Democrats not backing away from government Solyndra type investments

Democrats still think that they are better than investors at deciding where the best investments are.

Silicon Valley’s Democratic representative said Republicans would handcuff U.S. competitiveness in clean technology if the GOP succeeds in ending a federal loan guarantee program. 

Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) said in a Thursday column in The Huffington Post that the “No More Solyndras” bill pushed by Republicans would stifle innovation. 

“There is an urgent need for investment in new technologies in America,” Honda said. “There is an urgent need for venture risk in America, and the federal government must be involved through programs like the Department of Energy's loan guarantees.” 

The bill is scheduled for a Friday vote. It would sunset the federal loan guarantee program that gave California solar-panel maker Solyndra a $535 million loan guarantee from the government, only to have the company go bust in 2011. . . .

Congressman Honda argues:

There is an urgent need for investment in new technologies in America. There is an urgent need for venture risk in America, and the federal government must be involved through programs like the Department of Energy's loan guarantees. . . .

But the question isn't whether there should be investments, the question is whether the government should be deciding where to make investments.  The two are quite different points.