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Bernanke's Poverty Effect: Foodstamp Recipients Jump by 400K In November, Hit New Record Of 43.6 Million
Much has been said about Bernanke's wealth effect and how it impacts a whopping 1% of the US population (traditionally, those very same bail out recipients who would be insolvent had Gen Ben not rescued the entire financial system at the expense of the DXY, which at last check was below 77 again). Unfortunately, a little less time has been spent discussing the equal and opposite effect: that of the poverty effect. Luckily, every month we get an update on this just as useful metric. And as of November, the SNAP program had 43.6 million participants, an increase of 400k from October, and a 14% increase, or 5.3 million from a year prior. We are confident that this 15% of the US population will be delighted to know that their rapidly diminishing dollars will end up acquiring increasingly less and less stuff.
The chart below says it all.
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When do SNAP cards outnumber iPad sales?
There are too many GREEN SHOOTS to count-
Global riots, increasing poverty, lawlessness, massive storms, record food stamp participation rate, 20% real unemployment, home prices declining 15% YoY, new home sales LOWEST in 47 years, record food and fuel prices, increased cost of living, flat wage increases, and Mervin King admitting the game is over! Let's rally 200 points!
That chart stinks of recovery.
Seafood places around here selling fish, shrimp, crabs and oysters now take EBT
WTF is wrong with that picture?
What better way to offload that toxic seafood from the GOM.
Green Shoot™ for the win!!
There are too many GREEN SHOOTS to count-
Global riots, increasing poverty, lawlessness, massive storms, record food stamp participation rate, 20% real unemployment, home prices declining 15% YoY, new home sales LOWEST in 47 years, record food and fuel prices, increased cost of living, flat wage increases, and Mervin King admitting the game is over! Let's rally 200 points!
Gangrenous shoots.
More FRN bandaids will fix that right up, along with that extra "eye" in your avatar's head! :>D
snap cards. such a cute and catchy name. i'm sure some needless federal employee got a big pat on the back (in lieu of a bonus) for coming up with that one.
The card started in Texas in 1991 as the Lone Star Card and was introduced by John Sharp. voted for the guy as he actually seemed to be effective in office.
What's that... About 15% of the population?
But HamyWanger says the Dow is going to 14,000 and Ben's strategy is working and we are experiencing a great economic recovery.
This 15% along with the remaining unemployed are overjoyed, although they are confused because their food stamps don't buy as much because of the dollar destruction and food and energy inflation also taking place.
Way to go Ben and your new myopic BFF Hamy "Let them eat cake" Wanger.
This is good news for food producers.
DOW +1.13% agrees with me. I think we're headed right to 13,000 before June, and 14,000 before August.
All the money spent by food stamps flows into the agro-industry, which stimulates stocks, which stimulate the global economy.
This is a virtuous circle.
Of course it's good for big Ag.
The demonrats are to big Ag what the repubirats are to big Defense.
House Passes Farm Bill, Expanding Food StampsLots of money left over to purchase home decor,, Bullish, Harry very bullish.. Long soapdishes and decorative toilet paper holders in the shape of poodles like Grandma used to have..
I think a little soft on the #s there, HW. Add 2K to each and you may be closer. BTW, is a virtuous circle anything lkie a circle jerk?
Look for SOG to make new highs! That's soggy biscuit for all you uninitiated.
just because it's called boone's farm doesn't mean it's agro-industry
Yes its true: you can't use food stamps on prepared or hot food items, therefore people buy much more "raw" foods for the same dollar. Could be 4 to 5 times as much, think of how much groceries vs. $10 lunch at Wendy's. As a side effect, these 43.6 million people are eating healthier than they ever have before.
Was it the SNAP program or relief $$$ that could be used at fast food joints? I can't remember.
Elderly, disabled, and homeless can use SNAP to get prepared foods, including at restaurants.
Thanks!
In one state, it was found that you could use your EBT card at the casino's or strip club's ATMs -- how's dat sit wit yaz?!
