Aren't 'fair' labor laws a better way to provide for those hard-workers? If Americans value good hard-working people then they must make laws which force owners to pay them according to their work. Healthy self image is fostered by earning more for hard work, in the form of wages. That same person is demoralized when given a hand-out in the form of welfare.

IMO one issue here is that this assumes that there is work to be found, which can be subsidized rather than give the minimum income in a 'hand-out'. When I first visited China in 2001, I encountered some people whose only job was to push the buttons in an elevator. This was a remnant from Communism, which fought hard through central planning to provide everyone with employment, and through that employment, a living wage.

I'm not so sure I see a minimum income to be a handout in a society that has less work than people needed to do it. As I see it, we are headed towards a post-Capitalist world, as a large number of people will no longer be able to offer enough worth paying for. In this situation, is it better to keep them busy with a non-essential task, and pay them more than their productivity? In some sense, I see that as almost a form of soft slavery, forcing individuals to go through the actions of an economic system that is no longer valid.