ok, I'll compromise, I'm a reasonable guy, meet you half way, just half of all regulations and taxes, and I'm sure you will also give up 1/2 of all spending. We each have to sacrifice our fair share so nobody with less ever complains. We wouldn't want any complaining now would we?
How about we keep things factual? How I feel or you feel is irrelevant to the topic and points, made. Unless you want anarchy you probably see the need for an authority with power to set up, maintain, and police rules and guidelines, that authority is called government. You can of course give it a different name if that makes you feel better
For some reason, government just seems to naturally grow, get bigger, more oppressive and more expensive. You don't really need to do anything to encourage it along. I can gauge how we are doing by how you feel. If you feel bad we are probably making progress.
Sounds eminently fair... The devil is, as usual, in the details. I am not encouraged by what I've seen so far. Can you make an effort to quantify this? In what precise sense has the government grown, become bigger, more oppressive and more expensive? I have asked peeps on this site who appear to run businesses similar questions...
Well, no matter how hard this current administration tries to suggest feelings count, they don't. Facts and truth counts. Without getting political, in the end each society has to make a choice, a universal welfare system (Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany are the systems that prove it works) or a take no prisoners capitalist system where each individual is responsible for his or her own wellbeing (no current example is in existence though Singapore and HK come close but those are city states with far less complexity). When you have a country where 50% want A and the other 50% want B then you will get to a breaking point at some point in time. At the very least it is not beneficial to be so split as can be seen currently with the US. No other nation or entity benefits more from this chaos in the US than China. At some point Americans need to find a clearer majority on all issues than currently unless the nation wants to tear itself further apart.
except 50% want what is normal and natural. 50% want what anybody can see is unsustainable. If the individual has no responsibility for their own well being what is the point of individuals? To work for the state? Don't believe everything about America you hear from BBC.
It's called the "Wealth Effect" When you feel more wealthy you spend more real dollars vs saving them.
I don't watch BBC. Every individual today has responsibilities and plenty, including in the US. May I suggest you see things a little too black and white? If the US government would entirely cut the defense budget and reallocate those resources that would already go a long way. And sure governments can grow too big, I won't argue about this. The problem remains, exactly half the population wants self determination (though ironically 70% or so of that half relies on government handouts and government care itself) and the other half wants a welfare state. That's the big problem that needs to be solved. You can't have both.
Completely unrelated. The fact that most people spend a stable relative portion of their income/wealth has nothing to do with feelings. It has to do with common sense. Only stupid people feel wealthy when they are not and even dumber people then go ahead and spend the little they have thinking they are wealthy when they are actually not.