True but the opportunity cost is truly lost. Entropy comes for everyone. If we spend a lot of money digging holes in the ground then filling them again, maybe no money was lost.

Sure - but that's a meta question of whether the current economic/political systems are delivering good allocation of resources for whatever target function you favour.

And that's complex - even in your simple example you can argue that people have likely improved their capability to dig and fill holes - and the latter skill is particularly valuable in the UK right now.

ie Entropy includes information component :-)