One might just as well ask why the Romans spent a fortune on cruel gladiatorial games instead of investing in the welfare of citizens. Spectacle sells, no matter how meaningless. The irony of this could not have been lost on the organizers and many of the donors who were allowed to participate in the creation of an ironic spectacle. Crowd funded performance art.

One might argue the American taxpayer funds the performance art of our President whose signature piece is a pointless border wall which can be trespasses with ease. Art which lacks the ironic distance of a hole.