Robert Samuelson Badly Understates the Size of the Welfare State

Robert Samuelson used his column today to urge Mitt Romney to make the welfare state the major issue in the presidential race. For some reason Samuelson's indictment of the welfare state missed many of the largest items.

For example, in listing the beneficiaries of government largess Samuelson missed obvious ones like homeowners who benefit from the mortgage interest deduction, the deduction for property taxes, and the subsidy provided by government guarantees of mortgage debt. He also misse...