Posted by Tina
Well that does it! When even a lovely green company with loan guarantees and government subsidies is announcing cut backs and worker layoffs…in totally GREEN California…isn’t that an indication that Democrat tax and spend policies don’t work?
In fact it’s more than that…it’s an indication that high taxes and increased spending will eventually sink all boats!
Read it and weep:
It isn’t easy being green for Solyndra Inc., the controversial Bay Area solar power system manufacturing company.
The company said Wednesday that it is shuttering one of its factories to save $60 million in capital expenditures, laying off 40 employees and letting the contracts for more than 100 temporary workers expire.
All this despite a $535-million federal loan guarantee, more than $1 billion in private equity funds and supportive visits from luminaries such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and President Barack Obama.
China can do it cheaper it seems!
A booming economy might have made all the difference for this new technology company, but Democrats just refuse to learn the lessons of the past.
PS…this is why I love bloggers. Learn all about our government’s involvement with this company and the amount of wasted taxpayer dollars involved at the American Thinker:
I wrote about Solyndra during the summer and noted the shaky finances and unstable condition of the company (the auditor had to issue a going concern letter, highlighting the risk of possible failure-hence the rush to turn the spigots on to push taxpayer dollars to rescue the company-and its investors). Who might those investors include?
One of the biggest investors in the company was Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser — a big bundler for the Obama-Biden campaign. Not to worry for Mr. Kaiser. The administration is looking to extend hundreds of millions of dollars in additional loans (our money) to the venture. Needless to say, where is the major media that was so busy reporting on the Bridge to Nowhere (and that has also been conspicuously silent in the billions of dollars Robert Byrd sent to West Virginia to raise monuments to himself). Throwing good money after bad doesn’t really matter when the money is Other People’s Money and you are providing a return on investment for a big campaign donor out of the public purse.
From failure to recipient of tax dollars — hitting pay dirt at the federal trough.
Are Democrats telling the truth when they say they are for the little people?
I’m sorry but that story just doesn’t jibe. The unemployment rate remains stuck around 10% (and is much higher in the black community and certain US sectors) even after all of the stimulus money spent. Could it be that ordinary little people aren’t nerarly as important to Dems as agenda companies and Big donors? An awful lot of those big chunks of the cash being “spread around” is going only to targeted recipients like this failing green energy company and a fat cat Obama donor.
This is definitely a lesson in how to sink all boats!
“China can do it cheaper it seems!”
You don’t say? Tina is so hyped up, she’s gonna hop a boat and go work in a Chinese solar panel plant.
More likely she’d import Chinese solar panel plant practices, … poison all her employees with the chemical components and an 80-hour work week.
Sicko … and so very Republican.
Libby, you are being mean again.
Mean Girl Libby: “More likely she’d import Chinese solar panel plant practices, … poison all her employees with the chemical components and an 80-hour work week.”
Evidence please?
(There are times when I would really love to drop all comportment and reveal my employee practices…Libby would have to swallow some pretty tough words)
More importantly, Libby still fails to get that the companies she would deem “nice” have to compete in the big bad real world. This company, no matter how well intended, no matter how well funded, and no matter how big the government subsidy still can’t compete with China to sell the product. It is a real problem. Other businesses in America face the same problem and they don’t have government handing them big wads of cash!
As long as our government has a similarly hostile attitude toward business people in America we will continue to see high unemployment rates, few opportunities, and a lousy economy!
Wake up girl! Your boat too will one day sink.
And if YOU are all that “hyped up” about work conditions in China get your butt on over there and do something about it!
I’ve been reading a book by Tom Wolfe that describes this exact scenario – “A Man In Full”. A millionaire in Georgia needs millions to pay off some bad loans, so he decides to lay off a quarter of the work force in his California frozen food processing plants.
It also discusses development practices. It is the story of the last 20 years of our country. It is how we got where we are now, and a look at where we are going – one cyclic fad after another, all arrived at the same way, and all taking us to the same place – the bottom.
This book was written in the ’90’s, I think it may be the latest thing Wolfe has written. As usual, he’s got his finger right on the pulse.
Juanita it’s hard to tell from your comment whether the millionaire’s loans were business loans or personal loans.
The world is full of crooks and jerks…it’s possible this guy was one of these…or just a very poor business manager. But there are a lot of reasons that this could have happened.
A business person is not required to spend all of his personal wealth to save jobs or to keep the doors of his business open. If he can no longer finance the business, whether or not he is a “millionaire”, he is free to downsize or close. If these were business loans it’s obvious the owner(s) no longer felt he could support the company at this size and may have tried to survive by downsizing. We also don’t know the purpose for taking the loan(s) out but we can imagine it was either to grow or save the business (and therefore the jobs). If true, this would represent a big risk. It rides on a bet that future business will improve or increase making it possible for the “millionaire” to make good on the loans and keep his employees. Life doesn’t always turn out as we plan.
I would ask you this, why do you think employees have the attitude that their employer owes them absolute certainty about employment?
When you sign on for a job, depending on your agreement or contract, the job is only good until it isn’t anymore. If you want more control, what is euphemistically called job security, you need to become your own boss. then you will have a better understanding of the many things that can impact that so-called security. You take the risk…you face the employees when keeping the doors open just isn’t feasable anymore.
The entitlement mentality is woven through our citizenry and is killing this country. Even working people have it! Instead of being grateful for the job they have, instead of expecting that the job could end and planning for the possibility by saving, improving or keeping their skills up, and planning for their own futures people fail to save, they expect raises automatically, they resent other who have more than they do, they spend every dime they earn, and they whine when they get layed off.
If there is any “how” to how we got where we are it is this entitlement attitude! it was the entitlement attitude that motivated Democrats to make the laws forcing lenders and banks to make bad loans. Crash goes the housing market! It was this attitude that caused Americans to excessively spend on credit cards…Crash goes the market. It is this attitude that drives the progressive tax laws…crash go the job opportunities!
“Evidence please?”
Well: “China can do it cheaper it seems!”
There you are! Crowing, without thinking very clearly what you are crowing about.
And not the first time, either.
Mean Girl Libby wrote: “More likely she’d import Chinese solar panel plant practices, … poison all her employees with the chemical components and an 80-hour work week.”
Tina wrote: “Evidence please?”
Mean Girl Libby quoted Tina…: “Well: “China can do it cheaper it seems!”
…and then wrote: “There you are! Crowing, without thinking very clearly what you are crowing about. And not the first time, either.”
Hmmm…clear thinking seems to be a problem for the mean girl…she can’t even keep her own nasty little assertions straight. What you need to provide, mean girl, is proof that I treat my employees badly!
Still waiting!