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Sunday, March 4, 2012

The invisible welfare state of the top one percent - The Washington Post

The invisible welfare state of the top one percent - The Washington Post:

The invisible welfare state of the top one percent

at 10:11 AM ET, 03/02/2012

Pop quiz: What is a government program? And are you on one right now?

Those are the questions Cornell University political scientist Suzanne Mettler has been posing. For her book “The Submerged State,” she asked a scientifically selected sample of 1,400 Americans whether they had ever used a government social program. Only 43 percent copped to having done so. Then she read off 21 social programs, such as Medicare and the home-mortgage interest deduction, and asked the same question again: Have you ever used a government social program? This time, 96 percent said yes, in fact, they had.


Most of the welfare state for rich and upper-middle class Americans is, in Suzanne Mettler’s words, “submerged.” (Alamy)
According to Mettler’s survey, 60 percent of those who benefit from the home-mortgage interest deduction didn’t think they had ever used a government social program. Fifty-three percent of those with student loans didn’t think they had used one. Among Social Security beneficiaries, 44 percent thought themselves unsullied by the touch of government, and