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Invest in proper education first. The USA has been dropping the ball consistently over the last decades.

The US government spends $1.4T on education. They already invest more than anyone else. That spending may not be productive but no one can credibly say the US hasn't spent enough money on education.

The US on a PPP-adjusted per capita basis is on the upper end of OECD but 1) not the top in the world, and 2) not even uniquely high among what Americans would call their "peer countries" (Denmark, Germany, Australia, Canada, etc)

And education is unfortunately one of those things with diseconomies of scale. The US has worse wealth disparities, health disparities, nutrition disparities, and greater cultural variation than all of our peers.

The US isn't spending more than everyone else, but you really would expect them to have to do so to reach parity with others.

I think we spend about half of state budgets on education actually.

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