My understanding (can't find a reference, sorry) was that there was around $1B of private money in Solyndra before the U.S. government added a little over $500M

My understanding (can't find a reference, sorry) was that there was around $1B of private money in Solyndra before the U.S. government added a little over $500M. So while the taxpayers definitely lost, the VCs lost more. But I agree with you about the carbon tax.