On the issue of deciding where to invest money for 'knowledge for the sake of knowledge', I would suggest let scientist decide, what they like to do most. And of course there is a level of saturation and a minimum level below which a branch of science can't operate anymore at all. This minimum amount is unfortunately in particle physics relatively high, as you want to have at least one high energy collider in the world.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers