Take spacex as an example: spacex received $20bn in funding from federal government. That's 10% of the pre-Trump-election net worth of the oligarch owner.
SpaceX received very little in 'funding' from the government. However they sold extensive services to the government, primarily by offering the best value on competitive contracts.
Yes, I'm sorry, funding is not the right term. They received $20bn in federal contracts. And they do fantastic work. My point is, the government is certainly aware that spacex does a great job and delivers. It's not a competition between NASA and spacex.
And SpaceX has done exactly what they were asked to do with that money. Great value for the taxpayer.
Indeed. Because they whole deal of them getting that money was to do the job for NASA the way NASA cannot due to public scrutiny.