To me basically the question is: should the money be spend by private persons and corporations, or by governments. There should be a balance, but there is a long term tendency towards governments. Because in the end they make the rules. And its difficult to control ones powers...

Personally I am not sure the latter spends it better, in terms of good for the future of society. I am very happy with Google search, Gmail, my iPhone, iPad, etc. Looking forward to ever buy a Tesla hopefully ;-)

There are always side effects: a handful of people getting extremely rich or presidents who spend billions on big projects.

Governments should concentrate on lowering taxes (in Europe the taxes go just one way in the long run...) and keeping a very close eye the playing field: misuse of rules. Privacy and net neutrality come to mind. Software patents... As well as banks taking to high risks which are highly rewarded if it works out or payed for by society if not (which is a governmental decision !).

In my humble opinion our government leaders are just as human as the leaders of companies. Does anyone of them thinks of society ? Probably. Do either one of them think about their own future ? Definitely.