The Don on trade deficits:

So it occurred to me that perhaps Mr. Bush might feel sympathy for
me if I point out to him my immense and ever-growing trade deficit with
Uncle Sam.  I buy lots of things from Uncle Sam — national-defense
services, a stake in the Social Security system, drug-interdiction
efforts, the list is practically endless.  But Uncle Sam buys nothing
from me.  (The fact that Uncle Sam will imprison me if I refuse to buy
what he sells, and that I attach negative value to almost every good or
service that he chucks my way, is here of no relevance.)

So I wonder if the President will permit me to cure this bothersome
trade imbalance that I have with Uncle Sam by refraining from ever
again buying anything from Washington.

I’d just like to point out one thing about the US system. Even if you move out of the country you still have to pay those US taxes, it is citizenship, not location, that determines that you have to pay Uncle Sam. And if you decide that you wish to give up that citizenship then you have to pay the taxes that you would have paid in the future if you had not. On their estimate of course.

There are ways in which the average US citizen is less free than those of other nations. For example, if you are not resident in the UK then you do not (with some very limited exceptions) pay UK taxes.

Oh yes, I live in Lisbon. That’s in Portugal.