i too have few qualms about a portion of my income going to help the disabled, the elderly, the poor, the unlucky, et al.

not so with the lazy, the addicted, the half-assed, the freeloading, the shnorers, and the rest. 

either way (just like my tax dollars spent on corporate welfare, bloated military budgets and other things i'm less than a fan of), i consider it the literal price i pay for living in this country at this time.

i had this fantasy where the welfare system works like this:

people apply. based on their income & job prospects (or not), they are accepted or rejected.

they get a check for a certain amount once or twice a month.

there are certain clearly targeted goals that they are expected to do their damndest to meet over a given amount of time (say 1.5 years).

if for whatever reasons they are unable to meet the agreed-upon goals within the specified and understood time frame, they are then cut off from further assistance - for a period of years, or perhaps permanently.

(i have been told that this version isn't much different from the current set-up.)

obviously, people have learned to get around this by moving to a new city and reapplying at that locality...but - without habitually moving to a new place - how can one make, in effect, an ongoing 'living' continuing to do this? why doesn't the money run out for the lazy or fraudulent applicants? how is the continued trough-gobbling possible? perhaps someone'll blame it on softie bleeding-heart touchy-feely leftist lib case workers and their ilk, but beyond that, what's the deal?