The way I see it, near earth asteroid mining will lead to a gold rush in the main asteroid belt which means investment in propulsion research. From there they will start casting glances at the Kuiper belt. By the time the Ort cloud becomes a reasonable goal, we’re half way to Alpha C.
Gotta wake people up to the fact that mining and manufacturing in space is the way to go.
I see a future on Earth with all of the heavy industry is off this planet, and in space.. Also I do see a brain drain off of this planet. The best and brightest go to the stars while the meek stay on the planet.