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If you’re planning to open a nudie strip club, what’s the best place to get your investment cash? If you thought of finding investors or borrowing from a bank, you’re not blessed with the business genius of Washington, D.C., con artist Cornell Jones — who’s known as a “reformed gangster.”

In a lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia, it’s alleged that Jones and a non-profit organization he controlled bamboozled the city into giving $330,000 to open a job training center for people with AIDS. I’m not sure what kind of jobs the Stadium Club trains people for, but it’s safe to say it’s like no other job training center around.

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If you wonder why many business people are walking away from business today, look no further than the case in which a trucking company has been told it must employ alcoholics to drive its trucks, but the company is also responsible if one of them gets drunk and has an accident.

This is the Catch-22 that the federal government has thrust upon Old Dominion Freight Line. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Old Dominion violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it removed a trucker from a driving position after management found out he had a drinking problem, so the EEOC has sued the company. Why would anyone stay in the trucking business with that sort of liability?

You might remember the story I had not long ago about Ronnie Bryant, the coal mine operator who announced at a public environmental meeting that he was backing out of plans to open a coal mine. In the comments underneath that story, there were multiple other people who said they had either gotten out of business for similar reasons or who were in the process of getting out. Business people are tired of being handed impossible regulations and contradictory rules. They’re tired of being treated like borderline criminals or suspect at best.

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Politicians make lousy venture capitalists. What’s more, it’s not their own money they’re playing with. It’s ours. The latest proof comes from California, where Solyndra, one of Barack Obama’s pet “green energy” companies, shut down Wednesday even after getting $535 million in federal loans and guarantees.

This isn’t a unique story. Politicians put tax money into projects that meet goals they believe are worthy. The market couldn’t care less what they think. The market rewards what works and makes economic sense. I just wrote a few weeks ago about the continuing failure of state economic planning the last time a government-favored “green energy” firm crashed and burned.

You can see more here about Solyndra workers being turned away from the plant Wednesday. Also, remember that Obama touted the facility just a year ago — when he toured the place — as a “green innovator.” That’s Obama with company founder Chris Gronet.

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