Obama's Great Bankrupt Solar Power Debacle

First Evergreen Solar decided to close up shop. Now Solyndra has announced that it can't compete in solar panels and is declaring bankruptcy. What gives? Wasn't this supposed to be the era of renewable energy? Weren't we headed for a green energy renaissance that would end America's dependence on foreign oil? _iStockAnalyst

Strangely enough, Solyndra's billionaire majority stockholder, George Kaiser, was a big campaign fundraiser for Obama. Interestingly, Mr. Obama has been quite vocal in his praise of Solyndra, and helped ease over $500 million in government loans to Solyndra -- which taxpayers are now liable for.

Solyndra's relationship with the White House came under special scrutiny because of Solyndra backer and Tulsa billionaire George Kaiser's history as an Obama fundraiser. In a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu in February, the House Energy and Commerce Committee raised concerns about the loan, noting that the company had suffered "financial setbacks," and asking for information about "whether Solyndra was the right candidate" for the loan guarantee....The Department of Energy marched on anyway _WSJ

Where did all the money go? Perhaps not surprisingly, Obama's White House is now stonewalling an investigation into the administration's financial connections with the failed solar company.

The solar industry is environmentally dirty, responsible for dumping millions of tons of lead across the Indian and Chinese countryside. In one sense, the bankruptcies of US solar companies are considered a boon for Chinese manufacturers. But in an environmental sense, Chinese production of photovoltaic panels is proving to be a great curse.

In many circles, Obama is being described as the "jobs destroyer in chief." Not only has Mr. Obama's "green jobs revolution" backfired badly, but his entire agenda of energy starvation is creating massive secondary and tertiary downstream destructive effects on job formation.