Being "financially responsible" is the last thing a government wants to promote. From a moral standpoint we like it when people save, but for the prosperity and growth of the economy at large, everyone should be spending every cent they make.

The purpose of many tax cut/rebate programs is to encourage you to spend money and bolster the economy. If you disagree, want to maybe argue the point instead of just downvoting?

Not sure who down voted, as directionally you are correct.

That said, there is such a thing as a health propensity to save in economics. You want the growth, etc., but you also want demand to be somewhat resistant to short-term ups/downs. That can only be achieved if the consumers save enough in order to keep spending, even if the income is fluctuating.

In practice, this is very very difficulty and has to do with social norms/attitudes as much as with actual economics.

Personally though, the amount of pull back we had in spending in the 2008 crash was not fun. I'd rather forego a bit of growth in exchange for a more consistent demand and a financially more sound neighbors who will not drag me down with them if/when economy sputters.

That's not actually true. If everyone spends at once, the economy can overheat, creating bubbles and uncontrolled inflation. If everyone saves, the economy can contract and we fall into a depression. The federal reserve uses interest rates and other tricks to try to find the (moving) sweet spot where the economy grows without a significant risk of a recession. The performance of the fed and economic policies are debatable, but the principle is sound.

Automated returns would work in simple cases, but not for expats. Expats have to navigate a complicated maze of tax exemptions, tax credits, and foreign currencies, systems and deadlines which are hard to reconcile with their US counterparts.

Except in most cases the "complicated maze" is on the USA side.

Especially for those who are under the exemption amount anyways.

That was my point...