re: #18 Crimsonfisted

Can we dump the Dept of Energy and the Dept of Education? What do they do after all? Except cause misery and cost a lot.

No shit.
I wonder whose district this is in?

Look:

The Department of Energy said last Friday that it expects to provide $535 million in loans to California start-up Solyndra, which has a novel design for rooftop solar arrays. The alternative-energy loan, the first of its kind in four years from the DOE, is a positive sign for the finance-challenged green-tech industry, investors and entrepreneurs said this week.

…

In anticipation of a big inflow of money, green business people have reported spending a lot of time in Washington, D.C. Everyone—from small start-ups to established wind project developers—is hiring lobbyists to influence policy.

Yeah, I bet!

Toot! Toot!
Gravy train’s a-rollin’!
All Aboard!

…

“The higher quality projects will rise to the top.”

Quality is left undefined in the article.

Businesses involved in building large wind farms or solar projects will directly benefit from stimulus spending, according to investors. Companies that sell smart-grid equipment and software to utilities, meanwhile, could benefit indirectly from investments to modernize the grid.

There’s that “smart” word again. Maybe anything with the word smart in it is considered to be of “high quality”
…

“Any time you have a big new initiative, you have to assume a certain amount of waste and a certain amount of mistakes,” Foundation Capital’s Holland said. “However, directionally, these are really the right things for the country.”

Wow. Smart, nuanced people I have never heard of who know what’s best for the country like it!

Direction trumps waste!
Remember that next time you leave the parking brake on.