Photograph by Chris Thompson/SpaceX via Bloomberg

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket takes off in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Elon Musk, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur who splits his time between running the electric car-making Tesla Motors Inc. and rocket-making Space Exploration Technologies Corp., sees “good economic times ahead” for the U.S.

His Tesla, which received $465 million in federal loans in 2009 from the Obama administration to develop and build electric Model S sedans, had been cited as a “loser” company by Republican Mitt Romney in an Oct. 3 presidential debate — the same day Musk said the car-maker was making an “advance payment” for the federal loans.

SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for at least a dozen resupply flights to the International Space Station.

Post-election, Musk has shared his views about the economy going forward. He had declined to discuss Romney’s comments, didn’t publicly support either him or President Barack Obama and says he doesn’t expect “any significant impact” on either Tesla or SpaceX with the president’s re-election.

“The economy is improving quickly. This would happen no matter who is president,” Musk said. “I don’t think people appreciate that the president is like the captain of a huge boat with a tiny rudder.”

The slowly improving real estate market bodes well for continued economic recovery, he said.

“Now we’ve used up the housing stock and the housing industry is ramping up to normal employment levels. Housing, fully considered, is the biggest sector of the economy, so this will of course have a big positive effect on the economy,” he said. “Good times ahead!”

Balancing the budget must become Obama’s top priority, he said: “By this, I mean at least get the deficit under half a trillion. This needs to happen mostly through spending reductions, but will require some increase in taxes.”

It’s “obvious to everyone” that drastic cuts in government spending are necessary, he said, suggsting it wouldn’t be so bad if the automatic spending cuts that are part of the year end fiscal cliff took effect — given a choice between that and no cuts, he’d take the sequestration.

“The toughest challenge for the president will be cutting government spending,” Musk said. “Every special interest will lobby extremely hard to keep their funding, so fighting them will take incredible resolve.”

“This is the best thing about second-term presidents — they can afford to upset the system and not worry about re-election. President Obama cares about his legacy. He doesn’t want to leave office with the biggest deficit in history.”

Original post is Legacy-Conscious Obama Sure to Act on Deficit: Silicon Valley’s Musk by Political Capital.

Today’s bankruptcy filing by A123 Systems Inc. may give the Romney-Ryan campaign, just in time for tonight’s presidential debate, a company that fits the label that it’s tried to hang on other recipients of Obama administration financing to develop electric vehicles.

A123 got about $249 million in grants from President Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan to build an electric-vehicle battery plant in Livonia, Michigan. The plant produced the defective battery packs for Fisker Automotive Inc.’s $103,000 Karma — its design financed by an Energy Department loan — that caused one of the cars to quit running during a road test by Consumer Reports.

The magazine’s testing editor subsequently called the Karma a “basket case.”

Fisker’s recall of the Karma to replace the bad battery packs cost A123 $55 million, leading to the financial drain that culminated in its bankruptcy filing. 

It also added collateral damage to Fisker’s self-inflicted wounds that prompted the Energy Department to freeze most of the company’s loan money last year. Fisker suspended work on reopening a former General Motors Co. plant in Vice President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware to build its second model, a project that was supposed to create 2,000 jobs.

Republican Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan have most often tagged Fisker with the loser label, with Ryan pointing out in last week’s vice presidential debate with Biden that the company’s loan money was used on a car that’s assembled in Finland. Romney has also mentioned Tesla Motors Inc., which has noted that it’s about to start repaying its Energy Department loans.

Romney, Ryan and members of Congress, including Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida, have taken their shots at lumping various recipients of electric-vehicle financing together as “losers.” Most of those slams have been directed at which among them got about $1 billion in Energy Department loans to make luxury plug-in cars. It hasn’t necessarily stuck, particularly with Tesla, which has noted that it’s about to start repaying its loans early.

Angela Greiling Keane contributed to this report.  

Original post is Car Battery-Maker’s Bankruptcy: `Loser’ Fodder for Romney Debate by Political Capital.

Photograph by Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

The Toyota Prius hybrid at the 2012 Washington Auto Show.

Obama’s not the only one who wants to drive a Chevy Volt.

Hybrids, plug-ins and battery-powered cars — the models that make up a category called electric-drive vehicles — posted the fastest sales growth in the U.S. auto market in the first quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 49 percent to 117,182 vehicles in the first three months of the year.

The Toyota Prius and GM’s Volt each had record sales in March.

President Obama said he’ll buy a Volt when he’s done being president. With gas approaching the July 2008 peak, other folks aren’t waiting. AAA says gas prices averaged $3.93 a gallon on April 3.

Original post is Volt Anyone? Prius? Start Your Engines… by Political Capital.