What should the government be spending its money on? So in those countries, social services are making up ~25 percent of government spending. But that includes healthcare and jobs programs, which are services that should directly bolster the larger economy by creating a healthy and more mobile workforce.
Meanwhile the US government spends about 35% of our GDP in a good year [1], and it is well known that over half of that goes to social security, medicare, and a smaller amount to housing. [2]
My only point is that it is easy to see that graph you posted and think that things are out of control, but the reality is just that in a post-war, urbanized, liberal society the governments job is to serve the people and sometimes that means spending money on them. I know surely none of us here will ever take adventage of medicare or social security in our old age. We will not be hiring students who went to state-funded schools (ew) or who live in subsidized housing--if they are that poor they can't work for me! But normal pepole actually do sometimes get help from the government and it is fine.
Meanwhile the US government spends about 35% of our GDP in a good year [1], and it is well known that over half of that goes to social security, medicare, and a smaller amount to housing. [2]
My only point is that it is easy to see that graph you posted and think that things are out of control, but the reality is just that in a post-war, urbanized, liberal society the governments job is to serve the people and sometimes that means spending money on them. I know surely none of us here will ever take adventage of medicare or social security in our old age. We will not be hiring students who went to state-funded schools (ew) or who live in subsidized housing--if they are that poor they can't work for me! But normal pepole actually do sometimes get help from the government and it is fine.
[1] https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-spendi... [2] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...