Spiff, the guys who got us into space at NASA are pretty much retired now. The ones who are left are the managers and bureaucrats. Yeah, there's lots of folks on the payroll with engineering degrees. Its just that they don't make the decisions. The management has been doing it wrong for so long that they have forgotten what right looks like. I have looked the the evidence - Rutan and his team have come up the learning curve at a rapid pace. Please note their success in other areas of fight. OTOH NASA doesn't seem to be able to do much in manned space flight, the science missions do seem to perk along, but they cost way too much.
NASA has orbited and constructed a Space Station and it has been crewed non-stop. We may live in an age where we never know a time when there is not a human presence in space again.
That is no small accomplishment. To say that they have "not done much" does not make sense at all. Who has done more?
And bear it mind that Rutan can use all of the research and data from NASA that cost blood and money to get for free.
Ever "fly" a spacecraft to another planet? I have. The scientific return is exceptional for the money spent IMHO.