Comment Re:How can you (Score 1) 171
The government doesn't have any consequences when they make a bad investment, so the due diligence is going to be lower.
It also opens the door for the money to just be funneled into companies owned by campaign donors or which employ lots of union labor or which happen to be located in an influential senators district.
On the other hand, funding basic science at universities and other pure research organizations is something that is much less open to abuse, and something that private investment is less able to provide for. On the other hand it's also less likely to funnel in the campaign contributions and votes, so I'm not holding my breath.