CHART OF THE DAY: The Government Money That Built The Internet Is Going Away (Silicon Alley Insider)

Interesting chart. A couple questions:

Has government funded research as a percentage of GDP declined across all categories similarly over the same period?
If so, where has that money been directed since there has not been a general decline in government spending?
If not, then what type of research are government funds being directed towards?
And, isn’t part of the idea behind government funded R&D that the funds be allotted towards projects without clear enough market structure for the private sector to get involved? - Then, once the government research bears fruit the private sector may begin to exploit the findings; creating new markets, new firms, and new jobs.

Thus, isn’t it possible that this graph is telling us something very good about how the market for technology research and development has evolved?

J N O M I C S