To start off your week, here’s yet another ridiculous statement from Nobel Prize winning economist and wannabe Psycho-historian, Paul Krugman:
KRUGMAN: These are — we’re talking as if a billion dollars was a lot of money. In $15 trillion economy, it’s not. Solyndra was a mistake as part of a long program, which has been by and large, it had a good track record—of course you’re going to find a mistake. I think to be fair, that’s probably true in Massachusetts, as well. This is ridiculous, that we are taking these tiny, tiny missteps that happen in any large organizations including corporations, including Bain Capital—Bain Capital had losers, too, right? Even from the point of view of its investors.
First of all, yes—Bain did have a couple of losers. And the Obama campaign has attempted to exploit every one of them, even those that occurred when Romney wasn’t working there. The sloppiness of that tactic has been destroyed by such evil right wingers as:
But, of course, there is a hell of a difference between what Bain did and what Obama has done. Bain never spent one cent of my money. I never asked Bain to make risky bets on companies in trouble with my money---and they didn’t. I also didn’t ask Barack Obama to make risky bets on companies in trouble with my money—he did.
Back to Krugman, and his assertion that a billion dollars isn’t that much money. That’s a bit odd, considering that it’s more than enough to buy one of the two political parties in their entirety:
"Money buys power," the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman observed recently, "and the increasing wealth of a tiny minority has effectively bought the allegiance of one of our two major political parties."
"Support from billionaires has always been the main thing keeping those charlatans and cranks in business," Krugman noted. "And now the same people effectively own a whole political party."
You see, a billion dollars is chump change when wasting it on magical fairy dust infused solar panels, but when billionaires put just a portion of their fortunes on the line for the causes they believe in—it’s inherently evil, and suddenly enough to purchase half of all the political power in Washington. Makes sense. By the way, billionaires like George Soros and Warren Buffett get absolutely nothing for their generous check writing prowess.
Of course, if it was only Solyndra perhaps there would be an argument. But, there are so many more names that aren’t as familiar as Solyndra that echo the same point. Some highlights:
- Raser Technologies. In 2010, the Obama administration gave Raser a $33 million…the company filed for bankruptcy protection…and Raser owes $1.5 million in back taxes.
- ECOtality. The Obama administration gave ECOtality $126.2 million…Obama even hosted the company's president, Don Karner, in the first lady's box during the 2010 State of the Union address…the company has since incurred more than $45 million in losses and has told the federal government: "We may not achieve or sustain profitability on a quarterly or annual basis in the future." Worse, according to CBS News, the company is "under investigation for insider trading…
- Nevada Geothermal Power (NGP). The Obama administration gave NGP $98.5 million…the company is in "financial turmoil" and that "after a series of technical missteps”…there was 'significant doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern.'"
- First Solar. The Obama administration provided First Solar with more than $3 billion …the company "fell to a record low…firing 30 percent of its workforce."
- Abound Solar. $400 million loan guarantee…the company halted production and laid off 180 employees.
- Beacon Power. $43 million loan guarantee…Last fall, Beacon received a delisting notice from Nasdaq and filed for bankruptcy.
- SunPower. $1.2 billion loan guarantee …as of January, the company owed more than it was worth.
- Brightsource. $1.6 billion loan guarantee and posted a string of net losses totaling $177 million. Read more here.
From all the billions and billions thrown at these businesses, author Peter Schweizer says 71% of the cash has been funneled to businesses with close ties to Obama and democratic donors. All of that influence, purchased for just $457,834. Which is ridiculous to point out I guess—I mean, we’re talking as if $457,834 was a lot of money.