Rick Perry, socialist

The Libertarians have pointed to Solyndras as evidence of Obama's alleged "socialism." So why don't they point at Rick Perry?

The Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) is practically Perry’s own, personal multi-million dollar fundraising machine. When it comes to doling out money to private firms he doesn’t have to beg anyone for anything.

Here’s a successful Texas investment strategy. Put a $1000 of your own money into a business. Invest $75,000 in the Governor’s campaigns. Then fund the rest of your business with a $4.5m taxpayer funded grant from the Governor’s ETF. That’s not a loan like Solyndra received, that’s cash on the barrelhead, delivered from the state and never to be repaid.

What might you do with a pile of free taxpayer money and a ton of political influence? Perhaps you could get your hands on patents developed by the University of Texas.

Big Perry donor Charles Tate helped to run the ETF. The fund gave to a Tate enterprise called ThromboVision, which failed a few years later. Remember: Perry doled out grants, not loans.