It's a subtle point. China says they can do this. Russia says they can do this. Bush says this is what we're going to do.
I'll go on record as saying that the U.S. government won't establish a permanent presence on the moon or go to Mars, because the welfare state already claims too much of our national income and emotional attention. And this problem will only get worse as the baby boomers age.
I have no idea what Russia or China's fiscal constraints are like, but ours will be fatal.
Unless some clever engineer comes up with a stroke of cost-saving genius, it won't IMHO happen.