RU-Serious: The real problem, of course, is that the people who pay to support such a system will come to resent those who rely on it. Lib governments seem to operate on the logic that those who have incomes over certain levels (say, 35K for individuals or 50K for couples) are 'privileged' and get nothing while still having to pay taxes and those under these levels are 'underprivileged' and therefore deserve to get all manner of freebies. I have a modest income and still have to pay income taxes. And I get almost nothing from the government other than health care, which everybody gets. I've sacrificed a lot, going without a car for years, for instance, in order to save for a decent retirement. Personally, I'm wary of open-ended giveaway schemes supported by taxpayers' money and I suspect a lot of others feel the same way. In order to promote self-reliance, I think all such subsidy programs for working age people should be based on lifetime maximum levels and/or be time-limited.