For daring to question the government, more specifically, the Department of Energy’s ability to spend taxpayer money, Fox is labeled as “raising the red herring of Solyndra to attack President Barack Obama’s proposal for an alternative vehicle research fund as a potential waste of ‘taxpayer dollars’” by Shauna Theel of Media Matters.
According to Theel:
The program would aptly be named the “Energy Security Trust,” as it would work to reduce our dependence on oil. A White House spokesman told Bloomberg News that the proposal “wouldn’t add to the debt because money would be shifted from other programs.”
So, since the White House commented on it, in Theel’s world, that ends all debate and discussion on the matter. How dare Fox question the government?!
In Theel’s world:
Fox News is also distorting the track record of support for deployment, as opposed to research and development, of clean energy technologies. During the segment, The Weekly Standard’s Steven Hayes claimed that green energy investments have a “significant failure rate,” citing a Heritage Foundation list of 34 green energy companies that have filed for bankruptcy after received some form of stimulus funds. But that list includes companies that received tax credits or small research grants, which have gone to hundreds of companies. Without a denominator, it is not a failure “rate.”
First of all, Theel ignores the fact that the government has funded 34 green energy companies that went belly up. If any investor put any sort of money into 34 companies that went bankrupt, they would be fired or hung. Also, the list refers to funding in the millions, not just “tax credits” or “small research grants”.
Call it what you want, it’s a pattern of failure, plain and simple. And when the DOE knew that Solyndra would be going bankrupt, misrepresented their financial standing before Congress, then received funding, they did something criminal to help out Solyndra bosses, who were major Obama donors.
But facts be damned! Theel has a narrative to spin!
Republicans or Democrats, the fact that the government is having a debate over where to spend all the money they’re raking in goes to show that they’re receiving too much. And when they turn around and reinvest that money in absolute loser companies who also happen to be led by donors to their campaigns, then it’s called crony capitalism and corruption. That’s the story the American people should be hearing.
