"So how do these scientists think they should get funded? By forcing the populous to fund their lifestyle and lifestyle pursuits? Next the Arts will insist they are important and want more, then the Sport brigade, then this, then that."

Erm... The Arts generally don't get much, but then again they don't really need much... Paper isn't very expensive. And the "Sport brigade" makes billions of dollars. So what are you talking about, exactly?

"Mankind has been able to move itself out of the primordial swamp by free-thinking people utilizing the free-market to decide what they want to spend their own money on."

Did Einstein utilize the "free-market"? Did Maxwell? Did Beethoven?

Don't be so quick to criticize - you owe these people because they created your modern world. And they didn't do it for profit. Would Einstein have managed to come up with relativity if he were working for some company? Who knows.