You are making the assumption that without these programs people would actually do something themselves to solve other's problems. In my opinion most people wo

You are making the assumption that without these programs people would actually do something themselves to solve other's problems. In my opinion most people would just try to rationalize it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis Government funded programs might be inefficient and open to abuses, but are better than the real alternative that would be doing nothing at all.