Deception

Politicians hammer us with the notion that we are taxed and regulated to death (the right is especially prone to this). They realize that the American voter is, by and large, ignorant of what goes on elsewhere. Look at a tax bill in the United Kingdom or Germany!  Try to get a license or permit in France or Italy!  Consider that the current crisis in Greece is due to the massive underreporting, with impunity, of income coupled with a huge, overpaid, inefficient bureaucracy.