Bankrupt Solyndra Caught Destroying Brand New Parts

From CBS San Francisco

After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.

At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.

Forklifts brought one pallet after another piled high with the carefully packaged glass. Slowly but surely it all ended up shattered.

And it’s not a few loads. Hundreds of thousands of tubes on shrink-wrapped pallets will meet a similar demise.

Solyndra paid at least $2 million for the specialized glass. A CBS 5 crew found one piece lying in the parking lot. Solyndra still owes the German company that made the tubes close to another $8 million.

Read the rest and see video at CBS San Francisco

46 Responses to Bankrupt Solyndra Caught Destroying Brand New Parts

  1. Rob N. Hood January 25, 2012 at 8:00 am #

    It’s the corporate way. Really nothing new, unfortunately.

  2. Joe January 26, 2012 at 10:39 pm #

    No, it is not “the corporate way.” The Trustee” was either negligent in his or her duties to protect the assets of the estate or had no knowledge of the damage wrought. Apparently you know nothing for which you speak in a bankruptcy setting. In fact, if this happened, there will be hell to pay. Typical left wing liberal comment blaming corporate america. Were they a union shop? Do we know the circumstances? I don’t, do you? Strongly suggest you investigate before making an assumption based on no factual information behind it. (So far)

  3. Rob N. Hood January 27, 2012 at 8:03 am #

    Nope wrong. Bankruptcy for the elite is a get out of jail free card. A way to bust up a union. A way to wash their hands of debt that they let others pay (you and me, well, me anyway, cuz you seem to be on a different planet). To them bankruptcy is barely a bump in the road.

  4. Joe January 27, 2012 at 11:00 pm #

    Explain GM. In Bankruptcy the Union contract would be a moot point. Thanks to Obama, they, the union, own part of the corporation. If push came to shove, this bankruptcy would have been over-ruled and re-filed under standard bankruptcy procedures. You have no idea what a Chapter 11 bankruptcy entails. I’m talking to an uneducated neophyte. Suggest you consult a bankruptcy attorney and let me know their findings. You speak with no knowledge and it is quite apparent to the normal observer such as I as well as others. Let me know if you are an attorney. I deal with bankruptcy daily with over 300 attorneys nationwide.

  5. Rob N. Hood January 28, 2012 at 10:44 am #

    Oooh. Ok Joe. You remind me of someone else that posted here previously. Every technical issue that came up he seemed either to be directly involved with it, or had been in the past. It was very convenient, and kind of sad also. And even if I give you the benefit of the doubt, your condescension is very lame. So you think the “experts” are the only ones who know anything about anything? And yet you decide to disagree with aht majority of them on the climate issue for example. I am sure there are other examples where you know better than the experts, correct? And yet you dismiss me as a know-nothing piece of crap. That is called HYPOCRISY. Among other things. Obama saved MANY jobs, not just the main union ones. AND GM is doing quite well, even though many extreme rightys, you included apparenlty, thought nothing of letting it fail. Like that would have benefitted anyone except the lawyers. And having part employee ownership is never been a bad thing, nor is it contrary to American ideals. What is your deal then? Besides pompousness and conceit I mean.

  6. Joe January 28, 2012 at 11:20 pm #

    It is quite apparent you have no knowledge of bankruptcy law as well as the average person on the street. Obama’s administration breached all ethics in the present bankruptcy law and GM still would have been a viable company after shedding their debt without a public bailout. Ask any bankruptcy attorney. I deal with bankruptcies daily. Do you? Not conceit or being pompous it is simply fact. Live with it. Aparently Obama cannot live without giving the unions a free ride bypassing the laws as written. Forgot. Votes are needed aren’t they come 2012.

  7. Rob N. Hood January 29, 2012 at 8:29 am #

    Ok sure Joe. Bottom line is what? This: GM was saved, and that was a good thing for everyone. Now if you want to talk about saving those worthless Banker’s we might actually agree that Obama did the wrong thing there. But oddly enough you Rightys never seem to mention the white-collar shenanigans. Kind of biased and one-sided wouldn’t you agree?

