> As wide-ranging as these various entrepreneurial ventures may be, they all have one thing in common – not a single one of them would get funding in a competitive private capital market if it weren’t for massive (and I do mean massive) taxpayer-funded government subsidies.

Correct, but that's a problem of the current incentive structure in the market (some would say it's a problem of capitalism... I wouldn't go that far). The government isn't tied to those incentives, and so can (and should) use its money to promote initiatives that have large expected payback in the long run.