What's just plain inefficient?

Plenty in fact. Right here in America, we could start with health care (almost 16% of GDP spending vs. less than 10% for similar developed countries), real estate sales where we still need to pay 6% commission for a sliver of service, unlimited mortgage deductions that are subsidizing that same industry, telecoms where bundled services like broadband, cable TV and voice over IP can be had for half the price in countries like France, for example.

Then there is something that is terribly inefficient and its government bailouts and subsidies; like the ones given to AIG, Citycorp, GM and Chrysler, but also to the farm industry. The military-industrial complex also has been a leach in our treasury for years. Finally, there are insidious inequities like religious tax deductions or lavish company perks that are contributing to increasing our overall tax burden. In the same vein there are some social systems, like France for instance, that generously encourage procreation by bestowing money on families with three kids or more.

I must have forgotten tons of these pesky inequities, and if you can think of some, please let me know. In the meantime we should aggressively go after a deep and true election reform that chases the lobbyists out of Washington and keep our Congress and politicians on their toes. Oh yes, I almost forgot, we should ask Google to run our government; that probably would be the cheapest and fastest solution to all these anomalies!