Something to consider.....

Yes, on a long enough timeline everyone's survival
rate drops to zero. That includes the world leaders
you mention, and they know it too. We can divide
those world leaders into roughly two grouups: the
dictators and the politicians. Dictators know that
their rule lasts as long as they are alive, so their
motive is simply to keep breathing; their focus is on
their own lifetime, and anything that happens after
that doesn't matter to them. The politicians know
that their rule lasts only so long as people will
elect them; their focus is on getting elected or
reelected. Anything with a timeline longer than the
next election cycle doesn't matter to them.

So, these long-term issues matter not a whit to the
dictators, and only matter to the politicians if the
issue helps them at the next election. Issues like
the long-term survival of humanity don't help
politicians get elected unless there is massive
popular support for a particular position, which will
not necessarily be an optimal or even helpful
position.

Even supposing that space did become a huge issue, why
would any government choose to allow large portions of
its population to live in a place that is essentially
out of the reach of that government? If you don't pay
your taxes, could they send an IRS agent out to find
you *somewhere* in the 50 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
000 cubic kilometers inside the orbit of Mars? Could
they possibly check a quadrillion small bodies
orbiting the sun to find a specific person?

No, they couldn't. And if they can't do that, then
they have no power over those people living in space -
and for politicians and dictators alike, the loss of
power is a tragedy. So, don't count on world leaders
to do anything to enable opening up the solar system
to the masses of humanity.

Ed

--- the_gunfighter_45acp