Herbert Spencer put this forward in 'Social Statics". Many other Utilitarians agred. Charity was irrational, they claimed, let them starve. Well......those underclasses weren't always chosen by self selection. Social policy played a large role. This was particularly true in 18th-19th century England.
The other problem is that Marx was also on board with this. At the end of the day, his theory is that the poor outnumber the rich and when things get bad enough revolution, with only one outcome, will occur. Numbers will determine it.
So I wouldn't be too quick to throw away social programs of the right sort. Education, job training, the GI Bill, Ameri-Corps, etc. Things that are an investment, not a dole. Lets not forget a sane immigration policy and not subsidizing companies to outsource overseas. And yes, a little (or a lot) of birth control spending to tell folks not to have more kids than you can feed is part of that. The octo-mom any one?
FQ13