I'd go with a TSA as an example of such spending. It's a net negative to the society - lots of money being spent to give an impression of security while it's proven that they clearly fail at their mission:
If you are analyzing the impact of the TSA on basic needs in our current economy, it's very positive, providing jobs and causing minor distributed irritation that doesn't really count as a negative impact on basic needs.
(You can argue that it would be better to give the money away without requiring the jobs, but that ain't the world we have)
The fact that it is a show doesn't make it negative towards basic needs. Like people that can't afford to fly aren't going to go hungry because of the TSA.
I wouldn't be surprised if slightly discouraging business travel is anyway a net positive (it's going to take more than an irritating line to inhibit necessary travel and some amount of travel is almost certainly waste).
Oh, I definitely agree with your point. But what I'm saying is if you remove the security theater from the equation, you are left with comparing the job creation of a "pointless" but legitimate institution, versus the costs of diverting that money to different programs as well as the cost to travelers.
(You can argue that it would be better to give the money away without requiring the jobs, but that ain't the world we have)