - ABC News
Republicans in Congress have raised questions for months about the Energy Department's decision to make Solyndra the poster-child for the green energy loan program. They expressed concern that so much federal money was headed to a company whose key investor was George Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire who raised more than $50,000 for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Since May, Kaiser has declined interview requests.