Spending on Medicaid, the health-care safety net for the poor (and the third-largest item on many state budgets), jumped by 14% this year, thanks to costly new technology and the increasing demands of an ageing population.
On item 1: There is a big difference between a safety net that prevents starvation and homelessness and income transfer programs that provide middle-class comforts to people who for whatever reason did not earn them in the private economy.