Well it is peanuts compared to the $700+ billion defense budget. (Which actually takes the wind out of the sails of those who use DARPA as an argument against c

Well it is peanuts compared to the $700+ billion defense budget. (Which actually takes the wind out of the sails of those who use DARPA as an argument against cutting defense spending.) I don't know the details of A123 or its target market, so I'm not qualified to comment on the ex-ante logic of the investment, but given the WSJ article it doesn't sound like a wise investment to me. The idea that the likely better investment (in terms of net social gain) in a research project is harder to sell politically is perhaps an indication of why the political process may not be the right one for this type of research. I just don't think the Obama administration was capable of rapidly creating something on par with DARPA as part of the stimulus and I think we would have we would have been better off if they had used that money to pay down the debt.