> There simply isn't enough of a known payoff for private investors to bother and private philanthropists have never come close to making up the shortfall.

not true. in the us, the government funds only about half of all research and development expenditures.

> private philanthropists have never come close to making up the shortfall.

you are certainly not thinking about university endowments. Numerically most university professors are operaring from a startup budget given by the university, not a grant. even in an r1, most professors do not come in with external money.

> bad at their jobs? Who really thinks a keyword list is the right way to filter grant applications?

i mean. i dont know which is dumber. thinking a keyword list is a good idea for cancelling grants or thinking that a grant application is the right way to filter for good science in the first place?