"It’s not going to happen, for one simple reason: neither they, nor anyone else connected with Solyndra, have done anything remotely criminal."
These are bold words coming from a journalist, as opposed to an attorney specializing in criminal law, particularly before all of the facts are known. Nothing "remotely criminal"? Perhaps. However, the FBI took the trouble to raid the home of one of these executives, and I would guess that the FBI, which presumably obtained a court order to conduct the raid, does not agree with Nocera.
Nocera goes on to say:
"The company’s recent bankruptcy — which the Republicans are now rabidly 'investigating' because Solyndra had the misfortune to receive a $535 million federally guaranteed loan from the Obama administration — was largely brought on by a stunning collapse in the price of solar panels over the past year or so.
The company’s innovative solar panels, high-priced to begin with, became increasingly uncompetitive in the marketplace. Solyndra didn’t have enough big commercial customers to create the necessary economies of scale. And although Harrison and Stover remained optimistic up to the bitter end — insisting six weeks before the late-August bankruptcy filing that the company was going to be fine — they ultimately failed to raise additional capital that would have allowed Solyndra to stay in business."
Solyndra had the "misfortune" to receive a half billion dollar federally guaranteed loan? There are thousands of US companies which would go to enormous lengths to obtain such funding.
Moreover, if the company's "innovative" solar panels were "high-priced to begin with," why would the company seek to manufacture something that is not competitive in the market place? As solar industry analyst Peter Lynch explained to The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-solar-company-fails-after-getting-controversial-federal-loan-guarantees/2011/08/31/gIQAB8IRsJ_story_1.html):
“'You make something in a factory and it costs $6, you sell it for $3, but you really, really need to sell it for $1.50 to be competitive,' Lynch said of Solyndra. 'It was an insane business model. The numbers just don’t work, and they never did.'”
Given that Solyndra's panels had, as acknowledged by Nocera, grown "increasingly uncompetitive," and given that they had already drawn drawn all but $8 million of the $535 million loan before filing for bankruptcy (see: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/211417/20110909/solyndra-ceo-brian-harrison-bankrupt-layoffs-solar-green-energy-stimulus-package-obama-greentech-med.htm), Nocera would have us believe that Solyndra's executives "remained optimistic "up to the bitter end"? I don't know about you, Joe, but I would not feel "optimistic" after consuming almost all the cash from a half billion dollar loan while continuing to manufacture an uncompetitive product. Who in their right minds would extend more cash to such a company?
Needless to say, no mention by Nocera that "the Government Accountability Office issued an unusually blunt assessment of the Energy Department's loan program in general, concluding that the department had 'treated applicants inconsistently, favoring some and disadvantaging others'" (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/solyndra-collapse-waste-half-billion-obama-gop-critics/story?id=14424323&page=2).
Sorry, Joe, but criminal or not, Solyndra needs to be investigated, and the basis for the inquiry has absolutely nothing to do with embarrassing the president, as you would have us believe.
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