Compassionate or not is not the problem. The problem is poor management of these programs, and I suspect in many cases outright fraud and waste.

First I abhor corporate bailouts (period). Secondly there are very legimate reasons why people need help and in some cases because of various diabilities will always need help. We should help these folks and we should encourage them to help themselves without pulling the rug out from under them. There are many people out there free loading and controls need to be built in to turn that around. My concern is that some pols will throw the baby out with the bathwater. i agree we need to cut back on some programs my concern for the truly needy is that the government acts based on political motivations. What I am saying is before you begin discussion define the situations were assistance is needed and examples where you see fraud/waste and solutions. A military vet totally disabled may need permanent or temp assistance depending on the possibility of vocational training, etc