$5 billion return from program that funded Solyndra

No they didnt they recommended solyndra. I guess next you are gonna blame Obama for starting the Iraq war and 9/11.

 

Exactly. I was just thinkin' the same thing, and a little quickie math will verify it. This Obama administration lies through its teeth, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they fudged the numbers, just like they fudge all the other numbers.

 

That's foolish! That doesn't mean "in the black", it only means they started to recoup a teeny-tiny portion of their seed money.

It's amazing the propaganda the sheeple will fall for these days. Color me thoroughly unimpressed by Obama and his bootlickers.

 

If you donate or fundraiser for any campaign you shouldn't be able to receive a drop of the tax payers money.
IMO
Obama would have never been able to loan Solyndra a dime if so.

 

Great post, here we have another example how research and development investment helps the economy.

 

Railways, I suggest you take a look at companies like CSX. The Interstate highway system was not meant for defense. Eisenhower modeled it after the Autobahn in Germany. It had a clause to have interval strips for possible plane landings, it was not meant for defense.

 

The glaring difference there is infrastructure with an interstate necessity, which the bogus green companies do not qualify as. Interstate infrastructure is a great thing that even represents a legitimate government function. Crony green firms are not that though.

 

The two are not related.

 

$5-$6B return on $40B investment over 20-25 years.

That's pitiful you should be doubling your money at least over that timeframe.

"The $5 billion to $6 billion figure was calculated based on the average rates and expected returns of funds dispersed so far, paid back over 20 to 25 years."

Well yeah they've sucked too.

 

We weren't investing in the future with solyndra. There are plenty of companies out there in the same field making a go of it.

 

Nice try. Solyndra didn't even make flat panals. There loan was denied by Bush administration, and as soon as they got one under Obama, they immediately turned around and tried to get a second one. The FBI doesn't raid the offices of companies that are going bankrupt without a reason.

 

Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways

you were saying???

Eisenhower gained an appreciation of the Reichsautobahn system, the first "national" implementation of modern Germany's Autobahn network, as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II.[9] He recognized that the proposed system would also provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments in case of an emergency or foreign invasion.

 

To me, OP means either original poster or original post. And, yes it was there. You are correct, however, that I screwed up the link. If I find it, I'll put it up there for you. Doesn't change anything, tho.

 

Um yes.........

Because you called out someone for not reading your OP when it wasn't there.

It was from a link another posted......

And its not provable at this point in time.............none of the data has been released........

 

FYI, it is interstate and defense highways. It was a combination, not solely for defense.


Some history.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.cfm

 

hey don't back track and try to give me the history lesson

I'm not the one that stated it wasn't for defense...........and some bullshi*t about landing planes.

I never said it was SOLEY for defense......

 

FYI, you lost track of the conversation and it was you that injected the highway system and the issue of moving defense forces along its routes.

 

I deal with HUGE manufacturing projects that are initially unprofitable routinely. That is what investors do when they invest, take the risk and reap the rewards.

You do know the railroads were build by private money?

Constitutionally authorized.

Like the Tenn-Tom boondoggle? Waterways have always been government controlled for public access.

For defense yes, else what have we gotten out of the government space program the last 10 years? The last 20 years. Can you cite me the top 3 scientific breakthroughs and discoveries that have come from the spacelab the last 10 years? Just look at the mess NASA is and how they should never have gone down the path of the space shuttle.

Private industry will bring it online when it is profitable and feasible.

The more government involvement the less superior.

 

Yes and that is best left to private investors and private industry.

Now tell me what exactly did get from the Moon that we couldn't have gotten by not going there and just concentrating on orbital space using satellites and robotics? And believe me I was all entralled by early space flight as a kid and watched EVERY launch. The Right Stuff still one of my favorite movies. But in the long run other than beat the Russians what exactly did we get by sending men to the moon. Computers and miniaturization, we would have had that with unmanned space flight and a lot cheaper.

And you know that was all just contracted out, NASA was a contractor that subbed it all out to private industry.

 

Taking on the risk that it will not a better able to determine what will be successful because they are bearing a risk.

Baloney, private industry spends BILLIONS on new technologies, I was just at a trade show last showing our new technologies and talking with OEM's about their new technologies.

And that is the exact attitude that government funding brings and causes the waste, fraud and abuse that occurs along with the boondoggles.

 

Eisenhower learned as Supreme Commander the necessity of such a system to allow a mechanized army to do what it does, quickly move to the battle. That being said the Constitution specifically authorizes the government to fund roads which are then designed and built by private industry.

 

The railroads were built privately after they were gifted 175 million acres of public land and then provided with government bonds to guarantee payment for per mile completion of track. So, no, they weren't built privately. It was a private-public partnership, and would have been utterly impossible without involvement of the government.

Yes, roads are constitutionally authorized. As is government involvement in the economy, government ownership of businesses, and government investment in businesses. What's your point?

I'm thinking more along the lines of the Panama Canal. To this day, the Panama Canal Administration makes profits of $800 million per year.

The Mars Rover has resulted in countless invaluable scientific discoveries, including a deep understanding of the atmosphere on Mars, information absolutely necessary to ever settling that planet. In the 1980s, they released memory foam to the public domain - since then it has generated billions of dollars in economic activity. Then there is GPS, which is a massive industry in and of itself, again in the 1980s. They invented aural thermometers, which have introduced massive health care cost savings, in 1991. They invented the "camera on a chip" in the 1990s, which has been invaluable in documenting and researching space programs (private and public). In 1986 they invented a lightweight breathing system for firefighters, credited with saving many lives. In 1994 they invented mechanical arm technology that allows surgeons to operate three robotic devices simultaneously. In 1995, they invented the Left Ventricular Assistance Device, which is what keeps heart transplant patients alive while they wait for a donor. In 2000 they released an end-to-end software package that allows for total control of GPS systems using C++. In 2000, they invented a type of parachute capable of safety landing entire aircrafts, which has already saved over 200 lives. I mean I could literally go on and on and on....

 

LMAO, what part of the Constitution has a clause that specifically states to fund roads to be built be private contractors.

 

Um. No I didn't.

Please try and keep up

 

You do realize we no longer own the Panama Canal?

We have not since 1999

We get nothing from it