Marx on welfare state programs, 1850.

The democratic petty bourgeois, far from wanting to transform the whole society in the interests of the revolutionary proletarians, only aspire to a change in social conditions which will make the existing society as tolerable and comfortable for themselves as possible... However, the democratic petty bourgeois want better wages and security for the workers, and hope to achieve this by an extension of state employment and by welfare measures; in short, they hope to bribe the workers with a more or less disguised form of alms and to break their revolutionary strength by temporarily rendering their situation tolerable.

When faced with an existential threat to their existence, capitalists may give alms, or concessions, to the working class to keep them quiet, and to keep their own heads attached to their shoulders. The welfare state is life support for capitalism. No amount of food stamps or free college is going to solve the problems of capitalism - just prolong the destruction it causes.