The Solyndra Failure

Although congressional investigations have provided some of the most dramatic moments in American political history, they have often been dismissed as mere political theater. But these investigations are far more than grandstanding. Investigating the President shows that congressional investigations are a powerful tool for members of Congress to counter presidential aggrandizement. By shining a light on alleged executive wrongdoing, investigations can exert significant pressure on the president and materially affect policy outcomes. Douglas Kriner and Eric Schickler construct the most comprehensive overview of congressional investigative oversight to date, analyzing nearly thirteen thousand days of hearings, spanning more than a century, from 1898 through 2014. The authors examine the forces driving investigative power over time and across chambers, identify how hearings might influence the president's strategic calculations through the erosion of the president’s public approval rating, and uncover the pathways through which investigations have shaped public policy. Put simply, by bringing significant political pressure to bear on the president, investigations often afford Congress a blunt, but effective check on presidential power—without the need to worry about veto threats or other hurdles such as Senate filibusters. In an era of intense partisan polarization and institutional dysfunction, Investigating the President delves into the dynamics of congressional investigations and how Congress leverages this tool to counterbalance presidential power.

Small Change, Big Gains: Reflections of an Energy Entrepreneur introduces climate change economics and provides recommendations on how to develop feasible pathways to a sustainable energy future. Mr. Stoner examines the global energy supply as if it was a single portfolio of assets, and shows it is possible to align the interests of energy investors, suppliers, users, and environmental stewards. He explains how we--as business professionals, students, consumers, and citizens--can transform our current energy system into a system that creates new business opportunities, promotes environmental health, and broadens our understanding of wealth. He illustrates clearly how climate change and resource use are not just economic and environmental issues, but also existential ones. He likens humanity's relative inaction to the climate crisis--a situation he terms 'environmental suicide'--to his own experience as a survivor of suicide. In a deeply personal account, Mr. Stoner shares his feelings of responsibility for another's self-destructive choice, asking, "What could I have done differently. " Today, he asserts that we must all seek to answer a different question to help humanity avoid environmental suicide: "What can we do differently?" Tom Stoner's appeal to a shared planetary fate is uniquely grounded in the author's extensive experience as an energy executive. Readers can expect to come away with a better understanding and new perspective on the energy debate, armed with an innovative problem-solving methodology to transform business models into promoters of energy sustainability and a better future for the planet.

In response to criticism and disappointment from the Left, A Consequential President offers a bold assessment of the lasting successes and major achievements of President Obama. Had he only saved the U.S. economy with his economic recovery act and his program to restore the auto industry, President Obama would have been considered a successful president. He achieved so much more, however, that he can be counted as one of our most consequential presidents. With The Affordable Care Act, he ended the long-running crisis of escalating costs and inadequate access of treatment that had long-threatened the well-being of 50 million Americans. His energy policies drove down the cost of power generated by the sun, the wind, and even fossil fuels. His efforts on climate change produced the Paris Agreement, the first treaty to address global warming in a meaningful way, and his diplomacy produced a dramatic reduction in the nuclear threat posed by Iran. Add the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the normalization of relations with Cuba, and his “pivot” toward Asia, and President Obama's triumphs abroad match those at home. Most importantly, as the first African-American president, he navigated race relations and a rising tide of bigotry, including some who challenged his citizenship, while also fighting a Republican Party determined to make him one-term president. As a result, Obama's greatest achievement was restoring dignity and ethics to the office of the president, proof that he delivered his campaign promise of hope and change.

The Historic Documents series makes primary source research easy by presenting in one volume key excerpts from documents about the important events of each year for the United States and the world. Each volume includes approximately 70 events with over 100 documents from the previous year, from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, testimony, and much more. Historic Documents is renowned for the well written and informative background, history, and context it provides for each document. Each volume begins with an insightful essay that sets the year's events in context, and each document is preceded by a comprehensive introduction that provides background information on the event. Full-source citations are provided, and links to Web addresses containing complete documents are given, if available. Readers have easy access to material through a detailed, thematic table of contents and a cumulative five-year index that directs them to related material in earlier volumes. Featured documents in Historic Documents of 2011 cover topics including: - Osama Bin Laden's death - Arab Spring - European financial crisis - American financial deficit - Japanese earthquake and tsunami - independence for South Sudan - royal wedding - Wall Street protests - final space shuttle mission - end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" - protests at the Wisconsin legislature over collective bargaining

A provocative critique of the Obama administration's economic policies and an examination of America's difficult economic future During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised "a net spending cut" to make government smaller in order to reduce the deficit. But this huge increase in government spending and debt, and the resulting prospect of higher taxes, will make America a poorer country. Are Americans happier because the government has determined where this money should be spent? According to John Lott and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, the answer is no, and in Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future they explain why. Obama's economic policies have raised unemployment, slowed economic growth, dramatically raised the national debt, squandered taxpayer money through poor investments, and damaged the housing market. The book explains why Obama's policies on spending, taxes, and regulation have all worked to harm the recovery, increase unemployment, and depress housing prices. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the deficits that President Obama proposes for the years from 2011 through 2020 come to a staggering $126,000 per family of four, and John Lott and Grover Norquist make clear why the costs outweigh the benefits Explains why Keynesian economics is more a way of transferring wealth to political constituencies than a legitimate economic theory for understanding how the economy operates Posits that Obama's economic policies were more an opportunity "to do big things" than to solve the country's economic problems Arguing that the policies of the Obama administration have created widespread economic chaos, Debacle is a bleak look at American finance from Grover Norquist.

In this important new primer, Dustin Mulvaney makes a passionate case for the significance of solar power energy and offers a vision for a more sustainable and just solar industry for the future. The solar energy industry has grown immensely over the past several years and now provides up to a fifth of California’s power. But despite its deservedly green reputation, solar development and deployment may have social and environmental consequences, from poor factory labor standards to landscape impacts on wildlife. Using a wide variety of case studies and examples that trace the life cycle of photovoltaics, Mulvaney expertly outlines the state of the solar industry, exploring the ongoing conflicts between ecological concerns and climate mitigation strategies, current trade disputes, and the fate of toxics in solar waste products. This exceptional overview will outline the industry’s current challenges and possible futures for students in environmental studies, energy policy, environmental sociology, and other aligned fields.