U.S. Government shuts down.

[Jester]

I think my issue with it is that it keeps the government(s) hands in our pockets to the range of about 20-50% of earnings overall.

You're free to believe the tax burden is too high. I don't think it is - in international comparison, the US is very low, lower than any comparably rich country, at 27%. If it was 50%, you'd be Denmark.



But I don't see what this has to do with indebtedness. If you're worried about government debt per se, rather than just trying to dismantle the welfare state (such as it is), you'd be in favour of higher taxes to improve the fiscal balance, no?

Another question for you... Private industry over the past decade or three, through the application of technology and process efficiencies has had record increases in productivity (more work, less workers). Why has government gone the opposite direction? We are spending more on government (40% of GDP) as if the same productivity curve did not apply to them.

Hasn't it? How are you measuring output productivity of government workers? The amount and type of work that "government" does is not fixed. You need a labour productivity measure.

Plus, I think you're thinking of manufacturing. Productivity improvements in services have been much more muted.

-Jester