The post you responded to was in regard to "you can't justify the Moon as a way to go to Mars". As such the rest of your post was a digression, but I will comment on it seperately.

As far as supporting space infrastructure I'd say NEO's may have more potential than the Moon or Mars directly, but either or both might be a good base to support harvesting NEOs. One problem is that such infrastructure is not economically feasible at the current time so space resources for LEO is a total nonissue. I have looked at potential rates of return and see this as a no go prior to launch costs below $100/lb for most potential industries. Tourism is a potential exception.

Colonization is not feasible as a private initiative either but is not as far from financial feasibility as commericial space is at the moment. We need drastic launch cost reductions.

Perhaps you should study what makes the difference between kadets, ensigns, commanders, and captains, and admirals.

Regards,
Mark