Tipsheet

At Climate Summit Obama Touts Stimulus Funding For Totally Failed, Bankrupt Solar Power Projects

Speaking from Paris Tuesday at the global climate change summit, know as COP21, President Obama touted his "investment" in solar power through the 2009 stimulus package.

There's just one huge problem. The so-called "investment" in solar power through the stimulus package was a total failure and was only issued as a favor to Democrat friends and big corporate campaign backers. Four years ago, the bankruptcy of the solar company Solyndra was a big scandal, but because there have been a number of Obama administration scandals since, it's difficult to keep track and remember. 

As President Barack Obama takes to the road to sell his Stimulus II, troubling news about the last stimulus continues to break.The House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee Wednesday begins its investigation of Solyndra, the stimulus-funded solar energy company that recently declared bankruptcy. The company, which laid off 1,100 workers after its sudden demise, once looked like the poster-child of stimulus success.

“The true engine of economic growth,” the president said in May 2010 while at the company’s California headquarters, “will always be companies like Solyndra.” It’s no wonder the economy is stalled.

Digging beneath the surface, the situation gets more troubling. The White House’s relationship with Solyndra, it turns out, was a mix of corporate favoritism, big-money politics, liberal ideology and Chicago-style deal making. As the Obama administration dealt favors, the American taxpayers got stuck with the $535 million bill.

In fact, the Solyndra scandal was the first time we saw company officials plead the Fifth to avoid congressional testimony. Since then, we've seen pleading the Fifth used repeatedly during administration scandals.

And by the way, Solyndra wasn't the only company President Obama dumped money into to pay back his friends. I'll leave you with this: