I also don't care for the idea that bribing the indigent and poor is what I'm doing. Glad to know that people are decoupling from the idea that welfare helps upward mobility.
Helping people who are in a difficult situation is also the right thing to do from a moral point of view. But I am under no illusion that our governments act on morals alone.
I don’t think welfare necessarily helps with upward mobility. On the other hand, it definitely is useful to prevent downward mobility, for example if someone has an accident and can’t do their job anymore, or their employer goes out of business.