Your example is zero sum; there is no collective benefit. Investment in roads enable commerce. Investments in education enable future technology.
And does our government do that? It seems we have one party that wants to pay for theatrical law enforcement and another party that wants to pay for performative DEI nonsense
What if you were keeping the $1000 in a bank account and I will invest $900 into a scholarship to pay for someone's education. You can invest $0.90 into roads. Now the example has a collective benefit for both of us.