<In the US, the gov’t spends the money then gives the spoils to private industry. They call that “capitalism”. Gov’t (taxpayers) take the risk, wealthy people take the spoils. See “Drug Companies” for comparison.

Now you're starting to sound like a fifteen-year-old who just spent his first evening in a university coffeehouse. I'd like to think your politics operates on a more sophisticated level than this.

I think it's obvious to everyone that the private sector, operating on its own, creates most of the wealth and progress in this world, while government programs and government/industrial mixed economy mutations tend to create mostly wasted effort.

I hope with every fiber of my being that the private sector gets a crack at space exploitation. In my more cynical moments, I'm no more optimistic about it happening than you are.

P.S. The real money is to be made in Earth orbit and the asteroid belt, not on Mars.