For any meaningful activity in space, expendables are a dead end. Besides that, expendables are just plain stupid, an example of continuing to do things wrong simply because you didn't have time to do it right the first time.
But the aerospace companies love expendables because they get to sell a whole new rocket for every mission. For that reason alone, letting them develop anything reusable is the fox guarding the henhouse.
No, what's stupid is continuing to drag up everything we need in space from the Earth's surface. We need to start using the resources of near-Earth space to enable space flight. I advocate expendables only to get us started toward that end -- emplace the elements of a resource extraction base on the Moon and start manufacturing propellant from lunar materials. When you break the logistical bonds of Earth, then you have true space-faring capability.
But the aerospace companies love expendables because they get to sell a whole new rocket for every mission. For that reason alone, letting them develop anything reusable is the fox guarding the henhouse.
Now, I'm nothing but a regular guy, but from what I have read, the "reusable" space shuttle costs about $500,000,000 a mission, to put up 15 metric tons of cargo. Accoring to this article, a demo mission for a Delta runs from 140 - 170 million. Even if we assume a significantly higher cost of $200,000,000 for a real flight, it looks like it is a heck of a lot cheaper per ton to launch 13 MT into orbit for 200 than 15 MT into space for 500.
I'm very willing to be educated here, but it looks to me like the disposables are the lower cost way to go, and the existing shuttle program the real boondoggle.