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Jessica Buchanan was sure glad she was a tax paying US citizen when she was kidnapped by Somali gangsters and rescued by a SEAL team.[0]

I saw interviews about this and the Danish kidnap victim rescued with Ms. Buchanan said something to the effect of "the best thing that happened to me given this scenario was getting kidnapped with an American."

Citizenship has its privileges. I've been an US expat and will likely be one in the future and have no problem with paying taxes as a citizen either here or abroad.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Jessica_Buchanan_and...

FBOW Navy as well as AF/Army (At least in Europe and parts of Oceania) provide power protection that may or may not contribute to economic prosperity.

I'd be interested in seeing how frequently the US government "saves" accidental Americans around the world.

If we’re talking about the navy’s power projection, the routine benefits are in reliable global trade, not random people being “saved”.