Solyndra Stole $500M "Stimulus" Money

This story is interesting. Solyndra received $500M of "stimulus" money. Solyndra was supposed to be manufacturing solar panels.

It was a $500M stimulus "loan". Notice that "Solyndra got a $500M loan from the government." is logically equivalent to "They couldn't find any private investors who would invest on such stupid terms." Those "economic development loans" have an artificially low interest rate compared to other loans. Also, the government may make a nominal profit of a couple percent on the loans and then claim the government profited via the loan. That completely ignores "cost of capital". For example, State comedians claim "TARP was profitable for the government!", which completely ignores the fact that TARP was a lousy investment compared to practically anything else.

It's pretty obvious where the $500M went. It was stolen.

Usually, the $500M gift would be wasted on lucrative salaries for the CEO and his buddies. The CEO hires useless consultants for high salaries. Maybe $5M-$10M would be returned as kickbacks/lobbying.

It seems that Solyndra crossed the Madoff line. Instead of grey-area theft (overpaying people), Solyndra had explicit outright theft. That's why the FBI is investigating.

A Statist says "Solyndra is just one bad apple. That doesn't prove that the whole stimulus was wasted." Solyndra probably was the most brazen, regarding stealing stimulus money. If Solyndra stole/wasted 100% of the bailout money, but someone else only stole 50%-75%, that doesn't make it right.

Solyndra is an excellent example of State-enabled theft. Almost all the "stimulus" money was stolen and/or squandered. Solyndra's management were merely the most flagrant criminals.