I guess I get annoyed when so much money is used on totally useless projects that actually do nothing by way of progress.
Except its not an either/or situation. You want to get annoyed at money being wasted have a look at your countries defense budget or the salaries of whatever ruling class you have.
Also not wanting to be disrespectful but saying they do nothing by way of progress is, for want of a nicer word, pretty ignorant. I'm not saying that to be offensive but it is literally possibly to find big lists of "practical" things we have got from the various space programs.
There are literally thousands of things that have come from space exploration that have improved the lives of us regular folks. Hell modern life is pretty much reliant on satellite technology at this point.
Even if there was no "practical" use from anything we are gaining from out current space exploration/study just the knowledge itself is worth it.
The three billionaires are just repeating the old chestnut of the US vs USSR oneupmanship game...and for what good will it do?
Lets take a look at some of the "practical" things, literally just off the top of my head, that could come from these various programs.
Suborbital flight (Virgin/Bezo) -
Much faster than current methods of transport. This has more wide ranging impacts then just being able to move people about.
Potentially could end up being a much more environmentally friendly form of long distance travel.
Technology used in suborbital flight can be used in the regular aerospace industry to improve efficiency and safety.
Reusable Rocket tech (beoing/Space X)
Is solving one of the biggest issues with getting to space.
Having reusable rockets means:
Less environmental impact.
Ability to lift larger payloads
Ability to lift more payloads
Technology from these rockets such as their thrust vectoring can be used in other industries.
Larger payloads and more frequent payloads is massive for expending our ability to be able to do anything in space. Everything from being able to send up satellites to study weather patterns and climate change to eventually being able to set up manufacturing in micro gravity.
Talking about micro gravity. There is a TON of research and manufacturing (including medical) that can only be done in microgravity. Growing protein crystals in microgravity for example could be the key to creating cures to a number of diseases and early research is looking incredibly promising.
Then you also have to consider the number of people being employed by these companies. It's not just the scientists and engineers, its cleaners, cooks, security, drivers, etc, etc.
I could literally spend all day typing up things that have come from these space programs that are benefiting humankind as a whole. That is why I use the word ignorant earlier, not as an insult, but as in a lot of people are genuinely ignorant of exactly how much amazing stuff has come and will come from these space programs.
Even ignoring all the actual physical things we are getting just learning about the universe is reason enough to be doing all of this.