Most of the privatized space-travel efforts seem to be made by ultra-rich cybergeeks. I rather suspect this is more their ditzy attempt to recapture the dreams of lost youth than the nuts-and-bolts construction of a private spaceflight industry.

To be fair, a lot of early civil-aviation efforts were made by the 'rich lads' of the time, who later founded or supported the industry. If one reads the period literature, there's a similar "recapture the dreams of lost youth" attitude.

I've heard that the same held true for automobiles in the pre-Henry Ford era. They were expensive and rare, and wealthy aristocrats used them to go joyriding around their estates, frightening the horses.