Greg Bales

Even critics of safety net increasingly depend on it

Some of the fiercest advocates for spending cuts have drawn public benefits. Many, like Mr. Falk, have family members who rely on the government. They often cite that personal experience as the reason they want to cut government spending.

Isn’t it obvious that one of the main reasons citizens feel caught between asking for more help and hating the help they get is that real wages have stagnated or decreased through the 2000s.

“Even critics of safety net increasingly depend on it” by Binyamin Appelbaum and Robert Gebeloff for The New York Times