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Please help me understand this. We have a collective government that has more money than any other country EVER. Yet they can't balance a budget and are massively in debt. If you have people who are very bad at spending money giving them more money isn't going to solve any of their problems.

We have corrupt officials who are well entrenched in their positions who profit off of it by selling out their constituents to their donors.

More government isn't the answer. Less government better run and regulated is the key.



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Because the government is corrupt and proven to be bad with money.

Governments yield too much power, meanwhile citizens keep funding said governments with ridiculously high taxes.

Trying to fix governments is counterproductive, just need to decentralize things imho.


Exactly this. Often times when people complain about waste and corruption, their solution is more government.

There's an assumption there that more money to government = make things better but there are plenty of examples where the government makes things worse.

Some people believe that giving less = actually make things better because it will limit the bad things a government can do.


Many people want something to change but don't trust the government. They have a point. The govt collects more taxes and then just spends more and is right back to needing more $. Often the money doesn't go to where it's needed because lots of palms need to be greased.

With both, private and public spending, it is not the quantity that matters, but quality. Both sometimes waste money, and that's what needs to be addressed. More government does not solve anything as long as that additional spending finances bureaucracy. Since the most cost-effective governments are normally also the smallest, my personal view is that one should spend less on the federal level, but more on the local level. Decentralization is key.

Why is this seemingly not true in other western countries where they have cheaper, better-functioning public institutions? I think there's truth in what you're saying, but the idea that government itself is the sole problem is far too simple an answer

Government at all levels already spends 35% of the GDP. It's hard to see how increasing that will make things better.

The problem isn't spending it's the effectiveness of it. The last thing that you want to do is have the government cut spending because it doesn't get rid of the corruption it just cuts the stuff that helps people.

Thank you. Finally some common sense to counter the libertarian anti-government sentiment. Whenever they tell you that government run schools are failing, ask them why the government run schools in other countries are performing so much better. Whenever they say that government can't allocate resources efficiently, point them to the governments that have balanced their budgets. It is possible. You don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The solution to bad government is not to abandon it, but to work ever harder to improve it.

Getting the money / corporate influence out of government would be the place to start.


I don't appreciate the extravagant waste and the entitlement of the state to impose it's will on the people. With our taxes, we also support bailouts, wars, and other profiteering of those in control. Also, these institutions are basically monopolies, where the people in charge are not really accountable to run them efficiently or effectively.

Does giving the government more money make the government more effective?


Governments in many countries provide good services to their citizens. The US has one party that just tries to dismantle and make government programs worse on purpose so they can personally pay less taxes.

Then let’s fight corruption, let’s fight to spend those budgets on educating our populace and having amazing public services. Let’s stop dithering about taxes and create a system of government that punishes corruption and is policed by a wholly different institution. It’s ridiculous to expect any institution that polices itself to not fall into corruption over time.

I would think one day even those like you would realize... Money is rarely the answer. Same with our prison and criminal justice systems, education, ETC.

Spending has ramped up dramatically in these areas and yet the results are either not improved or worse...

What would you consider "adequately funding" our social programs.

More government(especially federal) is not the answer. Your type is always saying, just a bit more, just a bit bigger, even when things get even worse you think a bigger government can fix it.

How blind you are not to see that the government often caused the problem to begin with.


Don't governments have enough money? I think they could do with a lot less actually.

The problem isn't spending because governments are a macroeconomic and microeconomic entity bundled together. Everyone wants to present it as a moral failure but it is quite simple. When your country consists of one industry and that industry is gone, so is your country.

You can borrow and spend money to diversify. Lots of successful countries have done it.


When companies fail, consumers go somewhere else. When the government fails, we give it more money. The real problem with government is not enough spending.

Good. What's wrong, the government doesn't have enough money?

The federal government does too many things, and does them poorly. Our entitlement programs are broken by design, we spend an insane amount on our military, and there are countless federal programs that fritter away taxpayer money. The government should do more with the money we give them instead of constantly demanding more from our citizens.
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