If that is the case - and you put it very well - then you make a valid point. The question then becomes, are we funding a technology that has no hope of producing meaningful results?
If it is private industry, then that is there business. If it is public dollars, then it is cause for policy examination.
Oddly, and contrary to some opinion, the big private investors in solar cell tech are big oil. Shell is a major. There are some $2 per watt products but they are not available to the ordinary consumer. If you are running a publicly funded project you can get this. But, it still isn’t in the five cents range that would bring solar power to 6.5 billion people.