Tom, as I see it your criticism against welfare has two parts:

1. People on welfare in your experience have material posessions out of sync with their actual income, and that constitutes widespread abuse of the welfare system.

2. Because of this widespread abuse, we have to metaphorically speaking teach a man to fish rather than give him a fish.

As I have pointed out, the massive availability of credit allows people to live beyond their means and is a totally logical explanation for your observations. Your conclusion is dependent on these observations, and I'm more finding fault with the observations than with the conclusion.