this will be squashed by the powers that be for sure.

Well, we need a lot of citizens to "insist", or write a manifesto.

We, as citizens need to insist on this before any new law is passed or an existing law is continued

True, any benefit to the citizens is accidental

Take any government agency and ask what the future value of their regulations or services are. Some are, if not weaponized, of value to society; like FBI, justice department. None produce anything in the classic sense of adding value to a product.

Further, nearly all of the alphabet soup of agencies are unconstitutional. About 1910 congress started writing laws that allowed the secretary of (name your department) to make rules governing the agency. This allows a president to tell the secretary of energy to stop mining and drilling, his cabinet member makes some rules and things change. All of this without a single vote by our elected representatives. So, we have taxation and representation, but they're not one and the same.

You touch upon a very important point and a pet peeve of mine. That is, the income tax system costs the citizenry billions of dollars just to comply with and absolutely nothing is actually produced.

The results they care about is: more power and wealth for themselves. That is their hidden agenda.

True. Not all businesses create wealth. I have a person that is certified to practice before the IRS on our tax matters. She charges me a hefty fee to take care of our taxes. She keeps us from having more expensive problems and performs a service that I don't want to spend time on. One the day after tax day, April 18, what is the intrinsic value of that stack of papers? In truth, they are worth less that when she started. Once they were useable as paper, now they are covered with ink and can only be used as a record of tax activity. Without the heavy hand of government her job would be unnecessary. But, she does earn a profit. So does the barber, nail technician, funeral director, nurse, etc. None of those vocations create wealth. Wealth comes from land, improvements to land, natural resources, value added through manufacture, and intellectual property. It continues to provide income whether you are well or ill, present or on holiday, dead or alive. I used to barber for a living. Barber's retirement looks like snip, snip, snip, then you die; without a single day spent doing as you please.
We learned during the 2008 credit collapse the difference between wealthy and rich. When banks and other companies fired millions of people earning 6 figure salaries.
at the time if you earned 6 figures you were rich, and when you were fired you were unemployed. Shuffling papers, or tapping keys at a brokerage can earn a lot of money. Ask the same question in a different way. What is the intrinsic value of all of those deals when the credit market collapses?

We were sold a bill of goods in the 70's. I remember reading many of the books extolling the greatness of the service economy. We would have a better life if we let other countries manufacture for us and just became a service driven nation. We became a debtor nation when we decided to let others create wealth (value added through manufacturing) while we deliver the mail and give manicures, using our cash to purchase goods from around the world.

Full disclosure; after 20 years as a barber I joined the Post Office and retired from there. The retirement has an intrinsic value, but only for the joint life of my wife and myself. In 2009 I noticed that HUD was selling foreclosed houses at a fraction of their historical value. When I was a barber it seemed like every guy that was retiring and moving to a sand state felt that their house had been the best investment of their life. So with houses cheap, and rental needs high, We started buying throw away houses, fixing them up, then renting them for a local source of retirement funds. It turns out they are inflation proof. While my stock holding have taken a beating this year, the average selling price of a home in USA is above $350,000.00. Unlike gold, they pay us each month for a place to live. With gold or any commodity you can only buy and wait for a fit time to sell.

Back to the original question of bigger government. IMHO if we continue down this road of more government and our government is more concerned with world issues than American issues, USA will collapse from the lack of wealth producing activity and be replaced with another government, either foreign or domestic. We need to solve our issues and let others solve theirs.

And results are never measured. Every law is a social experiment. Every law should have an intended consequence. If that consequence is not met, it should expire. That kind of discipline (you know "science") could never be had by disgusting politicians.

Government hardly EVER works. Especially democrats who concentrate on ideology and really don’t care about results

Not all businesses actually produce a product. Many offer a service such as distribution companies like grocery stores, retailers, and shippers. The post office, like Fedex or UPS moves products as well. Whether or not it's profitable is another question.

The problem with adding more, or any, government is government produces nothing. Even the post office, where people work everyday, produced nothing. Adding to government takes capital away from producers and eventually chokes of growth.

A progressive might conclude that government should own all, or perhaps essential, businesses. That way government would produce something. When government owns a business the incentives are distorted and the producers figure out how to do the least they can. The result is shortage of everything, no need for innovation, and since it all pays the same people do as little as possible. That's why I Cuba a 1956 Chevy is considered a technological marvel.
The notion of an economic pie divided evenly ignores the fact that an equal slice is not enough. That approach stifles new ideas, why bust your brain for the same reward?
The best for me is I'm near the end of my ride, but I worry for my grandchildren.

Trolls abound. They are cowardly beings, fearing open discussion even more than physical confrontation. Downvoting is for complete cowards (logical terrorists), not contributing humans, and certainly not those seeking freedom.
Any one of the 9/11 terrorists had more balls and commitment than a pathetic, coward downvoter.

Why the hell would somebody down vote you for admitting you didn't know something? Whatever, I bumped you +1.

LMAO!

She can't change a light bulb, but dead sure she can suck one through a garden hose.

Right!

Yep, I remember hearing it on the news.
And that is all this would be, except it would now be be EQUITY and ESG driven.
Insipid Kamala leading it would be the coup de grace for any innovation.

Absolutely. In reality, this is a contrived and ideological barrier rather than any real sequestration or differentiation in funds. The only real priority is on the repayment of debt, which Constitutionally is guaranteed to come first.

Jesus, I don't recall that.

Absolutely right!

Blow up the non-discretionary/discretionary barrier too!

Love "Heel's up Harris". Hilarious!!! Maybe she wanted to work with Sleepy Joe, since all he wants to do it sleep... and sniff girls hair.

The one thing they should do,( quoting Ted Turner when he was still a true producer): "Get Out of the Way".
That they will never voluntarily do.

I remember Obummer wanted to make NASA create a "Muslim Nation Outreach" branch. I would imagine Space X has no such program.