>Whether an innovation will be a success is uncertain, and it can take longer than traditional banks or venture capitalists are willing to wait. In countries such as the United States, China, Singapore, and Denmark, the state has provided the kind of patient and long-term finance new technologies need to get off the ground.

This is the crux of the problem and why the OP makes a compelling argument.

We live in a world of "innovation" where the driving force behind it is a conglomerate of VC's whose primary concerns are their multiples and the next fund. They are people without long-term vision.

We also live in a world where political are small men and women proposing small ideas because their primary concern is the next election cycle.

What ever happen to greatness?

"We're putting a man on the moon in 10 years." "We're building a national highway system." "We're building a weapon that will end wars."

Where did the will go? Where are the cries of:

"We'll be free of fossil fuels in 10 years." "We're sending a person to Mars by 2020."

Or if you like wars on abstract combatants that never end:

"The war on ignorance"

Someone needs some vision. And right now, nobody has it.