President Barack Obama told a crowd of supporters in Wisconsin that “some of the businesses” his administration chooses to invest in with taxpayer money “will fail.”
“Today there are thousands of workers building long-lasting batteries and — and wind turbines and solar panels all across the country — jobs that weren’t there four years ago. And sure, not all technologies we bet on will pan out. Some of the businesses we encourage will fail,” Obama said in Wisconsin at a campaign event on Thursday.
“But I promise you this: There is a future for manufacturing here in America. There’s a future for clean energy here in America.”
The Obama administration has faced scrutiny for providing a $535 million in loan guarantees to the solar power company Solyndra, which ultimately went bankrupt in 2011.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has accused Obama of investing in “losers” with public funds in the past.
“His plan calls for the government being able to invest in winners and losers, or in their case, losers, and his plan also calls for trillion dollar deficits… that debt is owned by somebody. Someone holds that. That puts America in a position of economic risk, fiscal risk,” Romney said.