You're actually paying them to not riot. Serfs provided the core of a relatively stable body politic. They could be called on for war. They didn't have much economic power individually. They could be pushed around by the powers that be. They were also largely disarmed (Hillary and Obama).

BI == Serfs until the government can implement either forced sterilization or State assisted suicide.

For those down voting, picture the US if there was no welfare state. What would all of those people do if they didn't have the state to keep them fed just enough to not riot or declare war on their government? The answer to that question is not improve policies to balance environmental stewardship with pro-business expansion.

In practice, I think many of those people would probably just die of starvation or exposure, unless some charitable NGO picked up the tab. I don't have enough statistics to say whether it'd be most such people.