The question is: why have disability claims skyrocketed at least since the 90s? Are Americans that much more disabled (than people of the Depression, WWII and Vietnam generations, and beyond)? It strikes me as being highly implausible. Based on some of the data presented here and elsewhere, it seems like it's become another welfare program for many people, with some "deserving" individuals in between. Some people, when not forced to work for their survival, will eschew it. Others see it as free money, and just work for cash on the side.

To the moral question of the safety net: is it just for one to have earned X dollars (and spent Y amount of one's life) working at a job, only to have the fruits of one's labor forcefully taken away to fund his neighbor's welfare/housing/food/schooling/etc.? I would argue no.[0] If someone is disabled or destitute, he can appeal to the charity of his family members, fellow human beings, or philanthropy to help him out. There are plenty of people (many on these boards, I imagine) who have excess resources and would surely help a starving man in the street or an orphan.

Indeed, voluntary aid would fix the issue of worthiness which you raise: if you are worthy of help, you will be judged worthy to receive it. (Charities and mutual aid societies have existed since at least the 19th century, and have proliferated even more-widely since.[1]) If not, time to start providing value to others (i.e., labor) and receiving money in exchange. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

[0] http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/Objectivism/Ayn%20Rand%20-%20The%...

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/objectivist/2011/11/18/america-b...