Middle-Class Welfare State Is Invisible by Design: Ezra Klein

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- What is a government program? Andare you on one right now? Those are the questions CornellUniversity political scientist Suzanne Mettler has been posing.

For her book “The Submerged State,” she asked ascientifically selected sample of 1,400 Americans whether theyhad ever used a government social program. Only 43 percentcopped to having done so. Then she read off 21 social programs,such as Medicare and the home-mortgage interest deduction, andasked the same question again: Have you ever used a governmentsocial program? This time, 96 percent said yes, in fact, theyhad.