Not in the slightest.
In that day "welfare" was truly a safety net, not a way of life.
You are right, we can't afford this many people living off the government. That includes the military, the mercenaries, the bankers and poor people who don't work.
The reality is we don't need the number of poor, unproductive people we have, we don't need the poor, unproductive military we have, and we for sure don't need the rich unproductive bankers we have.
And we can't afford to take care of people because we've given away most of our resources to private industry, where they are used for the benefit of the wealthy.