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iBoaterer[_2_]

In article , says...

On 9/25/2012 1:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:44:10 -0400, JustWait
wrote:

On 9/25/2012 12:25 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:49:46 -0400, JustWait
wrote:

On 9/25/2012 10:37 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:17:35 -0400, JustWait
wrote:

Well, they are getting ready to give another 168 million to another
solar company! LOL!!!

=======

Basically it is the government acting as a venture capital company to
fund an industry that is viewed by many as strategically important.
Just because you personally don't agree with that assessment, doesn't
mean that it shouldn't be done. Any good venture capitalist that has
been around for a while will tell you that only about 10% of their
investments actually pan out. It's a well known risk of being in
that business.

In the grand scheme of the federal budget, 168 million is a drop in
the bucket. Let's hope that some of these investments do pay off.

The fact is, because of regulation and labor, etc... Until new
technology is developed, no US company is going to be able to compete
with China to make panels... We shouldn't be spending a whole lot of
money in manufacturing right now, should be going to r+d...

===

I don't know anything about the company in question. Do you? Isn't
it possible that they've come up with a better panel technology or a
better manufacturing process? That's the kind of opportunity that I
think we should be looking to fund one way or another. I'm assuming
that there is some sort of responsible oversight for these efforts,
similar to the sort of vetting and follow up that a VC would do. If
not, that's a whole different issue.

Well, Solyndra and several other examples show clearly there is no
oversight at all... Look at the e-mails that went back and fourth before
the grant was made. They were fully aware that the technology they were
considering was not up to it, and couldn't compete with the same panels
being made in China. Did you ever read how much "Solyndra" property and
equipment, product etc were just smashed into pieces and dumped???

===

Nothing is worth very much when it's sold for scrap. Let's hope they
got it right this time. I'd be the first to concede that the
government may be to slow on their feet to be a good VC but even the
experts get it wrong 90% of the time.

The big difference is VC are really trying to make a business
successful, there is evidence out there, at least in the abstract that
suggest the current Administration had good knowledge it was not going
to work, before they made the loan... It seems political.

Cite?