WTF Is Wrong With US?

Uranium has been researched seriously for about 70 years.
In ten years we spent more money than the entire economic output of the 19th century and managed to create the fission bombs. Weapons we won't use. Can't use.

We spent a massive amount of money for a threat. A threat that "Don't do that, or you'll get the same.".

Yet 70 years later we still haven't come up with a better way of curing cancer. We also use uranium for cancer cures, yet we've spent far less money. Which means it's taken far more time.

We live in a world - a country - where our efforts and resources are put towards unusable threats rather than saving lives.

What is wrong with us - and how do we fix it?

(Mad Props to The Daily Show for making me aware of this disparity. They're funny, but they do manage to make things clear sometimes.)