Sounds like Daemon (2006) by Daniel Suarez in which a decision tree established and runs a criminal organization to parasitize then displace nation-states by hiring talented people disaffected by corrupt governments.
IRS: Your work is worth doing because it indirectly helps people pay taxes to government which indirectly increases the United States's gross domestic product compared to other nations by helping corporations consolidate into monopolies which indirectly allows corporations to [directly control government via regulatory capture to] indirectly lower prices via consumer welfare doctrine which (allegedly) indirectly lowers living costs of consumers to buy food to feed themselves.
Hot Dog Stand: You feed people, making them happy.
I wonder how many would rather nuke their own cities and deliberately salt their fields with radioactive waste before giving them up to a violent belligerent. Isn't Ukraine's primary value its agricultural fertility?
Sounds like Daemon (2006) by Daniel Suarez in which a decision tree established and runs a criminal organization to parasitize then displace nation-states by hiring talented people disaffected by corrupt governments.