Works for Schwann's though (except ready to eat ice cream etc..) Hottest Schwann's route around here is the one through the indian reservation. Just sayin'.
people buy much more "raw" foods for the same dollar.
Not where I live. I think half the people in my town are SNAP recipients, and, from what I've seen there's a whole lot of over-processed, over-priced, no-nutrient food in those baskets. If the gubmit wants to intervene in how amerika eats they should start with SNAP guidelines for eligible foods.
Monsanto and the other government masters are perfectly happy with the current arrangements, thank you very much.
Bull. Pure and simple. These welfare mommas are so fucking lazy they don't cook, either. I see their carts full of TV dinners and other frozen foods like waffles, french fries, chicken niblets, etc., and let's not forget the generous helpings of soda, cheese doodles, chips, ice cream, cookies, candies and other healthy treats.
The loneliest man in the ghetto is the produce manager.
Agreed. Truth's a bitch ain't it? That's some kinda life we "help" these people lead.
gee, wonder why the welfare daddies don't cook for their kids?
Welfare parasites are sucking the life out of society.
i don't think that's just the welfare mommas, that's every American momma. No one in the country believes in eating healthy, not just the poor.
I just got on food stamps. I make so little with my fellowship in grad school that i get 200 bucks a month!! And i buy mostly veggies, frozen pizzas, and red bull. IT's really helping me to finish this paper i'm trying to get published.
I can't believe a troll receives the most replies on this website. You're obviously very good at it.
He's doing it on purpose, nobody's that retarted ;)
Oh I know, but look through the posts - it's remarkable. Even when there's a handful of replies pointing out it's the fake one, there are still a couple froth-at-mouth kind of responses following! Impressive trolling skills!
Move over, Pavlov and B.F. Skinner! :>D
GODDAMMIT. It's getting hard to tell the Wangers apart without paying careful attention. I'm tempted to reflexively ignore any posts under an American flag. And that's just not fair to the original troll Harry. It's almost like Harry has LOST HIS OWN VOICE and is no longer relevant here.
Think of the children; think of Harry.
+1, I got Hamy'ed on this one.
When the actual posts are similar it gets difficult to tell them apart.
I just count the stars on the flags for clarity.
Hammy has diluted Harry...which I think is the intent.
Careful CD will stalk you if you get it wrong..
There's very little about this that's virtuous, and you're an idiot for suggesting that it is.
LOVE YOU!
No Hamy, a virtuous circle will be one that the rich make when the poor have them roasting on a spit.
Ummm, Long Pig, it's what's for dinner!
pods
Nope, I think we are heading to dow 20,000 by the end of the year since there will be a 30% increase in food stamp participation and a huge increase in unemployment. Like Pelosi said, more money that the government gets into the hands of the starving masses via food stamps, welfare, unemployment checks, etc, the more this stimulates the economy and causes growth throughout the country.
You are an immoral propaganda minister with a bullseye on your forehead!
36 junks for Hamy. Is this a ZH record for a single post ?
Obviously, food stamps are in a bubble.
You can't eat food stamps.
+1000 Too-frigging-shay!!!
Wealth effect, bitchez!
Ben, Timmay, and Oscama will hang one day.
But not until hyperinflation eats the common people first. At that point, it's too late for the middle class.
Something needs to be done now, or just BTF-PM-Dip.
Lucky for them you can't eat gold.
There is no stigma anymore to using these benefits. If they are giving away tax payers money,people will line up to take it. Wouldn't suprise me to see this stat stay relativley unchanged going forward
SNAP is too trendy and sensitive.
It should be called LOSER and a siren should go off in the store when you use it. It should be mandatory that you get random drug tests as well in order to qualify. You also have to perform 10 hours of community service per month to maintain the benefit.
I bet people would try to find jobs at that point.
Also...no fuckin' cookies, chips, and soda. You should be allowed to purchase fruits/veggies/meats/dairy and thats it.
