More Losing Solar Bets "Abound"... As Abound Solar Goes Belly Up

Consider a recent statement by President Obama while out on the campaign trail (again): “It’s time to end taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s never been more profitable [the oil industry], and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising.” I would like to offer a counter observation: "When you are in a hole, stop digging."


I agree with him that we should stop subsidizing the oil companies, just as I believe we should stop subsidizing the farming industry, the auto industry, the California wine industry, and hundreds of other industries, companies, unions, and trade organizations. But he really scares me when he recklessly gambles away my tax dollars and the tax dollars of every other American in such a way that has been totally unsuccessful, leading only to the enrichment of his political cronies and the bankruptcy of just about any alternative energy company he has funded.

A recent CBS News/Bloomberg report summarized Obama's failed alternative energy "bets" thusly:

• Just in a few years, the Obama administration has paid out $6.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to a dozen different green companies that have faced severe financial hardships.
• The most infamous of these failures is Solyndra, the California solar panel firm that received a $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee before declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy and being investigated by the FBI.
• None of the $535 million is likely recoverable for the taxpayers since the administration illegally moved political friends ahead of the American taxpayer in the bankruptcy proceedings and the dividing up of remaining Solyndra assets.[Not mentioned in the Bloomberg report]
• Among the 12 companies, five others besides Solyndra have filed for bankruptcy. These are Beacon Power of Massachusetts; Evergreen Solar, of Massachusetts; SpectraWatt of New York state; Eastern Energy of New York state and Ener1 of Indiana.

Other alternative energy disasters that
this administration  has ordained as being worthy of free taxpayer wealth have either been market busts or have been chosen not because of what they could deliver to the American public but what they could deliver in election campaign donations. In all cases, the following "bets" on alternative energy efforts have returned nothing to the American taxpayers for their investment:

1. A123
2. Ecotality
3. Fisker Automotive
4. Tesla Automotive
5. The Chevy Volt
6. Solar Reserve
7. Brightsource
8. Solar Serve
9. Brookfield Asset Management
10. Nevada Geothermal
11. Omat Nevad

And to this infamous collection of failures, we add a new member: Abound Solar. According to a June 29, 2012 Bloomberg report:

• Abound Solar Inc. announced that it intended to file for bankruptcy in Delaware in early July.
• It had drawn down and used $70 million of taxpayer wealth out of the $400 million that Obama's Energy Department had allocated for it before it went belly up. I guess the one good redeeming feature of this affair is that the company went bankrupt so fast that it never got to lose the other $330 million that it could have eventually taken from the Energy Department.
• Rather than hire thousands of workers at its Colorado and Indiana locations, the promise that helped get its loan application approved with Obama's  Energy Department back in 2009, the company announced it would be laying off its existing workforce of 125 workers.
• The company was supposed to produce high tech, thin solar panels but found out it could not compete on price with low cost imported solar panels from China.
• Not surprisingly, a Democratic fund raiser is a major investor in Abound. According to Bloomberg: "Pat Stryker, the billionaire heiress of a medical devices company, founded Bohemian Cos., one of six groups that invested $300 million into Abound. She is also a cash bundler for President Barack Obama according to the Center for Responsive Politics."
• What makes Abound different from every other Obama failed alternative energy project is that there were also Republican Party interlopers and political cronies that had also invested in Abound. It appears that until Abound, most if not all of other failures listed above were mostly/strictly Democratic political crony driven.

As the rock band Queen would say, "Another one bites the dust." This one bit the dust and swallowed $70 million more of taxpayer wealth in this process. Disgraceful.

In spite of all these failures, the President wants to double down on alternative energy projects with our taxpayer money and wealth. It is always easier to bet when you are using other people's money, like this President seems addicted to doing. Please Mr. President, get this addiction treated and take our advice: stop digging deeper into the this alternative energy cesspool hole you have dragged us into.

A wise old investment saying goes something like the following: Any worthy new idea, product or service does not need government support and financing to be successful in the market. All unworthy new ideas, products, or services will not be successful in the market regardless of how much government funding is wasted on it.

Let's leave the venture capital business to those that know how to do it and best of all, do it with with their money, not ours. This administration has proven that when it comes to acting like venture capitalists, they do not abound with worthy ideas and actions.

Note: Tomorrow I will provide the President with an excellent, simple approach for making solar energy happen in this country. It does not include enriching his political campaign donors and supporters, wasting billions of the taxpayer dollars in the process, but it is good for America. Maybe he should try such an approach once in a while. Lord knows the enrichment of political friends approach has not worked.


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