I don't really have that much to add, this just stood out to me as slimy: "...the contract should have said: If and when the beneficiaries of the grant make $X

I don't really have that much to add, this just stood out to me as slimy: "...the contract should have said: If and when the beneficiaries of the grant make $X billion, a contribution will be made back to the NSF." This by definition would not be a grant. If you want to eliminate grants then by all means say so... Sometimes I look at the State as just another modern deity, and it demands worship and tribute. Especially for things it claims to have done in the past.