  8. Rob N. Hood January 29, 2012 at 8:30 am #

    Not to mention that by saving GM many white-collar/corporate jobs were saved as well. No need for you to answer the question about your overt biases. They are on display like a fireworks explosion.

  9. Rob N. Hood January 29, 2012 at 10:33 am #

    Inequality is a disease of society, a cancer growing out of control at one end of the body while the rest of it withers away.

    It’s not just about the money, although income and wealth inequality have never been worse in the United States. It’s also the pathological adherence to free market principles that have not worked for most of the country. And a bizarre idolization of the ‘innovators’ who have rigged the financial system in their favor.

    High-priced schemers and swindlers and scoundrels roam free on Wall Street, while the downtrodden are condemned for trying to survive. “If you steal $10 from a man’s wallet,” observed former Secretary of the Interior Walter Hickel, “you’re likely to get into a fight, but if you steal billions from the the commons, co-owned by him and his descendants, he may not even notice.”

  10. Joe January 31, 2012 at 12:46 am #

    Can you once speak for yourself? I find your comments childish. Anyone can quote anybody. Do you think? Let me know, I’m curious.

  11. Rob N. Hood January 31, 2012 at 8:09 am #

    Ahh, er, most of the time I do just that. And so your inaccurate point is what? “Let me know, I’m curious.” See? Sometimes quotes are helpful. And sometimes out of the mouths of babes… Oops, another quote…dang it!

  12. Ian February 2, 2012 at 6:58 pm #

    It’s unfortunate that the company went bankrupt, but so do lots of others. I remember reading about how many car companies there were when cars first started being manufactured. And most disappeared. Probably will be the same with solar (and wind companies). An investor or stock trader might not have done well betting on a car company lasting back then but would have done well shorting the stocks of horse and wagon companies. So maybe for a stock trader it might not be good to buy stock of a solar company hoping it goes up but perhaps shorting the stocks of an oil company and they might do well. Sooner or later renewable energy will replace fossil fuels, we just don’t know which company will come out on top.

  13. Joe February 2, 2012 at 11:16 pm #

    Ian,

    I agree absent subsidies. If a company can build/manufacture a car that is energy efficient, is cost effective and will give the consumer room,comfort and better gas mileage, go for it and I’m highly behind it as well as all my friends. Just don’t tell us what to drive, how to drive, where to drive and limit our purchasing power. If a consumer wants an energy efficient car they will either invent or purchase what the “consumer” wants, not what big brother instructs you to purchase. Similiar to the Russian Ziev (sic). What a piece of garbage. Russia ” big brother” said that was your only option period. Do we want to go this route? Doubt it, or do you?

  14. Rob N. Hood February 3, 2012 at 11:39 am #

    No Joe of course not. No Liberal person would want such a thing. Why does your type need to caricature those you disagree with or don’t understand? And re: your illusion of freedoms… you apparently have no clue as to the lack of you really have, thanks to decades of authoratian elitist rule.

  15. Hal Groar February 3, 2012 at 9:19 pm #

    Here we go again with Robs idea of the Banking/Military/Fed/Freddie/Fannie etc…conspiracy. Ok Rob…let ‘er fly!

  16. Rob N. Hood February 4, 2012 at 8:37 am #

    No Hal, it’s you guys who let fly with thye conspiracies. Even climate change/warming denial is based on the conspiracy that it is a hoax. What I believe and get excited about is REALITY and how it effects us as individuals and as a country. Rightys used to be Conservatives, who seemingly were and supposedly noted for their focus on reality. But alas, even if that was true, it surely is not any longer. Roles have shifted and it is the Left who more often than not are trying to reign in the radical-ness of the Right. So now you can let ‘er fly…

  17. Rob N. Hood February 5, 2012 at 3:26 pm #

    Besides Newt made a lot of money re: Fanny and Freddy. As an insider, not just as an “investor” or whatever. Funny how that got swept under the rug so well… with the “Leftist” media and all…

  18. Joe February 5, 2012 at 10:23 pm #

    Never should have allowed JC to get the CRA (Community re-Investment Act) passed. That was the little Pandora’s box that opened the door. Need I say more?

