The latest Rasmussen poll shows only a minuscule 6% approval rating of Congress by the American public, the worst approval rating on record. Skepticism runs wide and deep that Congress is able to improve the life of the average American. Only 9% of voters think Congress can make a positive difference and the latest outrageous example of Solyndra solar company should change the minds of this misguided 9% of the public.
The poll numbers indicate that what most Americans already know – the U.S. political system rules without the consent of the governed, and even worse, has consistently taken actions that work against the average American. Rasmussen polling shows that 43% of voters think that members of Congress are corrupt and an astounding 81% believe that members of Congress put their own interests ahead of the public.
Record levels of poverty and unemployment along with plunging income levels for those who still have jobs does nothing to deter Congress from continuing to funnel money to groups represented by corrupt lobbyists and special interest groups. The $535 million loss for taxpayers on loans given to solar company Solyndra was due to incompetence and insider dealing. Consider Obama Team Backed $535 Million solyndra Aid As Auditor Warned On Finances.
Solyndra LLC’s workers making solar-power panels in a California factory subsidized by U.S. taxpayers showed “the promise of clean energy isn’t just an article of faith,” President Barack Obama said on a visit to the company in May 2010.
Two months before Obama’s visit, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP warned that Solyndra, the recipient of $535 million in federal loan guarantees, had financial troubles deep enough to “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”
The Obama administration stood by Solyndra through the auditor’s warning, the abandonment of a planned initial public offering and a last-ditch refinancing where taxpayers took a back seat to new investors.
“People including our government put blinders on and did not want to believe in the obvious,” Jonathan Dorsheimer, an analyst in Boston for Canaccord Genuity Inc. of Vancouver, said in an interview with Bloomberg Government. “The fact that the government chose Solyndra as their white horse is mind- boggling.”
Days before filing for bankruptcy, Solyndra executives had the audacity to request additional money from the Energy Department but was turned down due to revelations by the media regarding questions of corruption and public waste. In addition, it was revealed that billionaire George Kaiser’s family trust controls 37% of Solyndra. Kaiser visited the President 16 times over the course of two years and has raised millions for the Obama campaign. Solyndra also spent $480,000 of taxpayer money lobbying Congress for more loans.
Kaiser risked nothing but if Solyndra had ever gone public, he would have made huge profits. Meanwhile, executives at Solyndra have an armful of excuses for their failure and have blamed everyone in sight, including Chinese solar companies.
Now that the Solyndra loans have become a public scandal, investigations and hearings were announced by the same villains in Congress who made the dubious loans to Solyndra to begin with. Given the circumstances, the only ones who might believe that justice will be done in this case are the 9% of misguided voters who still believe that Congress acts in the public’s best interests.
Nice article