o8's $535m create jobs - bankrupcy lawyers

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — That Barack Obama sure can pick “em.

“The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra,” the president said in May 2010.

A little more than a year later, the Fremont, Calif.,-based solar manufacturer has cancelled plans for an initial public stock offering, laid off 1,100 employees, suspended operations, dumped its founding chief executive officer, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and opened its doors to Republican-led congressional investigators and Federal Bureau of Investigation officers.

Investigators want to know what it did with the $535 million in loan guarantees it received from the Department of Energy under the last big government stimulus program.

“This investment is part of President Obama’s aggressive strategy to put Americans back to work and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a March 2009 press release, announcing the loan guarantee. “We can create millions of new, good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced.”