All of this talk about a COMMERCIAL space race (i.e. $1G to the first 1-year 
moon base) is intriguing. Similar prizes have influenced aerospace 
development before. The $25k Orteig prize helped Lindbergh sell his Spirit of 
Saint Louis venture to his financial backers.

If memory serves, the $25k prize would not have been enough to totally 
reimburse some of the more expensive transatlantic projects (such as 
Fokker's, Nungesser and other multi-engine projects). However Lindbergh 
ultimately kept his total costs below that amount.

But I strongly suspect that his Saint Louis backers had the foresight to 
realize that much more was at stake than $25,000.

Could it work with the moon? Who are the far-sighted financial backers of 
today?