Catholic Social Action

If I had to give a talk about Catholic Social Teaching to a group of people working at a Catholic Church....I would be a bit worried. However, for the sake of the assignment I would discuss one of the issues I find to be particularly intriguing. The issue I would like to discuss is found right at the beginning of Part II of Mater Et Magistra.
51. At the outset it should be affirmed that in economic affairs first place is to be given to the private initiative of individual men who, either working by themselves, or with others in one fashion or another, pursue their common interests.
52. But in this matter, for reasons pointed out by our predecessors, it is necessary that public authorities take active interest, the better to increase output of goods and to further social progress for the benefit of all citizens.
I think these are really interesting because they are two issues that are highly debated in American society. The first basically states that those who should be awarded for their work are those of "private initiatives." I'm not really sure what that means exactly, but I interpret that to mean that those who work hardest for what they want should be those that are awarded. However, the next one states it's necessaries for public authorities to take interest in economic affairs in order to increase social progress. I feel like this can be related to social welfare programs. These programs demonstrate how governments or public authorities can interfere to help society prosper. However, social welfare programs are rather controversial. Many people believe that these programs contradict the so-called "American Dream" attitude in which one pulls themselves up by their boot straps and makes something out of themselves. Also, people tend to generalize about these social welfare programs based off a few individuals who may abuse these programs. However, according to Catholic Social Teaching these programs have some sort of religious justification. I think that such examples as above are important for Catholics to discuss because they play on social controversies that Catholic will be called upon to make judgements about especially when it comes to political decisions.