Being self sufficient and independant is a lot different than being selfish. There's also a lot that can be done aside from just giving up on people and giving them an "allowance" that will keep them alive and off the radar, living in poverty.
Personally, if somehow the bottom dropped out of my life and I was in a situation that I had nothing coming in and no way to survive, I'd enlist, earn money, and learn a trade. My grandfather did that when he came over from Ireland, (both of them did actually) and went to school because of the G.I. bill. He became an engineer, eventually started his own company, and was a multi millionaire.
It can be done, it happens every day. People just have to count on themselves if they want anything to happen in life. People can play the race card, the poverty card, whatever they want. It's all excuses. The tools that every person needs are out there.