Company that got millions from US taxpayers now profits Chinese owners

The good news is electric car battery maker A123 Systems is finally on track to turn a profit. 
The bad news is taxpayers don't figure to see any of the $133 million the federal government spent and the estimated $141 million in tax credits and subsidies secured from Michigan to help the company take off in 2009, only to see A123 Systems crash, declare bankruptcy in 2012 and then get purchased by a privately held Chinese conglomerate. 
"In the case of A123, they created some jobs and a year or two later those jobs were gone, so taxpayers weren't getting that money back," said Jarret Skorup, a policy analyst at Michigan's Mackinac Center, a free-market think tank. 
Earlier this month, CEO Jason Forcier announced that A123 Systems' parent company, the China-based Wanxiang Group, will spend $200 million to double the capacity of three lithium-ion battery plants, including two in suburban Detroit. 
Forcier told Crain's Detroit Business that A123 Systems is expected to generate $300 million in revenue this year and plans to double that amount by 2018. The company, Forcier said, will turn a profit for the first time in its history in 2015. 
"The strength of A123 has never been greater and we are honored to be expanding our existing customer relationships and establishing new ones at the same time," Forcier said in a company news release.