Summary: <p>But the truth is, that almost all of us, even the richest and most well-off, benefit from government services and programs.</p> <p>There are services that most of us can recognize as government programs: food stamps, welfare, Pell Grants, Medicare and Medicaid, and Social Security retirement benefits. Maybe you’ve used some of these.</p> <p>But there are also not so visible government programs that we might benefit from without realizing. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/opinion/our-hidden-government-benefits.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220421&instance_id=59070&nl=the-morning&regi_id=170868603&segment_id=89833&te=1&user_id=b75257c170d4edab8636a38d318e1d90">These are usually hidden</a> in the tax code or through subsidies through private organizations. These include the home-mortgage-interest deduction and tax exemptions you may get on employer-provided health and retirement benefits. You might have used some of these as well without even knowing it. </p> <p>We speak with <a href="https://twitter.com/SuzanneMettler1">Suzanne Mettler</a>, a professor of government at Cornell University, calls this the "submerged state." She is also the author of the book “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo12244559.html">The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy.</a>”</p>
