I'd actually say that commercial entities would be better off than the government, as the government is made up of people who: a) have to pretend to care [1]

I'd actually say that commercial entities would be better off than the government, as the government is made up of people who: a) have to pretend to care [1] b) don't have any personal upside from space missions succeeding. [1] I'm not saying that they don't care, necessarily, it's more that pragmatism is not popular in political leaders.