Jeff Nolan ponders about why taxpayer $ is spent on trying to send tired old vehicles up in space, instead of creating new ones.  Btw, for all I know the Russian Progress and Soyuz flights are just as aging as ours, an they had their fair share of problems, too.  Anyway while NASA is spending OUR money on band-aid solutions, private capital gets into building new space vehicles, albeit sub-orbital ones:

 

Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Form Spacecraft Building Company By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 27 July 2005 03:09 pm ET