Oh, I had a long ass post about any number of spending areas that IMO are necessary and would benefit us collectively. Didn't feel like posting, but.....<had it saved on a different tab>, but since you continued the chat.....
We have underfunded so many existing and in my mind are missing out on forward looking programs. The US rarely takes a 50 year approach to planning, esp in soclal programs, but there are some rare examples. Election cycles are much shorter so trying to convince folks to plant a tree for their kids is hard, funding programs we won't see results from for a generation is basically impossible.
Quick Examples off the top of my head, not all exhausting:
1) Restructure the corporate benefits given to multiple industries (e.g. energy) (net savings)
2) Increase spending and move prisons to be non-profit and focus more on trying to rehab (short term cost, long term savings)
3) Increase spending on education K-12 (short term cost, long term savings)
4) Get higher education to be more affordable (I'd rather not use taxes for this, but overall we benefit more from a educated population (net gain, but will cost for a long time)
5) Increase physical infrastructure (bridges, etc) (cost)
6) Increase spending in forward looking energy solutions (cost for a while)
7) Increase funding and expand NASA as well as other science and tech businesses (cost, but if allowed, they would be able to turn a profit) The future is up and away to support what we have here.
8) Social programs for people in need is woefully under funded BUT does need to be restructured to not be a lifestyle (cost)
9) New business / entrepreneur programs supported by the govt - (image if everyone had the option to start a business without the fear of going bankrupt. Hell, even Elon admits the govt support was critical for some of his current businesses and he was already a millionaire!)
10) Massive increase in spending to VA programs to deliver services Vets (and increase GI Bill benefits). (cost)
11) Pay raise to military, especially lower ranks (huge cost)
12) I would love to see a complete revamp of the US's drug rehab programs. (service = cost, but if successful, generally understood to reduce other costs). Rs hate to admit, we lost the War on Drugs decades ago.
13) if the private Health Care industry doesn't want to fix the cost issues, I have no problem with the govt fully getting into Health Care as a service to people. But they would have to function as a business (pay for itself once established, etc, etc).
14) Increased spending to fix our immigration (NOT, build a wall, but expand programs to vet and approve value added people and chase / deport overstays). Ds hate to admit it, our current immigration policies are losers. We need a revamp.
15) Reinvest and improve the SS program and stop stealing from the fund and then decrying "it doesn't pay for itself, it's just more welfare!"
16) MASSIVE review of wasteful programs at the State and Federal level. We also have too many overlaps between the 2 that should just be consolidated (net savings, but long term)
For us to be a forward looking country, private industry and govt support have to be partners IMO. But govt spending should be strategic to support the betterment of the citizens. But we can't balance the budget currently, so adding more will take more $.
Will the above happen? No, should it? Yeah likely, everyone would be better off if we resolved half of the above.
