One dollar per watt of generating capacity was considered the benchmark to reach, which would ensure its competitiveness. First Solar has announced it is now selling photovoltaic panels at that price, thanks to a 50-fold increase in production capacity and sales.

First Solar's chief executive, Mike Ahearn, tipped his hat to countries like Germany that have offered generous tariffs to producers of solar electricity.

"Without forward-looking government programs supporting solar electricity, we would not have been able to invest in the capacity expansion which gives us the scale to bring costs down," Mr. Ahearn
said in the statement.

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What to do about governors that defect in the stimulus-bill maneuvering, their version of the Prisoner's Dilemma?

From Wikipedia's description of the game-theory challenge:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies (defects) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?

The governors threatening to defect from participating in the stimulus package are likely to still benefit from a recovering economy, without assuming any responsibility for it. The game, and the governors, both exploit the commons.

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