Necessity for a country includes more than what citizens need to survive physically. Surely we are beyond cave people. For a country to survive it better provide more than that. To compete in today's world takes a healthy educated population and excellent public transit and infrastructure in general. One of Amazon's must haves is good public transit.
Not to invest in these things is a false economy especially when the money is so readily available to pay off the deficit. We've been reducing taxes for decades.