We're The Goddamn MotherFucking US Of A

The general issue is why, if we have been growing the pie higher for decades, the prospect of the state doing things the state should be doing - healthcare, education, childcare, eldercare, basic infrastructure, retirement - other than funding the glorious Socialist Republic of the Pentagon, is still considered to be largely unpossible.

Scott Pelley: Are the wars in Israel and Ukraine more than the United States can take on at the same time?

President Biden: No. We're the United States of America for God's sake, the most powerful nation in the history-- not in the world, in the history of the world. The history of the world. We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense.

Yes but what else?

Not directed at Biden, precisely, but the discourse of decades of things we supposedly can't afford.

Imprisoning people for the crime of being homeless, despite it being cheaper just to house them,  that's always affordable, too.