The only reason they got the space contract was so that the US Government wasnt relying on just Space X
The US govt is now relying on just Space X
The US govt is now relying on just Space X
So far those goals mostly involve building cash cows in service of financing even higher goals. I'm not sure if that goal is still Mars, but whatever it is they are reinvesting everything and regularly take in more investments
If it’s for public benefit, than let the public decide what the benefit be.
This stifles innovation and the willingness to take on risk for a reward down the road. If you actually pull it off and reach some level of “public benefit” it could just be taken from you.
Is Amazons same day delivery of medications a “public benefit”?
SpaceX has reduced costs of launching into space far greater than NASA, an already public service, has achieved. NASA's deeply inefficient costs have directly contributed to its budget being slashed and the disinterest in Congress for funding it further, it is subject to the political whims of being a public service and exacerbated by its uncompetitive spending pattern to achieve anything extraterrestrial.
The direction that the US Government is going is one to incentivize the private sector - yes, with its shareholders and all the trappings of capitalism - but with competition between multiple private enterprises. So far, the space industry is failing to have competition between multiple private enterprises, just because Boeing has poor quality control. But additional entrants into this sector are expected.