I also believe NASA got out of the high-profile manned launch business because it put a spotlight on America as a super power. 0bama needed to kill that kind of thinking among Americans. There are numerous instances of 0bama going out of his way to avoid American tradition. When was the last time he gave a speech from the Oval Office as every other President has done? NEVER. He prefers standing in front of the yellow ‘banana Republic’ curtain, sometimes without our flag present.
I think NASA got out of the manned launch business because the space shuttle wore out. They didn’t build a replacement, and that is probably a good thing. The private launch business should operate more efficiently, if not regulated into the ground.
Example: US operated Springfield Arsenal. During WWI, despite being in production for years, Springfield Arsenal was unable to produce sufficient firearms for the growing US Army, so the Remington and Winchester plants provided Enfield P-17 rifles (Mauser clone with cock on closing). More than half the US soldiers of WWI were equipped with P-17s despite there being ZERO P-17s when we entered the war. My P-17 is as good now as ever it was.
The British had previously let a contract with US factories to tool and produce the P-14, in .303 British. One different tool was added and the production was converted to P-17 in .30/06. Remington also made MosinNagant rifles for Imperial Russia in 7.62x54R and those were issued to some US soldiers for training and to soldiers going to Russia for operational use.
Remington also produced 1903 pattern springfield rifles during WWII.
SpaceX is down the street, at Jack Northrop Field in Hawthorne CA.