I agree with you, Anon, that there is no political will to preserve what is left of the tattered safety net.  However, there is also a meanness and nastiness among the "haves" -- an attitude of "I will have an keep what is mine, and I will share it with no one, unless I choose to do so."  Those without means are portrayed as being "fat","lazy", "shiftless", "unworthy", etc, etc.   
I know that this has existed for a long time, but I truly thought that we were getting better as a society.   When I hear people with means (and, yes, I know that most of them work very hard -- but so do my clients who make and have so little) attack those who don't pay taxes, I become very dispirited -- and annoyed.  None of us who succeeds in anything gets where we are on our own?  Why are we so unwilling to share?