Fundamental research and humanities both have these funding issues. It may be worth a discussion if these fields could benefit from increased public funding, because some forms of research don't result in an immediate economic benefit.
Add to that the number of distractions that everyone is subjected to in the modern world, and I start to feel like it's no wonder we're still struggling with quantum interpretations or going beyond the standard model.
Now, I'm not saying that we should reduce the number of conferences or papers, or amount of outreach. Just the amount of time academics need to spend on them. Of course there will always be a few of the elite who will find time to sit and think for hours per day outside of these, nevertheless the harder you make it the more knowledge will suffer.