No. Welfare programs are not communism or socialism. The single defining characteristic in both ideologies is the degree of which labor owns its means of produc

No. Welfare programs are not communism or socialism. The single defining characteristic in both ideologies is the degree of which labor owns its means of production (the resources, facilities and tools needed to do a job). Welfare programs do not even begin to touch on who owns the means of production. Communism implies a stateless society after a period of power by labor that is devoid of private ownership of the means of production. Supposedly, this transitionary period should do away with class. According to theory, once class is no longer a factor, the state is no longer needed. Welfare programs, again, do not touch on this at all. You've read too much Ayn Rand.