This is a very myopic view that basically comes down to "I can't immediately think of thousands of different government services that require money, so they the

This is a very myopic view that basically comes down to "I can't immediately think of thousands of different government services that require money, so they therefore don't exist and it all must be wasted." Yes, there is some corruption and waste, especially in the DoD. It's a non-trivial percentage, and too high. I too wish we gave less money to the defense industry. But when a suspension bridge needs substructure repairs for $400 million, and that contract might go to a Senator's buddy's company, it represents corruption, but not necessarily a huge amount of waste. It's only waste if the company is actually significantly worse at delivering. There are some bad incentives, but mostly everyone is still incentivized to do the job right. I'm hesitant to estimate a percentage on the amount of taxes that are outright wasted due to corruption, but I have serious doubts it's higher than 10%. Yes, that's WAY TOO HIGH, but it's not close to "all of it minus a micron", like you say. Nor is it nearly enough for 3.4% to actually sustain everything; nor is 0% waste possible (but we should still try!).