To use a metaphor: the federal government should grease the wheels and kickstart the engine on large-scale projects, but state/city/corporations are responsible

To use a metaphor: the federal government should grease the wheels and kickstart the engine on large-scale projects, but state/city/corporations are responsible for building car and steering it. For example, it's great that publicly funded prior research and experts bootstrapped SpaceX's R&D, and then NASA's contracts for low-priority launches helped them iron out the kinks. It was a nice transition from publicly funded risky R&D to a market-driven private industry. On the other hand, NASA's "full-stack" SLS product is an inexcusable clusterfuck. Corporations are way better at diving deep to create practical, economical products... very very lean. The government is good at running lots of small risky/low-ROI projects, unprofitable but foundational to future private sectors. Tax the past to subsidize the future.