the tradeoff

The basic tradeoff for those dependent on the productive people (taxpayers) is this:  We want to provide enough of a 'floor'-- food, clothing, shelter, medical care-- to give these people some basic opportunity to 'make it' in life.  But we don't want to provide such a cushion that they just decide to stay on it rather than try to become productive citizens.  Of course, some people simply don't have the wherewithal to become productive.  This may become even more true in the future, when the productive people will be those with rather specific abilities and skills.  The main thing is this:  Unproductive people-- those being supported by the taxpayers-- should not be reproducing.