It's not the fault of government per se, but puritanical conservatives in government who think any assistance to disadvantaged people is coddling lazy slackers.

It's not the fault of government per se, but puritanical conservatives in government who think any assistance to disadvantaged people is coddling lazy slackers. See for example, drug testing of assistance recipients. It turns out, as the testing has proven, that most of the people who get a little bit of cash are most likely to use it on food and essentials. Oh, and the people who run the for-profit drug testing happen to be cronies of the politicians who advocated for the testing - such a surprise. Another example: Don't let people withdraw all their money at once or they will waste it. Instead give them debit cards with a small withdrawal limit. Oh, and there's a withdrawal fee that eats into the meager cash ... and cronies of the politicians who advocated for the policy own the ATMs in the stores which collect those fees.