Yeah because governments use those funds so effectively.
It’s why when I look around the U.S. at the trillions we spent over the last two decades and I see... well looks pretty much the same as the 90s honestly
By what metric? The crime rate is down and the stock market is up. Not to mention that given the scale of the country, just continuing the same level of government services costs trillions
That's not the full picture. Population adjusted, violent crime is at nearly the lowest level it has been at it decades. Murder has spiked, but is still way below the peak of the early 90s [0]
Government is the primary enabler of corruption in the first place. Don't know how it is in Ireland, but in the United States I can't really see it serving any other function at the moment. It abdicated all its responsibilities entirely, and for the past several decades it's been working only for its donors, not constituents. I would be surprised if Ireland is any better.
I think if you look around in the world you could see many countries where government works quite well, with little corruption, maybe a bit slow, yet offering services that are better and more efficient than businesses could. In the US people have been led to believe this is simply impossible.
Government may be the enabler of corruption but there is no alternative other than to fix it. Libertarians may believe you can mostly do without a government, but they are mistaken.
It’s why when I look around the U.S. at the trillions we spent over the last two decades and I see... well looks pretty much the same as the 90s honestly