In recent decades, the percentage of American citizens who receive some form of assistance from the federal government has significantly increased. According to the most recent research, 96 percent of Americans have benefited from at least one such government program, be it Medicaid, Medicare, student loans, nutritional assistance, welfare, disability, or the mortgage interest deduction.
In a new report released by the Brookings Institution, researchers Richard Reevesand Christopher Pulliam explore a related trend: the increasing percentage of safety net spending that goes to middle-class Americans. As the chart below illustrates, the percentage of means-tested transfer spending (which includes programs such as welfare, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) distributed to the middle 60 percent of the income distribution has increased dramatically in recent decades:
These increases occurred among lower-middle-income families (those in the second quintile of the distribution) and among those in the middle and fourth quintiles.
[For more on this story by DWYER GUNN, go to https://psmag.com/economics/mi...he-social-safety-net]
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