Firefighters let house burn down over $75

[sapphi_snake]

HappySqurriel said:

sapphi_snake said:

NJ5 said:

Maybe, but I think it reflects even more negatively on the country, which presents itself as civilized but can't guarantee the most basic of services to its citizens. Things like setting up military bases around the world are, in practice, guaranteed by the taxes Americans pay, but such a primary thing as fire protection isn't.

Ponder on that for a while...

True, but this is mainly a reflection of the genral atitude of many Americans (who hate taxes so much that they're willing to give up on public services like fire protection).

The problem in the United States isn't that Americans are unwilling to pay taxes to provide adequate essential services, the problem is that the money collected is used to pay for so many non-essential services that core services are underfunded.  People like to blame "the military" for this, but the military is an essential service, only takes up a small portion of the federal budget, and this is a problem in state and municipal governments (which don't pay for the military).

What are these non-essential services?