Suniva: Green Energy Crony Capitalism at Its Most Ironic

Crony capitalism is at its crookedest when it comes to moonbatty “green energy” boondoggles. A case in point is solar cell manufacturer Suniva, which is majority owned by the ChiComs, despite having been founded in the USA. Hold on for some irony:

Suniva declared bankruptcy in April, citing heavily-subsidized, Chinese-made solar panels as a primary reason for its struggles.

The irony only grows, however, when one considers the long history that Suniva itself has in benefitting from government largesse. Suniva has already received roughly $20 million in support from U.S. taxpayers, and has utilized U.S. prison labor to help keep its costs down relative to its competitors. The company also benefitted from a $780,000 taxpayer-funded loan guarantee from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which Heritage Action labeled “cronyism.”

Suniva’s dependence on the government could account for its strong ties to Hillary Clinton. From 2009 to 2016, the company paid more than $500,000 to lobbying firm ML Strategies. At the time, the firm’s president was David Leiter (a prominent fundraiser for Clinton) whose wife, Tamera Luzatto, had served as Clinton’s Senate chief of staff.

However, not even political pull and the access this provides to taxpayer money was enough to keep Suniva solvent.

In response to its own ineffective management, this government-supported, Clinton-allied, and Chinese-owned company is now requesting that Trump impose significant new tariffs on the competition that would double the price of imported solar modules.

Trump did run on a platform of high tariffs.

On a tip from Jim M.