Roads are funded by gas taxes, AND federal and state contributions (from other taxes). Schools are funded by local school taxes AND federal and state contributions. And the original post referred to taxes in general.

Yes, there is waste in government functions, but many of those functions are essential, and we haven't found better ways to do them.

I don't know what 'average' is :) but I'm looking at my W2, I made slightly more than 100K (which puts me way above median salary), and pay less than 25% counting ALL deductions (including social security). Adding sales and property tax would make it close to 1/3 of my income.

Although modern antibiotics are probably the biggest factor, life expectancy was around 50 in 1913 and is about 75 now; I bet you that things like potable water, health departments making it less likely that I get tainted foods and the FDA, among other government functions have helped this.

Sorry, couldn't resist

There's many different people, with many different opinions. *some* push for pure capitalism, others for some (or a lot of) protectionism. Nobody u (necessarily) throwing away any ideals.

For the *first* job you'll get out of school, grades *do* matter a lot. For the *first* job you get while *in* school (internships etc) grades do matter too.

But also, the impression you make on your fellow students and teachers matter a lot (many times you get jobs from them), and a good way to make a good impression is to be a good student.

Of course, get an internship, volunteer, or get a crappy computing job (Geeksquad type, hell desk etc), so you can hit the ground running for your first real job.