Welfare is the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens. In most developed countries, welfare is largely provided by the government, in addition to charities, informal social groups, religious groups, and inter-governmental organizations. In the end, this term replaces "charity" as it was known for thousands of years, being the voluntary act of providing for those who temporarily or permanently could not provide for themselves.

Welfare can take a variety of forms, such as monetary payments, subsidies and vouchers, or housing. Welfare can be provided by governments, non-governmental organizations, or a combination of the two. Welfare programs may be funded directly by governments, or in social insurance models, by the members of the Welfare scheme.

Welfare systems differ from country to country, but Welfare is commonly provided to individuals who are unemployed, those with illness or disability, the elderly, those with dependent children, and veterans. A person's eligibility for Welfare may also be constrained by means testing or other conditions.

Ayn Rand ( /ˈaɪn ˈrænd/; born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum, February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982) was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.

Born and educated in Russia, Rand moved to the United States in 1926. She worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood and had a play produced on Broadway in 1935–1936. After two initially unsuccessful early novels, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel The Fountainhead. In 1957, she published her best-known work, the philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward she turned to nonfiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own magazines and releasing several collections of essays until her death in 1982.

Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge and rejected all forms of faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism, and rejected ethical altruism. In politics, she condemned the initiation of force as immoral and opposed all forms of collectivism and statism, instead supporting laissez-faire capitalism, which she believed was the only social system that protected individual rights. She promoted romantic realism in art. She was sharply critical of the philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her besides Aristotle.

Robert Bernard Reich ( /ˈraɪʃ/; born June 24, 1946) is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.

Reich is currently Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He was formerly a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and professor of social and economic policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University. He has also been a contributing editor of The New Republic, The American Prospect (also chairman and founding editor), Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Reich is a political commentator on programs including Hardball with Chris Matthews, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CNBC's Kudlow & Company, and APM's Marketplace. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the Ten Best Cabinet Members of the century, and The Wall Street Journal in 2008 placed him sixth on its list of the "Most Influential Business Thinkers". He was appointed a member of President-elect Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board.

Micheál Martin (Irish pronunciation: [mʲiːçaːl̪ˠ]; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish politician who has been leader of Fianna Fáil since January 2011. He is a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South–Central constituency. Prior to becoming party leader, Martin served as Minister for Education and Science (1997–2000), Minister for Health and Children (2000–04), Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (2004–08) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–11).

As Minister for Health and Children in 2004, he introduced a ban on tobacco smoking in all Irish workplaces and established the Health Service Executive (HSE). Ireland was the first country to introduce a full workplace smoking ban. As Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2009, Martin travelled to Latin America for the first time, and made the first official visit to Cuba by an Irish government minister. That same year, he travelled to Khartoum following the kidnapping of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki. In 2010, he became the first Western foreign minister to visit Gaza since Hamas took control there in 2007. On 18 January 2011, Brian Cowen accepted his resignation as Foreign Minister. On 26 January 2011, Fianna Fáil announced that Micheál Martin had been elected as the eighth leader of the party, following Brian Cowen's resignation as party leader on 22 January 2011. In the 2011 general election, Martin led the party to its worst showing in its 85 year history with a loss of 57 seats and a drop in its share of the popular vote to 17.4%.