Washington Post follows Washington Examiner again

Like other Occupy encampments, Occupy DC has become a public health and safety problem for others. The demonstrators are also interfering with the rights of thousands of downtown workers and legions of tourists who should have equal access to what is, after all, federal property. Hundreds of groups come to Washington every year to protest, with the vast majority of them following the rules, thus ensuring that everyone’s voice can be heard in a safe and orderly manner. It’s time for the National Park Service to end the Occupy DC encampment in McPherson Square. The longer the feds wait, the harder it will be to do.

It’s worrisome that, as sources have told us, federal officials, who have sole jurisdiction over the plaza and square, and city officials, who are most impacted by the occupations, aren’t really talking about the next step. … Since turning out the lights isn’t an option, it’s important that officials develop ways to deal with what could be an increasingly thorny situation.

At that same 2009 groundbreaking, Chu congratulated Solyndra for “what will be a shared success story.” Except Solyndra’s success would not have been shared. If there had been profits, they all would have gone to Solyndra’s private investors, one of whom happens to have been a major Obama fundraiser. But thanks to Chu, the firms losses are now all felt by the taxpayer. Private profits on the way up, taxpayer losses on the way down.
There is a term for this: venture socialism. And Congress is right to make Chu defend it.

But the real scandal is the loan guarantee program itself. The United States needs alternatives to oil, for reasons ranging from climate change to national security. Shoveling taxpayer dollars into profit-seeking manufacturing companies is not the way to develop them.
You can call it crony capitalism or venture socialism — but by whatever name, the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program privatizes profits and socializes losses.