Did you miss all of American politics from Reagan to Bush, the "era of small government"? Might want to check any political ad or speech from those few decades.
A government can spend billions of dollars efficiently.
As an example look at current COVID rapid testing kits. The US government is purchasing them at 4x the cost in other developed economies. California gave away $31 billion dollars in unemployment benefits to criminals.
This is what frustrates me. I am happy paying 40% tax as long as I see it making a difference in society.
Check out the investigation that Reagan pursued, the one in which he coined the phrase "Drain the swamp" and anchored the rest of his small-government ideas:
> Be bold and work like tireless bloodhounds, don't leave any stone unturned in your search to root out inefficiency.
You can find something similar in nearly every administration in the last 20 years. Want a Democratic example? Here's Al Gore on Letterman, talking about how government ashtrays are too expensive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQHyK3aUvJs
You can totally argue that government should be more efficient - and there are lots of people interested in that area, many of whom work for governments. But thinking that nobody is interested, or nobody is campaigning, or nobody is trying to create efficiency, is unbelievable.
A government can spend billions of dollars efficiently.
As an example look at current COVID rapid testing kits. The US government is purchasing them at 4x the cost in other developed economies. California gave away $31 billion dollars in unemployment benefits to criminals.
This is what frustrates me. I am happy paying 40% tax as long as I see it making a difference in society.