A $38.6 billion loan guarantee program that the Obama administration promised would create or save 65,000 jobs has created just a few thousand jobs two years after it began, government records show.Oh, so I guess they can say the results here were unexpected.
The program — designed to jump-start the nation’s clean technology industry by giving energy companies access to low-cost, government-backed loans — has directly created 3,545 new, permanent jobs after giving out almost half the allocated amount, according to Energy Department tallies.
President Obama has made “green jobs” a showcase of his recovery plan, vowing to foster new jobs, new technologies and more competitive American industries. But the loan guarantee program came under scrutiny Wednesday from Republicans and Democrats at a House oversight committee hearing about the collapse of Solyndra, a solar-panel maker whose closure could leave taxpayers on the hook for as much as $527 million.
The GOP lawmakers accused the administration of rushing approval of a guarantee of the firm’s project and failing to adequately vet it. “My goodness. We should be reviewing every one of these loan guarantee” projects, said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
Obama’s efforts to create green jobs are lagging behind expectations at a time of persistently high unemployment. Many economists say that because alternative-energy projects are so expensive and slow to ramp up, they are not the most efficient way to stimulate the economy.
At least antique media outlets like the Washington Post are reporting this fiasco. If such a failure occurred during a GOP administration you can bet your last nickel this would be front page news across the country and at the top of every national newscast.
More on Solyndra (aka, Obama's Enron) here.
3 comments:
The GOP has always had a CLUE - their SILENCE has been complicit up to their eyebrows! They've absolutely known specifics and have no fight in their guts to dismantle Dim Destructions!
Politicians, left and right, have never learned that you can't legislate innovation. If and when it comes it will be from private enterprise. If it can show a profit someone in the private sector will do it, and they will do it better than any bill or executive order ever will. Once again the nitwits in power have defined the ultimate definition of stupidity.
I'm obviously in the wrong business. I need to launch green compaines, get government money, stash it away, then fail. Rinse and repeat. I'll be rich I say! RICH!
Post a Comment