How Does Obama's Public Equity Record Compare to Romney's Venture Capital Record?

Yesterday, two major newspapers published columns looking at President Obama's public equity record in light of his attacks on Gov. Romney's record at Bain Capital. In the Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Strassel published "Vulture capitalism? Try Obama's Version". In the Washington Post, a column by Marc A. Theissen was entitled "Forget Bain – Obama's Public - Equity record is the Real Scandal."


Ms. Strassel suggests "Like Mr. Romney, Mr. Obama has presided over bankruptcies, layoffs, lost pensions, run-ups in debt. Yet unlike Mr. Romney, Mr. Obama's C-suite required billions in taxpayer dollars and subsidies, as well as mandates, regulations, union payoffs and moral hazard. Don't like "vulture" capitalism? Check out the form the president's had on offer these past three years: "crony" capitalism."  Ms. Strassel focuses on Solyndra and General Motors, particularly the $82 billion put into the car industry, which seemed primarily designed to protect union pensions.


Mr. Theissen's Article provides a more comprehensive list of the Obama administration's public equity failures – including at least eight major investments in green energy that have become failures. In fact, his column will make a good reference tool for future discussions of Obama's failures. He concludes: "Now the man who made Solyndra a household name says Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital “is what this campaign is going to be about.” Good luck with that, Mr. President. If Obama wants to attack Romney’s alleged private equity failures as chief executive of Bain, he’d better be ready to defend his own massive public equity failures as chief executive of the United States."


The irony is that while Obama has been throwing money at uneconomic green energy projects, the entire economics of energy in the United States have been transformed. The development of the Barnett Shale and other major shale developments elsewhere in the country has enormously increased the availability of natural gas, and dropped its price from $12 to $2. Competition between oil and gas is more intense than ever. It is clear that the free market has produced a result far superior to President Obama's attempts to force feed new types of energy sources to us at substantial government expense.