The problem is both cost, and a the “backwards bending supply curve” issue. The later is is based on observations that increased wages bring out more workers, but at a certain point many people start preferring the same income and more leisure time. Observe that among certain groups (our’s in particular), once an individual has a minimal level of income, they decide to work less and do something else (in our case learning in Torah, in the case of the goyim, things such as sports or watching videos). If the standard was that of what was the poverty line a few centuries ago (enough low quality food to avoid starvation, minimal medical care, a warm dry place to sleep but with no privacy, enough clothes to be non-naked, etc., it might work, but what would that accomplish. Thus we have “welfare” (and tsadakkah) focused on individual needs rather than a blanket grant.
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