"welfare hurts the poor"

[moorobot]

The view that "welfare hurts the poor" is inconsistent with the way in which many if not most libertarians view human action. In this view of human action, people attempt to better there own states of affairs; they are self-interested in this way. This view is often invoked to argue against certain laws regulating the market.

However, the view that welfare makes the poor worse off contradicts this premise about human beings; to say that they would be better off without welfare when they choose to be on welfare as opposed to other alternatives which they do not choose but could would be to deny that human beings seek to better there own states of affairs.

If they would really be better off without welfare they wouldn't take welfare when given the option but would do all the things you would say they would do if there were no welfare (for example, prepare better, save more, work more etc) even though they have the option of going on welfare; in other words, if it were true that welfare hurt the poor, they would avoid taking welfare because "welfare hurts the poor" (i.e. them).

Revealed preference theory demonstrates that people on welfare would not be better off without welfare. Unless, of course, you wish to make the paternalist claim that you know the interest of individuals better that those individuals know their own interest.