  19. Rob N. Hood February 6, 2012 at 4:08 pm #

    OMG. You people are so retro you are retarded. And my apologies to the disabled everywhere. Yep it’s all Jimmy’s fault, or Clinton’s, or Obama’s, FDR (well him you can blame somewhat legitimately, but to me he’s one of our BEST Presidents, by far).

  20. Rob N. Hood February 6, 2012 at 4:17 pm #

    OMG. You people are so retro you are retarded. And my apologies to the disabled everywhere. Yep it’s all Jimmy’s fault, or Clinton’s, or Obama’s, FDR (well him you can blame somewhat legitimately, but to me he’s one of our BEST Presidents, by far). But of course you already knew I felt that way considering FDR was a closet commie and all… (regardless of the fact that FDR saved capitalism from itself, something Obama is in fact also attempting to do albeit with much less resources).

  21. Rob N. Hood February 6, 2012 at 4:25 pm #

    Yessiree, that ol’ Jimmy, that good ol’ boy, put a commie “stink bomb” into place that he knew would pay off big time for the Kremlin decades later!! Smart!

  22. Joe February 7, 2012 at 1:01 am #

    Apparently you have never read history. I went through those early days in finance and I believe I know a little more than you about what I stated. Apparently I suspect it fell upon deaf left wing liberal ears. The Left Wing Liberal will never change. Give them a factual statement and they call you a racist, change the subject, never answer and then scream and holler thereafter. Like a child that cannot get their way. You did all of the above except racist. Is that next?

  23. Rob N. Hood February 7, 2012 at 2:40 pm #

    The banks caused the problem that needed to be fixed. It was called Redlining and it was done to minorities and the poor. If the market would play fair and not try to get away with the crap they do, these fixes wouldn’t be necessary in the first place. What say you about that? (P.S. it WAS racism).

  24. Rob N. Hood February 8, 2012 at 8:13 am #

    No (un)witty repose? No defense of the indefensible? No blaming the victims? What’s up you sick or something? C’mon, the Bankers rely on you guys to have their backs!

  25. Joe February 8, 2012 at 9:00 pm #

    The Community Reinvestment Act was to take care of “Redlining” Banks were told, instructed to grant credit to less credit worthy customers. From there it morphed into more regulations that you can swallow. When you are told you have to grant credit knowing your exposure is 110% and if not you are fined, you do! Leave it to people with no credit background to make an unsound decision such as the CRA. When in lending, I never redlined. I know the North Side of Mpls quite well and numerous best friends still live there. Apparently you have no knowledge of the past and what put us in the conundrum we are in today. Thank ole Barney Frank. No wonder he’s retiring. Finally, Racist? You need not preach to me, if so you are totally racist. Forgot, that’s a liberal response when they cannot answer a direct question. Sorry I forgot. Thought I was talking to someone with “logic.”

  26. Rob N. Hood February 9, 2012 at 8:09 am #

    Anecdotal, at best. Anecdote does not equal logic. What occurred in 2008 was another example of letting Banks and Finance call the shots, which of course ended up in a historic taxpayer bailout, not to mention a global recession, that we area still experiencing. And this time it was Bush was behind the push for home “ownership.” Great idea, but he let the fox into the henhouse once again- same old story played over and over again in this country, and others. The rich get richer on the back of the poor and middle class. You Fail. Time to wise up.

