To understand America you MUST understand the perspective and incentives of the most important people in America: the people to whom the state gives all of the taxpayers’ money.
You see, when the state is $40 trillion in debt, this money didn’t just magically disappear into a black hole. Rather, it was spent on projects the government was somehow convinced were useful or necessary at the time. Some people got that money, and it flowed into their bank accounts. Some of these people who get money from the government are quite rich. I am going to call them “state oligarchs,” who are different from “market oligarchs.” Not every person paid by the state is an oligarch. There are some people who simply collect an upper-middle-class paycheck inside an agency that doesn’t do anything.
“Market oligarchs” are usually well-known founders of new firms who stay in the spotlight. “State oligarchs” are less well known. However, they exist and their incentives and actions are the key to shaping the past, present, and future of America.
The key insight you need to grasp is that as a collective, the “state oligarchs” benefit from higher taxes, even if those taxes predominantly fall on the “rich.” While it may sound counter-intuitive at first why some rich people would advocate for “higher taxes,” consider this: if you are a defense contractor or a healthcare provider who gets 100% of their revenue from the government, then raising taxes gives the government MORE money to pay you, even after you take into account your own tax bill.