Solyndra Was An Even Bigger Failure Than First Reported

It turns out the $535M taxpayer-funded disaster that is Solyndra was an even bigger flop than initially reported. It has been widely stated that the demise of the company resulted in the loss of 1100 jobs, but new information reveals the jobs losses were even greater than that. From the Bay Citizen:

On the day it closed, Solyndra said it was laying off 1,100 full-time and temporary employees.

But 1,861 workers lost their jobs as the solar panel manufacturer shut its doors, according to U.S. Labor Department documents provided to The Bay Citizen under the Freedom of Information Act.

That means job losses at Solyndra are about 70% higher than first reported. That by itself would be bad enough, but there’s more:

The documents also show the Fremont-based company increased production in 2011, even though it failed to sell all the panels it made the previous year.

By the time it closed last August, Solyndra had an unsold inventory of more than 23 megawatts – enough solar panels to power about 23,000 homes.

See that? The geniuses running Solyndra decided to increase production in 2011 even though they failed to sell through their inventory in 2010. That’s the kind of decision making that happens when a business is playing with “house money” that comes at the expense of taxpayers.

With results like this it’s no wonder the Obama Administration calls everything they can think of ‘green jobs.” They do that to cook the books so they can try to justify even more government giveaways at the expense of taxpayers. You know what should happen every time President Obama brings up “green jobs initiatives?” He should be laughed out of the room.