  27. Rob N. Hood February 9, 2012 at 12:43 pm #

    Note to Joe: I was not calling you a racist- was calling the policies and practices of finance racist. A spade is a spade. And you call yourself a realist? Not of this reality. Calling me a racist is simply infantile (i.e. I know you are but what am I?!) In Joe’s world there’s no such thing as racism, that is unless he wants to throw it out there like a stink bomb to obscure the topic at hand. And you call me arrogant. Wow.

  28. Rob N. Hood February 9, 2012 at 2:43 pm #

    When Obama took office in January of 2009 America was losing 750,000 jobs a month.
    Now we’re adding 250,000 jobs a month.

    Although we have a long way to go, the number of jobs is almost 1 million jobs a month increase
    since the end of the Bush administration.

    It seems to me that we are heading in the right direction,
    and I don’t see why we should consider going back to the party of Bush and have them ruin the
    economy like they did last decade. Or vote Romney/Santorum. Yikes!

  29. Joe February 10, 2012 at 1:36 am #

    Your BS is shining. Been in finance/banking/credit for over 44 years. I love listening to a nephyte spewing statements unfounded. Rachael Maddow would love you as well as uncle “Ed.” You would fit right in along with their limited audience of 5. Ed, the guy that talks like Howdy Doody on Dope. Strongly suggest you research before you preach fiction and research Jimmy Carters CRA going forward. A little learning never hurt a liberal did it? Oops, forgot, you want the standards lowered for student applications going forward? Oh well, I guess a D- is ok as long as we all get a D- correct? Must be equal. Must remember that. Darn I forgot that I’m supposed to be politically correct. I assume I should apologize? Nah, I’m a black dude that goes to church every Sunday. Man, I must be a stupid boy according to you, heh?

  30. Rob N. Hood February 10, 2012 at 8:20 am #

    No, you are just extremely biased which causes narcissism which causes ignorance. So you feel it’s ok to dismiss facts that don’t feel right to you, but accept those that do? How does that make you smart?

  31. Rob N. Hood February 11, 2012 at 9:07 am #

    It doesn’t- it makes reactionary and extreme.

  32. Joe February 12, 2012 at 10:23 pm #

    Strongly suggest that you look in the mirror and ask why you make the posts you do. Finally, make sure you look yourself in the eye when you do. There is a difference when you do. Is it your color perhaps?

  33. Rob N. Hood February 13, 2012 at 8:11 am #

    WTF? My post above cut a little to close to the bone for ya? The truth hurts sometimes, if and when we are brave enough to face it.

  34. Rob N. Hood February 13, 2012 at 9:22 am #

    According to Professor Peter Dale Scott, both the neo-libs and the neocons are players at a very lucrative crap game. Though they often played viciously against each other, their prime objective was to keep the game going at all costs.

    “Whenever the game was threatened — as is the case with 9/11 — they quickly closed ranks to protect it while the turf over which they continued to fight among themselves grew smaller and smaller and the contests more heated and bloody.

    “Within their own mindset and within the parameters of an economic and governmental system that functioned (as it continues to function) in the mode of
    organized crime — incapable of transparency, riddled with corruption and cooked books, based upon the destruction of life for the sake of net profits and supremacy — these men, led by Dick Cheney, chose what they thought was their only logical option. I believe it seemed to them the ‘right’ thing to do; after all, it was only a few thousand lives. Other rulers have made similar choices in the past.

    “But as all empires learn, once the river is crossed there is no turning back. In front of that decision there lay a continuum of ever more vicious bloodletting, decline, and collapse.”

  35. Dan McGrath February 13, 2012 at 9:23 am #

    Getting personal, guys. Back to the issue, please.

  36. Rob N. Hood February 13, 2012 at 1:03 pm #

    Right you are. But I have a question: if there’s a moral majority, who comprises the immoral minority?

  37. Joe February 13, 2012 at 10:06 pm #

    See that Obama is giving a $10,000 deduction on the Volt and the average owner makes $170,000 after taxes? Car for the 5% and a rebate? Excellent for us minions that cut coupons and can afford a $15,000 car after haggling. What this tells me is they are purchased as a novelty to show their friends that they are “green” as they park the Volt next to their BMW or luxury SUV in their four car garage or larger.

