State taxes don't go toward aircraft carriers. Looking at the state's budget, it looks like California spends most of its budget on education, then healthcare and welfare programs, then prisons(‽).

>In Europe you pay high taxes but you get free healthcare, free college and the same for everyone in the country.

I thought your high taxes pay for education and healthcare? How is that free?

They don't pay (as much?) above and beyond taxes for them.

I realize this won’t change your simplistic “Europe good USA bad” worldview but relatively high CA taxes do support good social services and as a CA resident I have benefitted. There is a strong paid family leave program for new parents or those caring for ill family, for instance.

> In Europe you pay high taxes but you get free healthcare, free college and the same for everyone in the country.

Firstly, college is "free" but at the trade off of not everyone being able to go. Instead the government decides who gets to go. In USA anyone can go to college. It's not uncommon for people in their 30s and 40s in USA deciding to go to college. In Europe you have to perform well enough on exams very early in your life if you want free college, otherwise no college for you.

Secondly, I would argue Europe can spend so much on social services because the US buys so many aircraft carriers (and jets and bombs, etc). Post WW2, Europe's military is very weak and can't really project force at all (just look at how well Europe responded to muslim genocide happening next door 20 years ago). Without the US military presence in Europe, Russia would have annexed a bunch of eastern European states by now.

USA isn't perfect, but USA has unique problems that are hard to solve.

Indeed. Most Europeans badmouthing US military spending don't fully grasp how much they have benefited from it.

It is hard to imagine a European lifestyle as we know it today without the advantage of the US military being a deterrent to Russia/China and the latest wannabe dictator.

Please note, I am not blaming the Europeans here, just trying to be realistic and look at a bigger picture.

I'll point out that while California's public college system isn't as cheap as it was 40 years ago when I got my degree. And there is a lot of competition to get into certain schools. The state never has discriminated against students by age. So pigeonholing people early on is wholly a shitty European thing that has nothing to do with public funding.

You can go to college in most countries in Europe even if you are a 40yo High school dropout for little money compared with US prices (2500€/year).

The real difference is that in general you get what you pay for, and most college education is just licensing.

> You can go to college in most countries in Europe even if you are a 40yo High school dropout for little money compared with US prices (2500€/year).

US has cheap prices too (see: community colleges). Doesn't have the prestige factor of ultra expensive universities, but great if you are looking for education.

You get what you vote for, I'm afraid to say.

Close... you get what the majority votes for. Parent comment is that tech workers (minority of population) fund a disproportionate share of the budget and are being oppressed by the majority voting for higher income taxes (to the extent the next election does not result in throwing current politicians out for raising taxes).

Tech workers are able to work from home. The great news is that they can sit in front of a screen and type away in any state and still be just as productive - few can boast that!

California state tax is very high, and it doesn't go towards aircraft carriers.

> you get 14 aircraft carriers and something else which I'm not sure.

the F-35 program

In california is more similar to Europe. There state health care, lower college tuition etc. Plus infrastructure to create tech jobs.

I doubt the US as a monolith could pull those things off, the bigger the organization the worse it usually is at execution.

The homeless slums tell a different story.

As everyone knows, there are no homeless slums in europe

But aren't there safety nets in Europe? Why would there be homeless?

Its a mystery

Health care and tuition don't fix homeless slums