'Got mine' mentality. If you raise the floor you are by definition making everyone else less wealthy by comparison, and therefore threatening the status of mid

'Got mine' mentality. If you raise the floor you are by definition making everyone else less wealthy by comparison, and therefore threatening the status of middle class persons as being significantly better than those on the bottom of society. At least with means-tested welfare you can trap those people in a cycle of dependence and tell them what they can and cannot do in order to receive that help.