Many people on this program are employed. Why do you want to punish people for being poor? You should direct your anger at the elites who are driving everyone else into grinding poverty. Who knows, maybe one day you will need to be on food stamps.
you are, quite simply put...A PIG.
I'm actually a man whom in my younger years worked 18 hour days and ate rice/beans for breakfast/lunch/dinner. I slaved myself to the point where I can now live comfortably. No one ever gave me free anything.
Not everyone has your luck, and thankfully not your arrogance.
The bigger question is why businesses are asking people to take lesser jobs, instead of being part of the recovery and taking "lesser people" for the same tasks.
I kind of thought Bob's comment was funny. Insensitive? Sure. Funny? Sure.
What isn't funny is how you equate his "working 18 hours days" and "ending up comfortable" as luck. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe that's the way shit is supposed to work?
I ended up "comfortable" so to speak, because I worked GODDAMNED HARDER than EVERYBODY around me for YEARS. Not luck. HARD EFFING WORK. Painful, ballbusting, freezing my ass off work. And yes, I get pissy when I see FAT ASSED career "welfare mommas" in the grocery store on the first of the month with carts loaded full of shit I wouldn't feed to my dogs, let alone my kids. So when Bob has the balls to rant a little, good for him.
Somehow I'm willing to bet that Bob doesn't begrudge one little bit, the help given to those who are down on their luck, and trying to get flush. I know I don't. But I LOATHE the "entitled". Get it? LOATHE...
How it can seem so irrational to some people that the harder one works for their shit, the harder they hold tight to it, is beyond me.
EDIT*** I think he's spot on about the drug testing. I get drug and alcohol tested multiple times yearly for the priveledge of paying the taxes that feed the poor.
Damn straight!
Amen. Most welfare queens (and kings) have never worked a day in their life.
Luck my ass.
I worked in a coal mine, and worked so hard my dick and balls would chaffe (not to mention I probably still have soot in my lungs). I also served in the military in which I risked my ass to defend this country. I trudged through miles of shit, sweat my ass off, little to no sleep for days on end, seen Americans die and almost died myself. I got out and saved as much as possible while continuing to work my ass off. I went through most of my life without a credit card.
You can suck my aged and chaffed dick and balls you pussified American armchair economist.
You painted quite a sufficient mental image of your chaffed junk. Thanks for that. Also thanks for your service.
Thanks for the support ColonelCooper. It is much appreciated.
You got it. See, here's the deal: You were getting torn up for telling it like it is. (- the LOSER with the siren thing, which was actually so effing funny I read it to my wife and kids. (Look out PC Jackboots, I'm raising another generation of neanderthal fuckers just like myself.))
People need to wake the Hell up and realize that things are getting FUCKING REAL. I've been a little rough on the pussies the last few days, 'cause if you're going to be insulted by someone using the word faggot, or even socialist for God sake, you are really gonna be offended when asshats put a gun in your face and make you watch their buddies fuck your wife before they steal all your shit. And just before you junk me for havin the nuts to say it, think about this for one second: This kind of shit happens right now, right here today, in the good ole USA and we ain't even starvin yet.
The truth hurts Bitchez!! Better get a good dose in the next year or so. A simple lesson of life is that the easy targets get it first. So your RESPONSIBILITY to your family is to make sure you're one step tougher of a target than the people next to you. Get it?
I may not have much to offer to this place in terms of macro-econ input, but from the groundswell of oversensitive PC bullshit that has been occurring, I see I can help with one thing: Manning some of you girly bastards up!
Junk away, it doesn't hurt. I still have my birthday; but maybe if I'm just offensive enough to some of you, you'll start to grow callouses over your sensitivity buttons.
That is all.
I guess you don't think government does enough micromanaging of people's lives, eh?
