I also think there are better places to put this kind of money, including on projects that we are certain have obvious potential to change the world for the better.

What I was getting at was the very idea that we absolutely have to know what the return is before we start. Just because we know the potential return doesn't mean that it's not research (as in your fusion example), but just because we can't identify a return ahead of time doesn't mean there won't be one.

Also, I don't know if there have been any tangible benefits from the LHC. Precision manufacturing? Improvements in large-scale, multi-jurisdiction project management? Data analytics techniques? More efficient superconducting magnets? I don't know if those are actual side effects of the project and, if they are, I don't know that the LHC was the only way to get them.

Edit: or, like the quantum physics underlying our electronics, maybe we won't know for 50-100 years just how important that proof was.