China out Wal-Marts the Waltons and Solyndra collapses

Last week, the FBI raided the California offices of thin-film solar maker Solyndra, once a poster child for the new energy movement that was to bring green jobs across the country in a giant wave of momentous change.

But, that was 2008. Now it’s 2011, and the momentous green wave didn’t happen here. That wave never reached our shores. Instead, that wave is stuck inside the country outline of China.

It fizzled out at the borders.

Here’s the deal: The Chinese are sharp. They see the potential in the green market for massive future energy needs. They’re also unified and interconnected in ways we individual Americans are not. So, being a communist country and an industrial powerhouse, they pulled the ultimate Wal-Mart: They stole the market share.

How’s that done? Well, for a lot of years Wal-Mart was the king of this philosophy, some would say. (Honestly, though, they aren't the only ones to use a strong arm to rule a market.) Here’s the basic concept: Go into a small market, undercut prices by taking a loss that can be balanced nicely across your wide network, force the mostly small and mostly independent competition out of business when they cannot meet your low, low prices competitively, and then become the sole player in the game---which lets you set prices any way you’d like from that point forward. Now, Wal-Mart may quibble with this characterization, but it’s a view of “market hogging,” if you will, that’s always followed them as they expanded. They have a bad reputation for running smaller companies out of town on a rail with those low, low price guarantees. And, factually, smaller manufacturers, suppliers and retailers can't get the big group deals that Wal-Mart can. They're leveraging their size.

Now, think of China as government Wal-Mart, a state-run powerhouse capable of taking a large financial hit up front and more than willing to leverage its size. So, they develop huge state subsidies in order to flip a switch on green manufacturing. Instantly, everyone’s up and running, pushing a product out that’s cheaper because they’re not having to carry the burden of production costs or start-up money at this point. (They’re the runner who jumps the gun with the blessings of the establishment.)

Now, American green companies have gotten some help from stimulus cash, but nothing like the funnel of dough the Chinese have contributed. The Chinese help is overwhelming, full and even overreaching. Americans, on the other hand, are putting together guaranteed government loans, some venture capital, some cash from friends and family, their maxed out credit cards---they’re struggling for a product they believe in. But, the emphasis in on struggling here. And it’s a heavy emphasis indeed.

So, as the FBI sorts through the lost belongings and paperwork of Solyndra---where the Walton family ranks as venture capital investors, actually---there will be a lot of speculation about whether the government did enough due diligence in choosing Solyndra for that suddenly very unpopular green loan.

But, perhaps that’s the wrong question. Perhaps, instead, we should ask if the government really invested enough given how quickly China was able to flip the green game to its favor.