could easily afford to contribute more
What part of 3 trillion dollars do you not understand? Its not a tax collection problem. Its a spending problem. Yes people could contribute more, but that's not the point. In its current state, the government would waist that revenue to.
Because *YOU* and *I* aren't even paying enough taxes for the government to pay its bills for the stuff it's already doing right now
We don't have a tax problem, but an appropriations problem. We collected over 3 trillion in taxes last year and only 1% went to science and technology. That's abysmal, but reflects our overall stance to disregard facts and science (selective ignorance), and indulge our gross sense of self entitlement.
Economically speaking, there are only two areas of government spending that have a positive ROI, research and development (10:1), and infrastructure (3:1). If you are concerned for future generation, the last thing you want to cut are these two areas of spending. If you really want to fix the problem, cut medicare, medicaid, welfare, social security and military spending.
Thanks, America, for leading the charge in fucking up the planet.
Slight misnomer there. England is leading the charge, the US just likes where they are going and stays in close step.
Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.