public funding leaks money Public funding's issue is that its value, while very real and substantial, is difficult to quantify because it's not in the business

public funding leaks money Public funding's issue is that its value, while very real and substantial, is difficult to quantify because it's not in the business of making money. It doesn't deliver a product in the classical sense, it doesn't have a calculated ROI. Improving the lives of humans isn't something an accountant can plot on a spreadsheet. Public funding is in the business of making new discoveries - many hold little immediate market value but a tonne of value when implemented by private industry years and even decades down the track. That's hard to put a solid number on. Add to that, private industry leaks money as well. Any sufficiently large organization will require more resources to communicate a policy/directive/goal or pivot than a smaller one. Look at it like an organism - it eats more, wastes more but leaves big tracks in the sand and can attack the bigger problems that smaller organisms can't.