How Obama and Congress can revive U.S. innovation

Earlier this week on ABC News, President Obama defended the government’s $528 million loan to Solyndra, a solar-energy company that later collapsed. The president argued that “hindsight is always 20/20” and that the program “went through the regular review process and people felt like this was a good bet.”

While it seems unlikely that corruption drove the government’s failed investment, the president’s comments reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of how to spur successful market-driven innovation.