"Hey, let's give wide, blunt political power to a bunch of un-elected functionaries, then we can start automating whatever their desires are! What could go wrong?"

And so we're going to end up with a government like Google, where people come to HN to beg for attention just so they can be treated like a human being.

I think it's time we just all acknowledge that the U.S. has the most onerous and insane financial laws in the world. The only reason other countries put up with them is because the U.S. is the sole remaining superpower.

There really needs to be some kind of correction here, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I am specifically referring to the Treasury Department handling of overseas payments and expats living abroad, not internal tax or financial regulations. There's a lot out there Google if you want to go look for it, including how various countries have protested being forced to comply with U.S. law, expats giving up citizenship at record rates (though still small in the grand scheme of things), and so on.