It's not cheap. It's not fast. But only Mars, the god of war, could love the alternative. Earth needs a frontier. Frontiers keep people employed by creating new markets.
Frontiers explode zero-sum thinking.
Frontiers spread people out. For a lot of reasons, Mars , the planet, qualifies. Its soil is rich in oxygen for life support and rocket propulsion. Carbon, another essential, is available from the atmosphere, which is mainly carbon dioxide. There is water on Mars.