>>But no - our federal govt had to throw away billions in stimulus funds - with ultimately very little to show for it at the federal level (other than providing some marginal benefit to foreign countries)

In the real world, the claim about foreign companies is soundly refuted , 60% of stimulus funds went on tax relief and Solyndra represents a tiny portion of government awards that show far better management of risk than private business, costing 94c per $100 allocated over the difficult last 2 decades. Meanwhile private investors lost $1B on Solyndra so if government was incompetent, by the same logic private industry was even more so. Finally, China took out numerous solar panel makers via tactics such as $30 billion dollar interest free funds for Chinese manufacturers to help them dominate Western markets. If you want to complain, complain that US manufacturers cannot compete with $30b interest-free loans without a great deal more government support.