Most of the options you give us to choose from  as far as schools, roads etc... are State run. Not Federal. But saying that... I lived in Peoria, Illinois ... on the East Bluff. A Typically BAD area. The public schools have low test scores... The high school had several "lock downs" for guns or gang activity. I opted to pay for Private Catholic school. As a church member I paid 180.00 a month for 4 children to attend. A bargain. My home cost us 46,000 when we bought it. The bank said we could afford a home of 160,000 based on our income. We also chose a fixed interest rate rather than variable. We paid cash for most things.. we had a credit card that offered 10% cash back on charges. My groceries then went on the card, which we paid off at the end of the month. Our roads were bad... oddly the brick layed streets surrounding my home from 1852... were doing good! To round this up... We lived within our means. Each person who did not take responsiblity for their financial situation is at fault. We sold our home for 82,000, 4 years after buying it. We now have that money in an accoubt for our children´s college. The government needs to be involved from EARLY on in the developement of a child. Easy math on how to spend your money and on what and using what percentages etc... would of saved lots of people alot of personal grief. Thankfully I wasn´t too smart in high school and was put in "Applied Math" Now my college educated friends are bankrupt and using charge cards for everything! I now live in Spain where the medical coverage is through the government, 2 of my kids have received full scholorships to state run colleges. (their grades were good, but not THAT good). Why doesn´t the US government investigate on how other countries have health care plans etc... and just model them after those? My Federal taxes to the Spanish government are about 158.00 monthly. My husbands are about 250.00.  We get paid on a monthly basis... You have no choice but to pay your bills and live off the rest, carefully. This is also something we did in America. We did not cash our checks till the last day of the month, pay the bills on the first, put half of the rest in savings and use what we had left. 1)Education on how to use your money wisely (from a youg age), 2) New roads and bridges to give people work 3) and NOT spending MY money to bail out a car company that is outdated..... Yes, I still have to file and pay taxes in the US even though I live in Europe. Obama has changed the way people think of America... We are very lucky to have him. And give him a break for going on a date with his wife!!!! That just makes the GOP look dumb. Don´t they realize all this picking is turning people from their party?????   ( I voted Bush, and now Obama)