You're misunderstanding the point. When the government collects an average of $37,000 per household, that means they are also spending an average of $37,000 per household (actually substantially more, but let's stick to ideal scenarios for now). Ought that be enough money ensure the functioning of a country?

That's hard to tell without comparisons to other countries. Also, my gut feeling is that most of that spending trickles down back to those households. A lot goes into social security, healthcare, and defense, which drive huge part of the US economy and maintain competitive advantages for it across the world.

My point still stands that the $37k per household are just an illustration, as the tax base are not just households, and that a lot of what US foreign policy achieves is to the benefit of a very few of those households.