^^^^ what he means is get all those fat black people off of SNAP
Bob, throughout high school and college, I worked part-time for a large, Northeast supermarket chain. Back in the Day, food stamps were these colorfully printed tickets which came in booklets of varying denominations. Then, there were strict rules as to what could and could not be "paid" for by food stamps ( and their state-level evil twin, the "WIC" voucher ). When food stamps were produced for payment, everyone knew what they were. There was, then, a distinct stigma attached. Obviously, in this Era of No Shame, Snap is the word, and "honorable" welfare's the game.
Yea I've seen the new "SNAP" cards. Shit they look like American Express/Visa/Mastercard. I've also seen people use them getting Snickers, Pepsi, gummy bears, etc...
Than I have to hear Michele Obama's fat ass tell me not to eat salt whom seems to be on perpetual vacation in exotic locales all around the world eating fanciful looking pork chops. I'm paying to be treated like this?
Yea....
that is so right. looks like you are paying with a credit card instead of all those paper certificates that cause backups in the checkout lane... geeze, i remember when paying for groceries with a credit card was frowned upon.
sorry - dup.
Whole Foods Accepts Food StampsI'm so happy my tax dollars can go to pay for people buying 3x overpriced staples.
Bring back government cheese!
Please tell me this is a joke.
so do convience stores..here prices are really low....lol.......
True dat. If one meets the income
guidelines, one gets the free food.
And more folks meet the income
guidelines every day by either losing
their jobs or taking a shittier job than
they had before.
Perhaps if businesses had to accept less, instead of asking people to take a lesser job, perhaps that wouldn't be the case.
They aren't the Almighty y'know, and shouldn't ever be.
+1
Food riots coming to a theater near you . . . but not until hitting new equity highs while sitting in a blizzard. Nothing else to do but buy buy buy.
Anyone find this suspicious?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_YaBEZhgyfaj9iBGzH_z...
In addition to this?
http://blogs.star-telegram.com/storm_troopers/2011/02/obama-briefed-on-s...
Maybe my tinfoil hat needs to be polished.
You left out this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12331130
('white house bid' my ass...)
I'm not sure I follow (?)
Massive power outages give excuse for storm troopers..
I'm less inclined to worry about Nat. Guard troops help save lives in a ginormous blizzard situation than say rounding up large groups of citizens for attending something like a political rally in June.
Then again I seem to have misplaced my Reynolds Wrap.
http://www.blackanthem.com/scitech/military_2006042105.html
not really a secret. search "owning the weather 2025" with an open mind.
Kuwait has got nothing on the USSA.
What do you guess the correlation is between food stamps and food prices? Those of us not on food stamps yet are getting hit coming and going.
This should make JP Morgan happy
Meanwhile, most of the major market indexes in the U.S. and Europe are rocketing to new 2-year highs.
Welcome to the world of "Infinite Fiat".
Yes, But the economists charts say this is not sustainable. I say bullshit.
Meanwhile, most of the emerging markets are off 15% from their respective highs.
Welcome to the world of "leading indicators".
I am disappointed you are not listening to your hero Gary K more intently.
RobotTrader clearly has an agenda with all of his posts. I'm not sure if he works for the banks, the Fed, or what. His name should be Disinformation, not RobotTrader.
Well, you know what they say about Robots, and computers in general: "Garbage in, garbage out". And RobotLemming just LOVES pigging out in the BLS and CNBC dumpster.
Read the post. Robot sees the insanity in what's going on. This shit is going up and will continue going up until the Fed quits or some outside event shows us the man behind the curtain is nothing but a fraud.
I like Robot, breaks up the monotony of the posts on this site, gloom, doom, famine, war and inflation etc.... Anybody know what the record high junk is on a Robot post? I thought I saw 25 on one....
All those junks are votes denying the current reality of sham market(s), denial: NOT just a river in Egypt!
If they traded the market, maybe they wouldn't be on food stamps. Fuckers.
Maybe they are on food stamps precisely because they have been trading in this "market"?
pods
Touche'
Economists on food stamps? Where?
