> Barring extremist solutions like euthanasia, you need to support non-productive citizens and the resources for it need to come from productive citizens in some way, be it with government intervention or not.

Agreed with the first point. Ultimately though, if you can't generate enough revenue to support the social safety nets something has to give (the old Thatcher quote "socialism works until you run out of other people's money to spend" applies here). The problem with incredibly generous (read: expensive) social programs like Scandinavian countries offer is that the day of reckoning will come much sooner.