U.S. taxpayers guarantee $2.1b loan to German firms

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

A federal subsidy program with consistently poor marks on transparency and accountability has just announced its largest ever award: a $2.1 billion loan guarantee to a German-owned solar power company. The Solar Trust of America, the U.S.-based joint venture of two German companies, says the subsidized project will create 1,000 construction jobs and 220 permanent jobs in the desert where the new solar power plant will be built. Maybe so, but there are plenty of reasons to question the efficacy of this government job creation project -- including the fact that the key components of the plant will be built by robots.

The 2005 energy bill authorized the Department of Energy to guarantee private bank loans for "innovative energy technologies." President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill expanded the subsidies and removed the requirement that the beneficiary provide a "down payment" of sorts to cover the risk. But the program has consistently received harsh critiques from the Government Accountability Office and the DOE's inspector general.

Federal loan guarantees put the U.S. taxpayer on the hook if the borrower cannot repay the loan. When it comes to nascent technologies in economically dicey industries like energy, default is a serious concern.

[Sanguine]

Great. We just gave $25 million to the Libyan "rebels". I wonder who we had to borrow it from in order to give it away?

[SrWoodchuck]

Great. We just gave $25 million to the Libyan "rebels". I wonder who we had to borrow it from in order to give it away?

Indict Obama for funding Al Qaeda! It should be an impeachable offense: giving aid & comfort to the enemy.

 

Getting back to the thread......10 billion to Brazil for Petrobras [soros] oil:

 

Obama Invests $10 Billion US Taxpayer dollars for Oil Exploration-In Brazil