BTFF(ood)D. Bitchez!!!
At 30% unemployment and 60% on food stamps, the last policy implemented for total fascist control will be put in place to ensure Barry's 2nd term; TSA will quadruple in size and there'll be "monitors" on every block and in each TBTF bank; to protect us, of course.
+1984
Food Stamps keep the sheep asleep...without them we are Egypt with guns.
Not that this is a bad thing but..........
++, bigger wealth disparity in the US than in Egypt.....
This is my unemployment statistic....they do not drop off the back end on this one....and I think it will go up...and will go on for many years...
Yup. Take a look at real disposable
income. I would say we're fucked and
cannot get back on trend for years.
dshort.com/charts/index.html?economics/PCE-disp-inc-per-capita-1960-regression
Bingo! This is a much truer picture of accelerating unemployment than the bogus UE statistics spewed forth from the BLS! It would be very interesting to apply the percentage increases on this chart to the official UE number as reported in Q1 2007 (same starting point as this chart on SNAP recipients).
Guns or Butter.
Bernanke says yes AND yes.
GREEN MUTHAFUCKING SHOOTS!
GO BEN!
You are the messiah!
How come nobody called Obama a liar this year and the annual BS-a-thon, Didn't he say the the RECESSION WAS OVER? their manipulations are lies!
Honestly, just kick the partisanship. Clinton, Bush, Obama, it's the same fucking person behind the curtain.
+43.6 million
I agree, the point is to hold our reps accountable not, cower in aww of bs
Obama's a liar.
You feel better, champ?
How come nobody called Obama a liar this year and the annual BS-a-thon, Didn't he say the the RECESSION WAS OVER? their manipulations are lies!
see above
Fund managers are chasing anything and everything that moves now.
I don't think they even bother to look at the ticker symbol anymore.
LOL....
And you don't think that's fucking insane?
We're heading for a cataclysmic inflation tsunami, and people are collecting seashells on the beach with a margarita in hand.
nice image! I am surrounded by blissfully ignorant tourists and fools here in NYC!
And if you try to tell them of the danger coming, they look at you like you are from another planet. People simply will not see what they don't want to see.
I truely wish I were wrong on this one. It's gonna suck.
Everyone laughed at Noah too! :(
Don't be the guy on a soapbox, wearing burlap and a beard, with a big sign around your neck.
It's all good.
Chill and go with the flow.
Blooming Onion Thingies are 2 for 1 during Happy Hour at TGI-McFunsters.
"We're heading for a cataclysmic inflation tsunami, and people are collecting seashells on the beach with a margarita in hand."
If you see a pale chap with a margarita in hand, sporting a set of giant golden water wings, that's me. Just tip your hat or flash a nipple and I'll know it's you.
Offer to buy her a drink. Maybe she'll show you her cock.
LOL!
Here are some pics of "me":
http://www.fhm.com/girls/anna-chapman-is-a-sexy-russian-spy-20100630
Hey look, one of your potential suitors junked me. Or it's just another of the easily offended that are overrunning this place.
[rolls eyes and groans..........]
She can go from smoking to being slightly better looking than needing a bridge to guard in a heartbeat... strange...
LMAO
easy stuff...
SNAP keeps the lower classes "invested" in the gov's policies
The relentless stock rally keeps the lower upper classes invested in the gov's policies.
Buying bonds and bailing out banks and keeping massive bonuses flowing keeps the upper upper classes invested in the gov's policies.
This leaves only the middle class that still has a job to not qualify for SNAP and inadequate income to really participate in the stock market. And who gives a shit about them? They can be outvoted by the other groups.
+1
So, do you quit and go on the dole or apply at JPM? (You see what this is doing to the morality and the future of the country?)
Eventually the middle class throws their hands up and says fuck it... the beast of burden on the animal farm will be driven into the ground... until that day, the middle class ranks dwindle as the vast majority become SNAP recipients (if not already... presuming its possible to even be middle class and a SNAP recipient) and receive their lobotomies.
