I don't understand why this is getting downvoted. The 'loan' the US made was extremely high risk and taxpayers got a terrible ROI for the amount given and the risk taken:

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/05/tesl...

Edit: I am a big fan of Tesla, SpaceX, and the feats Elon Musk has accomplished, but I don't think that means one can't be critical of him, his companies, or the way taxpayer money might have been spent to prop them up. It's undeniable that if the US govt had received some equity stake taxpayers could have more equally shared in Tesla's success, and I don't think there would have been anything unreasonable about that.