American Elephants

The company and it’s brand new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility have cost the taxpayers at least half a billion dollars. Solyndra, as everyone tried to tell the government, was not a viable enterprise.  It is bankrupt, under investigation and it’s 1.100 workers are unemployed.

So they are applying for retraining for, um, something other than “green jobs,” under the federal government’s Trade Adjustment Assistance program, the Labor Department has confirmed.  If their appeal is approved they will be eligible for another federal program for aid that the Labor Department estimates will cost $13,000 a year per employee.

The request was made by a representative just 2 days after the company filed for bankruptcy, and covers all of the former employees. The company’s failure, they claim, was based in part on competition from China . which has been able to produce the panels at a far lower cost than U.S. manufacturers.

The TAA program offers help to domestic workers who have lost their jobs due to the trade practices of foreign countries.  The assistance includes job retraining, allowances for job searching, health benefits and up to 130 weeks of income support.

The White House,  once again acting on the concerns of Big Labor, has demanded that a $575 million extension to the program be included in the trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Columbia that has been sitting on the president’s desk since he was inaugurated, waiting for his signature.  The trade deals would have created many jobs, but have been held hostage to union demands.

Somebody at Solyndra knows how to take advantage of government programs.