Except it's so wrong. It has been shown that the government will fund things that corporations won't.
It hasn't been shown to me. And it hasn't been shown to you, either. You just take it on faith, really. In our modern world, it's literally impossible for us to actually understand all of the science, so we have to take some things on faith. That was exactly the point of the story.
And who said anything about corporations? There are other ways to fund research than taxes or potential profits.