> I think it is an easy fall back to make comparisons between the rich and poor, but that isn't the problem here. It is the government....How much does the US government funnel into programs to feed the war machine, or spy on their own people.

You need to dig a little deeper. Who funds these government officials? Who hires them into lucrative private companies? Who effectively owns government?

If you say "the people" you are technically correct - most of the US Debt is owed to social security trust fund - which has been consistently drained over the past few decades to pay for wars and spying as you say. Social Security is owed to private individuals.

However, the funding of political campaigns through lobbying is an above board bribery that effectively debt the government official to their sposors... which are increasingly large corporations with wealthy owners.

The anti-tax drown-the-government firebreathers in Congress are often the most corrupt of the lot.