Quoting from this site:
It’s wrong to wish on space hardware
Esther’s true purpose amongst us is revealed later in the interview, where she boasts that “I’ve never met a government that could pick winners” and advises regulators to get right out of town. Of course you don’t need to be a genius to see that government makes a lousy businessman, which is why governments don’t even try to anymore. But government can fund technology projects that are both hugely useful (TGV) and aesthetically beautiful (Concorde). Japan, Germany and now the People’s Republic of China have proved that judiciously directed public investment provides a welcome alternative to the bulimic US model of private investment: huge splurges followed by copious vomiting. And only a churl would point out that of the last three technology upturns in Esther’s old launch pad of Silicon Valley, two (the 1980s and the current modest revival) have been stoked by government defense spending, and the one in between was the result of exploiting a publically funded defense project: the Internet.