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That depends on what you think the government is there for: is it there for the benefit of the people, or is it there for the benefit of businesses?
This is one of the few countries where a large chunk of the electorate, right or wrong, would answer that "what is good for businesses is good for America, and therefore good for the people." And under some circumstances, it does look that way; we were on top of the economic world in the mid-20th century, and labor, being in high demand, did pretty well. Companies paid us enough to live well, they paid for our health insurance, and some of them were philanthropic.
But those days are gone. What remains is an oligarchy, and enough suckers that still believe that businesses will again save the day, if only we deregulate/lower taxes/erect tariffs/etc.
The only thing that makes Americans say that "taxation is theft" (or words to that effect) is nostalgia. Europe, especially post WWII, saw things from a different angle, and didn't build their societies around the business world. It's not an illegitimate way to view the role of government at all. I'd say it's the better way.
That depends on what you think the government is there for: is it there for the benefit of the people, or is it there for the benefit of businesses?
That of course depends upon which side of the political isle you're on and that has been the history of 'people's general welfare' and free markets since our founding. The monied interests in this country have done two things: first they changed the paradigm; they got a new generation to think of nothing except being a CEO and their portfolios. While that was going on, they changed the rules by which the monied interests had to operate. This is exactly how the plantation class of the Antebellum south did and how they explained away slavery and pitted people against each other "in the name of The Constitution and Liberty"... Please be very weary these days of the phrase "economic liberty. We know how the Antebellum south worked out and as we've seen of late it's going that way again. As the monied interests like to say, "nobody's going to give to you, you have to take it". They need to study Lenin on that account.
The new right-wing are confederates; don't kid yourself.
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