Speaking this week at a $35,800-a-head fundraiser at the Park Avenue apartment of the president of the nation’s largest private equity firm, Barack Obama laid out his vision for collaboration between business and government. “Yes, we believe in individual initiative and we believe in risk-taking and we believe in markets and entrepreneurship,” the president said. “But we also believe in doing some things together, because all of us prosper from that.”

Except, of course, when we don’t prosper. Consider Solyndra, the solar panel manufacturer that raked in $500 million in Obama stimulus loan money, then ended up in bankruptcy. And also consider ethanol.