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 the market. If you want to complain, complain that US manufacturers cannot compete with $30b interest-free loans without a great deal more government support.

First, your opening sentence is in conflict with the House Energy and Commerce Committee analysis of Treasury Department data. Somewhere between 20- 25% of the 16 billion eventually wound up in Spain, as well as other European/Asian companies. Bottom line, stimulus funds at the federal level did next to nothing to help the country.

(I will acknowledge that the stimulus monies that went to the states was spent much more wisely. It was irresponsible of Paul Ryan to make the comments he made last year, when stimulus funds helped his state)

Second, yes, you are correct, there was substantial private investment in Solyndra...definitely a venture capital bust. But this is PRECISELY why Obama's senior advisors warned him against this. Much of that 1 billion pre-dated the decision by the administration. Writing was on the wall. Solyndra had already gone through devaluation by a factor of nearly five, in a 12 month period. (Yes, certainly not the only game in town to take a nose dive). But still, you're helping to make the argument about bad judgment of the administration.

Third, several of the firms that went bankrupt commented repeatedly that they couldn't keep up with Chinese competition. Once again, this goes back to the very questionable judgment of the administration, when China was flooding the market with cheap labor to the point where it made no sense for the govt to bankroll it.

I've said a dozen times this wasn't "just" Solyndra. Over 2 dozen energy firms, most of them "green energy", where a pilot program would have made more sense than a complete bust.

And finally, as an example of just how much Barack Obama wants to break existing laws - he was adamant about signing an executive order to take monies recouped from TARP to find a second stimulus. When his own advisors told him he couldn't, that the law stated recouped monies would be used to pay down the deficit, he gave the response that has become the quintessential characteristic of his presidency..."Remember, I won"

John, you can try to re-arrange the facts any way you like....and I'll acknowledge that some of the philosophy that led to the failed stimulus goes back to Bush. But there is a context here that cannot be denied - the stimulus payments to green energy companies was politically motivated and not based on any kind of merit.