I can not disagree with your logic.
However, some groups are real losers. Yes there are the 10% to 20% that are really achieving. I do not know what the cause, genetic, cultural, hate filled, or whatever.
I have made my choices and have held the same job and worked real hard at it to support myself and me family.
I do not have to pay to keep someone alive because that person did not feel like working, studying or other things that are related to keeping alive.
As with everything, absolutes are difficult. From societies point of view, all varieties of welfare are essentially gambling.
The bet is threefold: that there are lots of people who just had a bit of bad luck, and with a little sustenance, they will get back on their feet in short order. This is a good bet, as this does happen to a lot of people; and with a little help they are never on welfare again.
The second, which is "welfare reform", is that welfare has to be designed to encourage this in those who were never successful, who were raised in conditions of failure which they can only elevate themselves from over time, incrementally, and with incentives to get off welfare. This does seem to get a lot of people off welfare, one way or another, so is also not a bad bet.
The third is the recognition that there are a lot of people who are permanently wards of the state, mostly because of disability. Many can do a little, low value work, but not enough to survive, and a lot are just physical or psychological wash-outs. Society respects that if you are a cripple without a family, it can spend a little so that you don't just die on the street.
There are a lot of people out there who would rather live in a cave than work for their own support. But most of them end up in prison, as society has no real other place for them. Prison, too, is a form of welfare.
But the days of "welfare mothers" who just make babies and expect everyone else to support them, are by and large over.
The vast majority of individual welfare from the federal government can be broken down into these main groupings:
Native Americans, homeowners, students, farmers, artists, scientists, consumers, small businesses, refugees, aliens, veterans, senior citizens, low-income persons, health and education professionals, builders, contractors, developers, handicapped persons, and the physically afflicted. Examples of direct assistance to these individuals include Section 8 vouchers, Pell Grant scholarships, and disaster relief awards, among many others.