It seems like the many corporate bail outs have fiscally benefited the upper crust very well. I think it is worth recognizing that a country's deficit is the reverse of corporate profits. Profit is all the money labor has not recuperated from business. Deficit is all the money the government has not recuperated from services. It's the public deriving a benefit. Debts of nation states are not the same as household debt because of the mechanism of money production.

BUT INFLATION! Inflation being an increase in dollars relative to goods and services. Yet if goods and services increase due to more production induced by greater actual use of those services because people actually have money, then inflation is low. Taxation is deflationary and because inflation is not actually a uniform market force, taxation would allow more accute control of inflation by removing money from institutions that engage in detrimental speculation and stock buybacks. In otherwords, money is a utility and human beings, like college grads, having more money increases their participation in the economy. Maybe instead of paying off interest for a loan they book a flight and pay the guys that pay you more money which results in you getting more money if negotiations go well. Even though social security is not running out of money, even if it was, increasing the money supply would effectively remove that problem and keep people participating in the economy in a way they otherwise wouldn't. Roads are actually "underfunded," and you get more value from them than what you pay. You can either commit to getting rid of roads or recognize money is made up. Human beings: real. Human needs: real. Money: made up. It's fake folks.

Now there is a limit to what you can take out of or inflict upon the planet and other humans. That is real, but I haven't run into many environmentalists.