Three great books give us the final word on all three.
Fascism and Big Business by Daniel Guerin explains the policies of the two primary fascist parties (Italian Fascist Party and German Nazi Party) in the way that they differ from other totalitarian states, i.e. their economic policies. Reading it is a bit disconcerting to the American reader, who finds many things that mirror post WW2 economic policies that are accepted in the mainstream without question. These include, but are not limited to: bailing out big business, massive spending and inflation, anti-unionism and a defense budget that could build a bridge made out of gold to the moon and back. Guerin also traces the origins of the fascist parties in various violent militias that grew out of the world depression of the 20's and 30's.
Regulating the Poor, by Piven and Cloward, gives us the real word on welfare in America. Hint: it's not a plot by lazy do nothing liberals to destroy the Protestant work ethic nor is it a plan to alleviate the suffering of the poor. Rather, welfare, so the authors share with us, exists as a means of social control. The two main welfare explosions grew out of the Great Depression and the turbulence of the Vietnam era. In the Great Depression, the more welfare that was handed out the less cry there was for communism or socialism, the less masses of men migrated around the country, the less rioting and protesting there was. And, this is something a lot of people miss, FDR started to phase most of his programs out before he died, their purpose having been met.
For example, when people were calling for a massive old age pension to be supplied by the government FDR instead instituted Social Security, a skeletal system compared to what many were calling for. But it was enough to peter out most political fire and the strident calls for more exhaustive programs died out. If FDR's ghost were here, he might tell us that welfare saved capitalism.
The story in the Vietnam era is similar. LBJ's Great Society was concentrated almost entirely in urban areas, despite masses of poverty in comparable rural areas, and was concentrated doubly in areas of rioting and social unrest. The authors predict a cycle of welfare benefits rising and falling as the economy grows and shrinks. This was proved correct by Reagan slashing welfare dramatically in the 80's and Clinton following suit in the roaring 90's. With the recent economic downturn we've seen Obama expand some programs as well. And after everyone forgets about this current downturn, welfare will inevitably be slashed again.
Furthermore, the intentional effects of the programs are to never provide more income than someone could make by working at the lowest paying most degrading employment available. It may extend the time people spend looking for a job, but it is designed to never permanently keep people out of the labor force.
