First of all before I begin this post I would like to explain my financial situation. I live in a social assistance building in downtown Vancouver and I collect $541 from the provincial government after paying rent. I filed my taxes and I get a $100 GST cheque from the government every two months. I am currently saving up money to service my Windows laptop and get my projects off that laptop.
A lot of people who live in my building spend their disability cheques on drugs and alcohol. The residents get quite irritable and angry when free lunches are canceled. They push themselves ahead in line when asking for meds, and do a poor job keeping the building secure. Drug dealers roam the building selling drugs to residents because the dealers friend who lives here buzzed them in.
I just think that it's public money not being sufficiently spent. I am one of only 5 people on welfare who work in my building or have any kind of job skills whatsoever. That being said, bitcoin is not hardcore computer science, they could at least buy a cheap netbook and earn from Bitcoinget and other sites to go buy themselves lunch. I suppose begging other people to feed them just sounds easier than planning and working.
It's a tough call, while there are certainly individuals who have good intents and want to establish a better life for themselves and deserve social assistance just as often there are those who abuse the free government aid to further get themselves wasted on the taxpayers dollar with no respect for money or willingness to take responsibility (Scum)
Social assistance is a good tool to help people get out of tough situations if they deserve it but just as equally it can be exploited which is why its concerning when new immigrants get a job quit or claim injury to their knee when the work is to hard for them then decide to just get government payments by switching between doctors, or saying it was the government that brought them to the country and that they should give them money for doing that. (Sickens me sometimes that sense of self-entitlement when they sure as heck haven't got off their lazy buts to do anything about it)
If they don't want to get off the bootstraps do some hard work and participate in making the country better then I would prefer they send them back, but just as equally those who are down on their ropes and serious about getting back up deserve that safety net.
In summary it depends on how it is used and who uses it just as much as anything else.