You are flat busted broke because of massive inefficiency in your systems and institutions. You are a country of over-fattened wastrels. And I mean that in the best way.
If you want to fix that, start with the regulations and legal system that make US medical costs ridiculous. Fixing that one thing, to Euro standards (and that has nothing to do with “single payer”) will give you a budget surplus. And then you can fix education. And then ... lots of easy targets.
The individuals installed by the Derp State are there to preserve the corrupt system as is. Anyone who tries to change it (see Trump) is destroyed. Red China is awaiting our collapse (which they’re helping to fund) to swoop in, assuming Zelensky doesn’t trigger WW3 before that happens, and then everything won’t particularly matter.