Why is the government so big?

I think we've hosed ourselves, truly I do.

My paycheck this period is $4,554
My taxes are $1,109

One fourth of what I make as income is tasken from me up front.

I live in Virginia.

5 percent is added to EVERYTHING I buy, and handed over to the state treasury.

I use electricity and phones.

Take a look at your phone bill and utility bill, and see all the fees and taxes added to them every month.

When you are all said and done, if you are in my tax bracket, you will find that you are spending nearly 40 percent of total income in taxes and fees.

40 percent.

Who needs all that money, really?

OK here's what got me. Savings and Loan companies got into trouble in the 80's. Somehow the federal government ended up bailing them out, costing us taxpayers abotu $124 billion (Amadeo, 2008) Could stagflation reoccur? http://useconomy.about.com/.
Why?

Terrorists attack and kill thousands. For being in the wrong place at the wrong time the federal government gives each of the surviving families over $1 million.
Why?

Old men want Viagra. Can't go without sex, now, can we?
Problem is they don't want to pay for it. So we do, through Medicare.
Why?

Now people are in trouble with their mortgages. THEY refinanced into variable rate loans, paying interest-only, so they could get TEMPORARY low payments.
Rates rise, loans default, banks tremble, housing prioces fall, and those people are in trouble for THEIR decisions.
So we want the federal government to bail them out. Can't wait to see the final bill for that, and what it will cost taxpayers.
Why?

Hey, I'm all for emergency care for people in trouble. Heart trouble? No assets? We'll give you a bypass and medication. Sick? No money? call one number - be assigned to a doctor. Go.
Guess what? It'll be our doctors and generics.
Could you get better treatment? probably, but it's welfare after all - at least you get it.
Can you get your teeth straightened so you will look better? No.
Can you get your boobs enlarged? No.
Can you get your tummy stapled? Liposuction? An abortion? A face lift? No. No. No. and No.
Can you get antibiotics for Strep Throat? Yes.
Can you stay in a hospital overnight? Yes.
Can you live in a hospital? No.
Bet this would cut Medicare costs by billions.

Hungry?
No problem.
Warehouse in the town you live in. Stocked to the roof with balogna, eggs, cheese, milk, canned vegetables.
Go there. Or ask someone else to go there for you.
Guess what? You will eat what is provided. Total nutrition.
It will always be the same thing.
But you will be full.
No place to live?
No problem.
Homeless shelter in your town. 30 day passes, reviewed every month.
Oh - they don't feed you - you go to the warehouse for food.
Bet this would cut welfare costs by billions

Yeah I know - I sound so cruel.
But I believe at this point throwing money at people and their problems to assuage our guilt isn't helping. It is making matters worse. We have "fought the war on poverty" for more than 40 years now by throwing money at it. All we have done is made more poverty, broken up families, and increased the government's iron grip on our pocket books.

I don't think we can change it now.

It's too bad, but Will Durant (I think) said it best: "Nations are born stoic, and die Hedonistic" - or something like that.

Meaning we strive in the beginning to take care of ourselves, and after a while we grow to expect someone else to take care of us at little or no cost to us.

So we go out, whining and crying, big babies without the will or means to wipe our own heinies.

What a way to go.