Recently, I watched the national news and they had an entire expose about Solyndra, the thin-film solar company in Fremont, CA that filed for Chapter 11. The title of the piece was known as “White House Under Fire.” Now, this bothers me a lot; the piece itself wasn’t irritating, but the ideas being championed from the politicians were.
Many representatives highlighted how Obama and those in the Department of Energy made a terrible mistake in using hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to invest in Solyndra. I’m not absolving the government from possibly doing less than they should have in their due diligence, or for perhaps not being as thorough in analyzing Solyndra’s operations or finances as they should have been, but I am against the notion that the best solution is not to invest in companies like these at all.
Many politicians (goes without saying that most were Republicans) were saying how this is Obama’s fault, since he supports energy research and investment. This is very dangerous rhetoric that should not pervade the government or networks of wealthy financiers. Solyndra had a very promising technology in thin-film solar panels that could have very possibly revolutionized energy conversion. Other companies will come around that will be revolutionary, and it would be a shame if they do not get the funding and support from the government and wealthy investors that they deserve. It is great that the Department of Energy and Obama’s administration support green technologies, and it’s simply an unfortunate and unlucky turn that occurred with Solyndra.
In the end, what should be criticized is how exactly the government could believe that Solyndra had stable operations and projections of extreme growth in the future years. Not seeing the company’s shakiness before they offered money is definitely the government’s fault, and they should be rebuked for haphazard research and analysis. However, the idea that spending on energy and technology should cease altogether in order to avoid situations like these is extremely shortsighted and counterproductive. Companies like these are part of our futures; some will succeed, some won’t. We can’t sit around and wonder what could have been just to avoid risk.
