USA gdp per capita $70k
France gdp per capita $43k
France gdp per capita $43k
If you don't make a lot of money in USA you pay basically no taxes... cars are cheap (or were)...
Big problem is govt being terrible with money and overbudensome with regulations, which reduces supply. Think about how many more doctors/specialists we'd have if systems weren't purposefully setup to be ridiculous.
Look into what residency takes. Not everyone has to be an amazing incredible 80hr week doctor. We could easily double supply of doctors...
I say allow all of this money in politics, you literally cannot stop it. Restrict power instead, it seems obvious..