Getting rid of welfare

I discovered a new website today:

http://www.issues2000.org/Background_Budget_+_Economy.htm

It reports that we spend 405 billion dollars on welfare each year, more than any other category, and almost twice what we spend on the military. Welfare was a good idea when it was first devised, but too many people take advantage of it. I'm afraid people just aren't deserving of it. This same web site reports the National Debt as being 5.5 trillion dollars. If we were to take the money we now spend on welfare and apply it to paying off the national debt, we could have the debt payed off in less than 16 years (assuming an otherwize balanced budget). We're paying 215 billion per year just to pay interest on the National Debt. If the debt were gone, we could then either lower taxes or apply the 215 billion we're now spending on interest on other things, like the military or space exploration, or any number of other programs, just not on more welfare.

- LeRoy.