Take the Money and Run

A blog article at American Thinker cites the Wall Street Journal (to which I don’t have access) as follows:

One investor behind Solyndra blurted out the truth. The loan was needed and needed urgently to fatten up the company and show a going concern (with a factory, etc).

Why?

From the column:

There was another motivator — Solyndra’s management and investors had an eye on an initial public offering.

“There was a perceived halo around the loan,” said an investor with knowledge of the company. “If we get the loan, then we can definitely go public and cash out.”

The huge loan would be a selling point in an initial public offering. The company promoters could point out that the loan gave them credibility — that the government had vouched for their viability and prospects.

The private investors would cash out and when the loan came due and the company was unable to pay, taxpayers would be the ones left holding the IOUs.

Take the money and run.

Maybe the government folks who do their “due diligence” on such matters should hire some private investors to help them — just as hackers get hired to deal with internet security.