The same thing could in some way be said about Denmark a country who have free healthcare, free education (including university), free roads, free almost everything (but high taxes)<p>Denmark have more people hired in the public sector than China  relatively to their size and many of these people have long education and function as managers and is part of the problematic New Public Management philosophy which has spread throughout the western countries as their legislation and society in general apparently becomes harder and harder to understand.<p>Now how can a country with free healthcare, free education etc. be a wellfare state for the wealthy?<p>It can because those who are highly educated knows how the system works, can speak the &quot;language&quot; and are able to be treated better than the rest. Heck you don&#x27;t even have to be wealthy to be treated better you just need to be higher educated.<p>Of course the US is more extreme but still the underlying patterns are still there. That the welfare system is built by those who need it the least. But how to fix it, now thats a discussion in itself.