Kim Strassel gets to the root of the problem in the Solyndra debacle.
About yesterday’s Congressional grilling of Energy Secretary Steven Chu about the Solyndra scandal, Strassel writes in her Wall Street Journal column today,
Midway through the hearing, Texas Republican Michael Burgess dared to point out that the secretary of energy wasn’t really supposed to be a venture capitalist, that there was something profoundly concerning about government taking huge risks in private companies, and doing it with other people’s money. Did Mr. Chu understand people were “uncomfortable” with the “concept”?
The secretary/CEO never answered that question. He did, however, allude to the fact that it wasn’t he who created the loan program he’s now administering.
It was Congress. But that’s another one for the investing history books.
Read Strassel’s WSJ column (subscription requried).
While Obama corruption/incompetence was the mechanism by which Solyndra occurred, the way to minimize such opportunities is for Congress not to create them in the first place.
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