>And obviously it would be vastly better for humanity if Musk spent money on zero-emission large scale energy production, than on rockets.
Classic zero sum thinking. Spacex doesn't cost money, it makes it. How much money do you think Musk put into it? The answer is ~100 million seed. It is now worth 35,000 million.
How far do you think that 100m would go to develop fusion. The ITER project alone costs 65,000 million.
There is a difference between buying something and putting in money.
If I buy a cheeseburger, I can't say I "put in" $5 to McDonalds and should have some ownership. If I pay my contract plumber to fix my toilet, I don't own their business either.
I think you will be hard-pressed to find any substantial examples where the US gov wasn't buying something from SpaceX.
McDonald's won't go bankrupt if you elect not to get the large fries. SpaceX would have gone bankrupt several times if NASA hadn't kicked in at a crucial moment.
Classic zero sum thinking. Spacex doesn't cost money, it makes it. How much money do you think Musk put into it? The answer is ~100 million seed. It is now worth 35,000 million.
How far do you think that 100m would go to develop fusion. The ITER project alone costs 65,000 million.