Well said, as usual; but what's with the sound volume?

As the first poster put it, "well said", but also not true. The welfare programs that exist today came primarily from FDR's New Deal, and they were largely responsible for creating the middle class that we know and love today (in my opinion). Prior to that, corporations and free market economies were the rulers of the land, and this led to the great depression (and before that we had the robber barons). Capitalism is great, but it needs to be kept in check, and the only agency that has the power to do that consistently is the government.

One other thing. The 90's were pretty damn good, so his prediction about the collapsing economy also was not right, and that was with those same welfare programs being intact. Welfare works to some degree, it just can't be the only answer.