  38. Rob N. Hood February 14, 2012 at 8:21 am #

    Lame.

  39. Rob N. Hood February 14, 2012 at 3:25 pm #

    Although, tis true Joseph, many perks are geared towards the ones who don’t need them as much. That’s just another American, and elitist thing… what you haven’t noticed that before?! Suddenly now, just cuz you don’t like Obama (or any socialist commie democrat)? Why don’t you people complain about such things when the Repubs do them? At least this is for an AMERICAN COMPANY THAT IS PROVIDING AMERICAN JOBS. Or that isn’t very important all of a sudden? Since when did that stop being important to you Rightys?

  40. Rob N. Hood February 14, 2012 at 4:03 pm #

    JACQUELINE MARCUS – AT TRUTHOUT

    You may get a chance to spot them as you fly into the Kahului Maui airport: They climb the backside of Pali’s coastal slope above Ma’alaea, those towering wind turbines that generate an astounding amount of energy, up to 30 megawatts from pollution-less wind power, which is supplying energy to the west side of the island to approximately 35,000 homes.

    Facing the wind, they silently spin like gigantic prayer wheels: no noise, no fumes, no refineries, no radiation, no oil spills, and no poisonous threat to our fresh water supply, catching the infinite wind with their propellers, and converting it to harmless, non-polluting energy for thousands of residents.

    That’s a picture perfect postcard from Maui that the oil industry doesn’t want the public to see or know about. Solar is also big in Hawaii and getting bigger.

  41. Rob N. Hood February 15, 2012 at 11:25 am #

    China and India have recorded rapid (though highly inegalitarian) growth, but remain very poor countries, with enormous internal problems not faced by the West. China is the world’s major manufacturing center, but largely as an assembly plant for the advanced industrial powers on its periphery and for western multinationals. That is likely to change over time. Manufacturing regularly provides the basis for innovation, often breakthroughs, as is now sometimes happening in China. One example that has impressed western specialists is China’s takeover of the growing global solar panel market, not on the basis of cheap labor but by coordinated planning and, increasingly, innovation.

    Furthermore, China’s recent economic growth has relied substantially on a “demographic bonus,” a very large working-age population. “But the window for harvesting this bonus may close soon,” with a “profound impact on development”: “Excess cheap labor supply, which is one of the major factors driving China’s economic miracle, will no longer be available.”

  42. george February 20, 2012 at 1:45 am #

    The Sociopathic Mentality in Modern Business is offensive. Strict monitoring and regulation are necessary, and an annual citizens election to keep a corporate charter active: if it’s a bad corportion, or bad to its employees or whatever, it won’t be in business in January, that will go a long way to ending much of the bad shit in capitalism.

    • Rob N. Hood March 6, 2012 at 1:37 pm #

      Thank you george. A breath of fresh air indeed.

  43. Rob N. Hood February 22, 2012 at 12:37 pm #

    WASHINGTON — President Obama will ask Congress to scrub the corporate tax code of dozens of loopholes and subsidies to reduce the top rate to 28 percent, down from 35 percent, while giving preferences to manufacturers that would set their maximum effective rate at 25 percent, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

    That commie!

  44. Rob N. Hood February 22, 2012 at 3:09 pm #

    The reason so many factories have moved to China is not just price, it is because they do things a democracy cannot allow. Steve Jobs famously said, “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” because over there they make people live in dormatories at the factory and can roust them at midnight and make them work 12-14 hour days, seven days a week, using toxic chemicals.

    Ok, so now we know what we need to do…

    1. End democracy (so far so good).
    2. Build worker dorms (FEMA can help).
    3. Learn Chinese (could come in handy).

  45. Rob N. Hood February 23, 2012 at 8:04 am #

    Oh, and trash the EPA… also on schedule, more or less.

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