Welfare: Not A Way of Life Welfare is a temporary support in times of crisis, rather than a way of life. Social critics said welfare was responsible for a permanent underclass of people living off government checks because the incentives to go to work were so weak (Froomkin, Dan). The welfare program was founded during the Great Depression. The federal government provided fairly uniform benefits to the nation’s poor—mostly women and children—without regard to the details of their personal circumstances and with no time limit. Now, a federal system that was once fairly consistent has been turned over to the states where programs diverge widely. Welfar