It isn't as if there was this long line of sad rocket companies waiting out in the cold, shut out of their dreams of outer space by the mean old government. There simply weren't any others except for the go-to contractors that NASA always relied on.

Now that there is a critical mass of billionaire nerds and venture capitalists who want to build rocket companies, there is now competition in this sector. It is a case of monopoly vs competition. That is the real answer.