I'm sorry that I don't know much about Brazil, but it's certainly worth talking about in America. The Solyndra mess raises massive, important questions here about:

* Can American leaders ever make fully rational choices when money holds such power? No, so how can flesh-and-blood citizens prevent corporate money from deciding to use our public money for their self-interested purposes?

* Can we, the people, do anything constructive to support living-wage American jobs against Chinese competitors, or do we just destroy taxes and regulations and just pray that the private corporations who benefit then do the right thing for America?

* How can Americans ensure that our nation is building an energy path to the future, instead of getting stuck in 20th-century energy sources, while the rest of the world passes us by? (Good article: http://nyti.ms/mTJLT6)

* Probably more.

Here's hoping this Solyndra fiasco can raise Americans' awareness of the tough choices facing them as a unified nation; we'll sink or swim together. (Brazilians, too, probably.)

Dear selectively remembering foreign blogger,

You're right: GWB never sought photo ops, and only ever acted in the national interest. Obama's the only panderer we've had in the White House.

Best,

Lefty

Oh, and hoping for a politician who is skilled enough to reach the White House without being an "opportunistic" glutton for "photo ops?"

Even I'm not that optimist--that's REALLY out in fantasyland.

Solyndra's just like a weapons system, like the B-2 that can fly to Sao Paulo and back, totally under the radar, and drop 32,000 pounds of bombs in 16 strikes, and be home for dinner, which if yoy add that up is... 320 targets at a time.
It takes a lot of money to develop that weapons sytste, before you start the long runs of production. We keep doing that, and its inefficient, we need to throw good money after bad, because then, it's good again. Nice refinieries Brazil has by the way. We would have 100 B-2s if we had just done the full production run,, 1,600 PGM strikes a shot, which is better than using tactical nuclear weapons in terms of damages, although that's ok too. But, I digress, Solyndra's actually an argument for spending more, not less, to get the economies of scale so another BRIC, :), doesn't get bad ideas about replacing us. Nice move with Lula-Rousseff, very close. How's Uruguay doing these days Gordo? How's all the infrastructure on the Amazon these days? All those oil platforms, and Brazil of course, has a special place. Best women in the world in some ways. :)

As much as I agree with Don's counter point about investing in new tehnology to attain a profitable economy of scale for mass production this is not what Solyndra is about.

Solyndra is about Democrat bundlers gettign their pay back.

Republicans or Democrats.... it's the same politcs of money for something.

The GOP uses defense spending to pay off their backers and the Dems are using the 'Green' industry...

Same game that's been played since Adam paid off the apple lobby by making an endorsement deal with the serpent....

Great piece, Gordon! Thx...

But per Stephen, and Gordo, you inspired a response, in rural Brazil, India, Africa, its real expensive to lay wire, so why not work with people, fold it in to Solar One, and, it can be used too for counterinsurgency tactics as well; decentralized targeting. Of course there's a lot of politics in it, but what can one really do about that? Has that not always been true, mais ou menus?

Agree, but many of his misguided supporters will try to give him another 4 years-----if we can even make it to election day before the SHTF.

Gee, B-2s heading to Brasil, specifically Sao Paulo? wow. . . .

Must have struck something there, Gordon. . . .

Perhaps a reminder about how "green" Brasil has become would be in order?

Regarding your post, seems another in a long series of incidents associated with a leader who has very little experience. . . .

As for Brazil, I think it is great they are developing at the rate they are and providing an example to South and Central America of what can be accomplished without socialism. Whereas, the extremes in social and econmic classes are profound, as in most Thrid World countries, the only ture path to social evolution is the freedom to follow your own path and not the path the government decides for you.

Sorry Gordon, I have to disagree with your point of Obama and finances. Well, I have to agree Obama did not do anything for personal financial gain.

We need to remember that Obama is part of a “Movement” with an agenda. The “Green Movement” is very much a part of financing Obama’s “Socialist Movement”. Obama receives mega donations from these “Green Organizations” and these organizations expect to be paid back with financing and favors. This is most likely the reason Obama took care of the investors and allowed the American taxpayer to burden the brunt of this “Green Fiasco”. Obama may not care about personal finances so much, but he is a born campaigner and slobbers over campaign funding. It is the same scenario with the unions, donating mega funding to his election campaigns. As a result, Obama needs to pay them back through the “Oval Office”.

The problem, Obama got caught in his tangled web of giving Taxpayer funds and receiving campaign funds in return, which sounds a lot like money laundering.

You see, it is very much about finances with Obama, only it is the campaign finances to keep him going forward with his personal agenda that he loves and adores. His helping the “Green Movement” along makes these people wealthy, in return, these “Green People” are then able to donate enormous amounts of funds to Obama’s “Socialist Movement”.

There are reasons sometimes to do solar, like in places where it isn't near the grid, and, having that capability reduces leverage of Russia and the Arabs as to the on-off switch. Brazil is a de facto ally sometimes of Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the BRICS, which is one Russian strategy per the B-2 joke. Look at the European bailout, and who Lula was to see that, if, they aren't the same communists anywhere anymore, until maybe they get enough power, and then, we'll see. Panarin by the away advises Putin, and he thinks we are really governed by a fight between Trotskyites and Neo-Fascists, and there would seem to be some truth in that too.

Don R

I think Solar definitely has a place; it just has no place being a government run entitlement program. Leave the Solar development to the “Free Market”, where it belongs and off the backs of the taxpayer.