A big part of my "coming of age" was realizing the US is not some business, capitalist paradise, nor is it a "low tax" jurisdiction. If you live in most of the

A big part of my "coming of age" was realizing the US is not some business, capitalist paradise, nor is it a "low tax" jurisdiction. If you live in most of the big centers, you pay as much tax as Europeans, and receive almost nothing in welfare benefits (whereas your European peer will receive tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, in government services over a lifetime). If I didn't have health insurance through my spouse's employer, I'd be paying $1,600/mo in student loan minimum payments and catastrophic plan health insurance (which will only get more expensive as I get older and have children). Add that on top of federal taxes, payroll taxes (self-employed, so I have to pay both sides), New York state and New York city taxes (NYC conveniently double-taxes S-corp earnings, btw), and I'm paying far more than any European would in my position. Doing business is also a huge headache, with so many different taxes to navigate, on the federal, state, and local level. Payroll taxes are a joke. Why not just collect it along with FICA and earmark it at the government level? Because politics. They think, if you label the tax "Medicare" or "Social Security," they won't think of it as a tax but rather a savings account. Right. And I'm a lawyer! I can't imagine how much precious capital is wasted on CPAs and attorneys by small business owners trying to start a business the right way. More and more I realize that the US is actually quite mediocre at many things, especially governance, not exceptional. What we are is a huge homogeneous market, and that's where much of our wealth comes from.