Ah, Those Middle Class Scamps, What with Their Bootstraps!!

A guest over at TNC:

Speaking from experience, people can get genuinely angry when you suggest that they are the recipients of massive financial aid from the federal government. But it's true! The money we spend on tax expenditures for middle and upper class families dwarfs the amount spent on food stamps and other, disparaged forms of welfare.

The truth is that direct federal assistance for middle-class—and overwhelmingly white—families has a long history in American policymaking. In the late 19th century, massive federal intervention in education and public health vastly improved the station of millions of Americans.

More significantly, in the New Deal and World War II era, a huge array of federal programs provided Americans with valuable tools to advance their position, from old age insurance, to job training, to low interest loans and affordable housing. The G.I. Bill, to use one prominent example, gave billions in benefits to returning veterans, from direct subsidies for education—to pay for books, fees, tuition, etc.— to home loans backed by the Veteran's Administration. Strong labor laws protected workers from the deprivations of employers, and helped boost incomes throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

I could continue in this vein for a long time. To a very large degree—more than ever acknowledged in the political mainstream—the American middle class is a direct product of targeted federal policy. Pew's database of tax expenditures are a nice reminder of that history. My wish is that this were more well-known; if middle and upper-class families realized their huge stake in a functioning government, they might be less inclined to empower the wrecking crew.

My bold. (thanks!)