When the revolution hits american soil it will be... interesting to say the least... not that the others aren't, it's just that our situation although similar in many ways, is certainly not identical... not that anyone wants to live in interesting times...
Sure thing, trav: those who feed themselves on food stamps are really living it up!
Typical well-fed, white, blame-the-victim mentality at work.
You must really not know any "poor" black people.
SNAP is one of the most scammed programs out there, along with SSI.
I'm not sure with what bein white has to do with it, other than you're a fuckin racist. BTW, I feed myself.
Scammed by whom, trav?
Look, of course there are people who are need this shit to get on their feet. I'm glad it's there for them. But you REALLY need to get yourself to a WalMart or big box grocery chain next to a "bad area" on the first of the month.
I don't blame those who've been steamrolled by the system. The very EXISTENCE of a 'first-of-the-month' phenomenon is proof that the problem is a social one.
Thus I blame the system, which includes a propaganda complex that uses sophisticated techniques of psychological warfare to convince people to buy 'Dogshit for Dinner' brand foods.
I agree with you that by the time you're talking third generation welfare, there ain't much chance that kids gonna amount to much. Some do, but it is obviously not the norm.
This does not stop me from inherently LOATHING these people. (This is not a race thing either for the PC Jackboots here. Where I live most of the welfare folks are white. I have enough hate in me to go around to all peoples. So fuck off in advance.) Not hate, more of a disgust. I Have been vandalized and robbed by the very people I feed. If my dog bit me I'd shoot him. (Not advocating gun violence against the poor for all you PC Jackboots, just don't have any time or sympathy for those who bite the hand that feed them.)
I don't know the correct answer to the problem, but I think world events are going to solve a whole friggin bunch of it soon, whether we like it or not.
Global Famine Bitchez!
++
Like I keep saying; a fool and his money are soon parted. I look forward to the day these "money managers" are running around like chickens with an obvious bullseye on their forehead!
Bank bailouts explained:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yipV_pK6HXw&feature=player_embedded
This is hilarious! ________________________________________
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A new influx of cash.
Should be foreseen...this is how inflation gets to the "people," a confusion among the last few holdouts for deflation like Douchinger.
SNAP will be in more hands and with larger COLAs. The gov has to spend all that QE; this is the point of it.
+1
I got one word for ya. Fuel stamps!
...The one word inflated to two while I was writing.
One of the unfortunate consequences of understanding the disastrous effects of today's monetary voodoo is the feeling one gets when shown a chart like this.
One the one hand, people are starving and grasping at straws. How many are left off the books/dropped every month?
On the other hand, there is no shortage of nicknames for folks who understand the game and see it for what it is.
This is not an appeal for popularity; rather, it makes one wonder what it will take before any semblance of realization becomes widespread.
Ah but that's the genius of the modern system.
There are not many physical 'soup kitchens' with folks shivering in the cold anymore.
They are invisible while on the dole so you never notice when they fall off.
"Soup Kitchens" no, "food pantry" several in every local community. In my community it is run jointly by several community churches, (Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, etc). There is very rarely any surplus. It is not invisible, but a lot of people who ask for help are embarrassed and don't want it known in the community and the people who volunteer respect that. Our community pantry primarily helps elderly and families with children, most of the people asking for help are not "trailer trash" or "welfare queens".
If you don't see these people "fall off" maybe you should ask yourself how aware and involved you are in your community.
As I predicted in December...
PIIGS banks will be the biggest % gainers in 2011.
BBVA up another 5% today, new high for the move.
These stocks have gone vertical this year.
I thought so too but was too chickenshit to risk any money on it.
solid double bottoms on BAC and DB told the tale...
It's bad enough to pick up pennies in front of a steamroller, but to do so wearing a blindfold and earplugs will just be a new and novel form of financial suicide.