elikapeka
Hooper, your last sentence sums up the theme of everything you post here. “As a taxpayer.” You never address an issue as a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a neighbor, a friend, a church member, a co-worker, a community member. It’s all about you not paying for anything for anybody else. You worry about the price of everything, but know the value of nothing.
Furthermore, you spend a lot of time resenting people who are less fortunate than you, and yet you have your facts wrong. An individual’s level of debt does not qualify you for any type of public assistance. Qualification for those programs are based on income and assets and sometimes health conditions play a part too, such as in SS Disability.
May I suggest that you spend some time talking to some older people (born, say, in early 1930’s or earlier) and find out what it was like before there was any social safety net? Try reading something like “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclar. Read about the dustbowl. Timothy Eagan wrote an excellent book about the failures of both individuals and government there. Ken Burns did an excellent miniseries. You might learn a few things.