Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

by Arlie Russell Hochschild

in 2013, among fast-food workers, 52 percent relied on some form of welfare to supplement low wages paid for full-time work. Among childcare workers, 46 percent relied on welfare, and among homecare workers, 48 percent did so. In such instances, public taxpayers can be said to make up for low wages offered by some companies—a form, some argue, of “corporate welfare.”

“People on welfare depend entirely on money from us taxpayers to live.” For the poorest 20 percent of Americans, only 37 percent of their total income in 2011 came from the government; the rest was payment for work.

For the years 1949–2009, unemployment has been lower and gross domestic product has been higher under Democratic presidents. Political scientist Larry Bartels has also shown that inequality has increased greatly under Republican presidents and decreased slightly under Democrats.