There is a large pull factor at work here also. This was a definitely a part of the reason that I recently definitely left New Zealand. US culture seems very attractive to almost sociopathic grifters, and of course such people have always been attracted to politics and managerial roles. Their worst behaviour used to be at least frowned upon, but is now seen as virtuous. So privatised health care, junk food, expensive education, homelessness, libertarian dogma and so on and so on are now viewed as a small price to pay or even a stage to be celebrated in somehow leading to better future. Push from visiting US envoys and US based think tank material have certainly always been visible, but the results have also been both visible and predictable. Enough of the local population seem to believe that they can have all the imaginary good stuff and that they - standard model human beings - are nice enough to avoid the bad stuff.