High debt, low taxes, high spending

[Percivale]

The rich and big corporations like it this way. They get government to spend lots of money on their products, for instance by having schools buy Chromebooks for every student even in kindergarten, and don't have to pay high taxes but instead loan money to the government and collect interest on it. They like complex grants and means tested handouts because people wouldn't spend as much of their own money on products they don't really need, but if government or insurance is paying they'll spend more.

This setup makes the rich richer but it's not sustainable. The more government borrows the more interest it pays, and at some point that will reach a spiral where more and more borrowing is needed just to pay the interest, causing higher and higher interest. The only ways out will be default or massive inflation, both of which will be painful and disruptive to the economy and government function. Meanwhile excessive consumption is exacerbating the climate crisis. To solve this, welfare should be done with cash directly to those who need it, and subsidies, grants, and complex programs eliminated.

 

[HTacianas]

The rich and big corporations like it this way. They get government to spend lots of money on their products, for instance by having schools buy Chromebooks for every student even in kindergarten, and don't have to pay high taxes but instead loan money to the government and collect interest on it. They like complex grants and means tested handouts because people wouldn't spend as much of their own money on products they don't really need, but if government or insurance is paying they'll spend more.

This setup makes the rich richer but it's not sustainable. The more government borrows the more interest it pays, and at some point that will reach a spiral where more and more borrowing is needed just to pay the interest, causing higher and higher interest. The only ways out will be default or massive inflation, both of which will be painful and disruptive to the economy and government function. Meanwhile excessive consumption is exacerbating the climate crisis. To solve this, welfare should be done with cash directly to those who need it, and subsidies, grants, and complex programs eliminated.

You're missing a point, and that point is that government is squarely in charge of it all. Now you are right about most of the rest (except that government debt is not bought by only the rich) but government is still the problem.

 

[Percivale]

You're missing a point, and that point is that government is squarely in charge of it all. Now you are right about most of the rest (except that government debt is not bought by only the rich) but government is still the problem.

Who the government is made up of is chosen by the people or by those who fund candidates' campaigns; government is not a separate group unrelated to the rest of the country.