There is something else intriguing about the moon. The moon is not earth, but it is way closer than anything else.
The wealthy are not jointly into everything government. Government is not on the moon. If the wealthy can start their own moon government, there might be nothing the war mongering governments of earth can do about it.
Think of the logical, peaceful advancement of civilization and science, away from the war mongering governments. Yet, moon is close enough that it will be easy to transport necessities from here, which can't be readily had on the moon right away.
Probably, all the raw materials can be found on the moon. But it will take too much time developing a basic start to just go there without some help from earth. Mars is too far away to do ANYTHING easily. The lighter gravity of the moon will make it a good jumping-into-space point, especially once we get things set up for real manufacturing there. Then, Mars, and beyond.
Probably by the time we are able to colonize Mars in a meaningful way, somebody will have found out how to give people 500 years of life in good health. We won't have to worry about overpopulation, even with longer lives.
Next will come other planets, and by that time we will have found out how to live to one or two thousand years old. Then the universe.