Congress should reign in the Export-Import Bank

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  May 24th at 12:05 PM  | 

Another sign of the blatant cronyism involving the Export-Import Bank emerged this week.

First Solar, a solar panel manufacturer, is by most standards a failing company. It suffered a net loss of $39 million in 2011, and an even greater loss of nearly $100 million in 2012. The company threw away $215 million at one point on solar panels that ended up failing at high temperatures. (A solar panel that can’t withstand heat?)

But First Solar has political connections within the Obama Administration. And it also has a trump card: First Solar is a member of the “Business Alliance,” a secret clique of corporate donors to the Center for American Progress (CAP). CAP, in turn, lobbied Capitol Hill for First Solar, without disclosing the financial support it receives from the flailing solar energy company:

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It’s Romney’s private equity vs. Obama’s public equity

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  May 29th at 04:15 PM  | 

Today, the Romney campaign released a new video, “Not Even Half” taking President Obama to task for the billions of taxpayer dollars he has given to companies that later failed — including companies that were run by Democrat donors: