> I think this is similar to the issue that Americans tend to pay relatively high taxes and get relatively little in return, compared to citizens of other count

> I think this is similar to the issue that Americans tend to pay relatively high taxes and get relatively little in return, compared to citizens of other countries. I don't know to what extent this is a I don't think it's too much of a leap to assess the majority of the blame to the way our system works. Our elections are privately funded, so political gain is easily bought by anyone with enough money, and one way to have enough money is to use your political capital to ensure the country remains an excellent place for you to make money. There's no aspect of the past few decades of US law that doesn't have direct fingerprints of someone's personal financial interest on it. We pay a lot to get a little, because the people providing a little would prefer to extract from us a lot.