A very cool YouTube video from Burton Folsom on why private investors are so much more successful at realizing technological achievements than are the kinds of schemes that are subsidized by the government:

In addition to being very personally invested in the outcome of their endeavors, there is also a big difference in the skills of the people who work toward great achievements between private investors and government funded one. The kinds of skills it takes to get government subsidies, whether in the form of grants, tax credits or special protection from real world competition, are very different from the kinds of skills that are actually needed to be genuinely successful in business, invention and real life.