Solyndra and the Future of Clean and Green Technology
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Solar-panel maker Solyndra’s bankruptcy is an embarrassment for the President Obama, even though the Bush Administration got the ball rolling. We hear about loan guarantees, competition with China and the "Green Economy." Also, deadly riots in Cairo, and Sesame Street gets a new character who exemplifies a growing American problem: hungry children.
Banner image: President Barack Obama smiles during a tour of the Solyndra solar panel company, May 26, 2010 in Fremont, California. Photo by Paul Chinn-Pool/Getty Images
Making News
Deadly Riots in Cairo ()
Egypt's Coptic Christian leaders harshly criticized the government today for the bloodiest street violence since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Twenty-four people died and Copts claim some of their bodies were mangled by tanks, bullets and beating wounds. David Kirkpatrick is Cairo Bureau Chief for the New York Times.
Guests:
- David Kirkpatrick: New York Times, @kirkpatricknyt
Main Topic
Solyndra and the Future of Clean and Green Technology ()
Congressional investigators have revealed details of how $535 million in federal dollars went down the drain on guaranteed loans for high-tech solar panels. The Bush Administration put the deal in motion, but Solyndra went bankrupt on President Obama's watch, and Republicans are circulating embarrassing emails. Is the scandal really as bad as it sounds? If the US wants a "Green Economy" to create jobs here at home, are loan guarantees needed, despite the risk? Are there other ways to compete with China, which subsidizes all manufacturing costs so it can undersell the competition?
Guests:
- Darren Samuelsohn: Politico.com, @dsamuelsohn
- Mark Muro: Senior Fellow and Policy Director, Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution
- Megan McArdle: The Atlantic
- Bob Keefe: Senior Press Secretary, Natural Resources Defense Council
Links:
- TtP 'Notebook' on US solar companies competing with China
- Samuelsohn on emails that show Energy Department brushed off Treasury's warnings on Solyndra
- Munro's recent green jobs report, 'Sizing the Green Economy'
- McArdle on Solyndra as a bad bet from the beginning
- NRDC on the government's history of promoting innovation
Reporter's Notebook
Hunger on Sesame Street ()
Seven-year-old Lily is the newest Muppet on Sesame Street, introduced in last night's prime-time special, Growing Hope Against Hunger. Lily is bright-eyed with flaming red hair, but she lowers her head when she tells her new friends that she sometimes needs food from a food pantry. But Lily not only gets food from a food pantry, she volunteers to help out there, too. Joan Salge Blake is Clinical Associate Professor at Boston University and the author of Nutrition & You. She blogs regularly for the Boston Globe
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Guests:
- Joan Salge Blake: Boston University
Links:
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