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FoodStamp Nation

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service released a new report on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly known as Food Stamps) earlier this week with some fresh data on the program. Given our earlier note on Mr.EBT, we thought the following brief clip from Bloomberg TV on the $82bn-per-year program would provide some rather shockingly sad insights and then Nic Colas' recent focus on the SNAP report provides some much more in depth color.  First and foremost, there are 46.5 million Americans in the program as of the most recent information available (January 2012), comprising 22.2 million households.  That’s 15% of the entire population, and just over 20% of all households.  Moreover, despite the end of the official “Great Recession” in June 2009, over 10 million more Americans have been accepted into the program since that month, and the year-over-year growth rate for the program is still +5%.  The USDA’s report is, not surprisingly, very upbeat on the utility of the program.  Fair enough.  But what does it mean when 20% of all households cannot afford to buy the food they need for their families?  To our thinking, it highlights an underappreciated new facet of American economic life – one that will be felt everywhere from the ballot box to the upcoming Federal Deficit debates.


 

 



Food Stamps – The Long Shadow Of The Great Recession

Nic Colas, ConvergEx.

Like most people in finance, I have been trained to think about information that occurs “At the margin.”  Yesterday’s price for a stock plus today’s information yields the closing price at 4pm.  The same holds true for macroeconomic data as it relates to bond prices, levels for commodities, and so forth.  There isn’t time to revisit everything that happened in prior days and weeks and months – we take it for granted that asset prices have that all figured out.  How many times have you heard “Oh, that’s old news; it’s in the stock.”

 

It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye, as the old saying goes, and assuming that the past is the past is fine until it’s not.  There wasn’t much about the Financial Crisis of 2007 that wasn’t knowable in 2006; you just had to have a reasonable imagination and a respect for the irrationality of markets once the system began to break down.  But one lesson of the last five years – and there are many – is that you shouldn’t just assume that “It’s all in the stock.”  Reality checks on anything and everything are worth the time and energy.

 

One topic I personally find worth re-examination is the question, “How has America changed in the past five years that will cast a shadow over the country’s history over the next 50 years?”  Think back to the Great Depression and you’ll find the seeds of programs such as Social Security and even Medicare/Medicaid.  The deprivation of that decade convinced America that it wanted a society that actively tried to make life better for those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.  Take care of the old with a stipend from Social Security.  As the generation that lived through the Depression reached older age, they realized that they needed health care as well.  Enter Johnson’s concept of a Great Society and health care for senior citizens and the poor – Medicare and Medicaid.

 

The modern Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which most of us know as Food Stamps, also got its start in the Great Depression.  It was an effort to link the surplus food of the agricultural system with the poor in the nation’s cities.  Those in tough economic circumstances could buy “Stamps” that would entitle them to buy both regular foodstuffs as well as discounted surplus produce.  The program went dormant during World War II but President Kennedy resurrected it in 1960, altering it from a pay-for-stamps system to a straight entitlement.  With some tweaks and alterations, this is the program we have today – a nationwide system of evaluating those who at risk of food insecurity (typically making less than 130% of the poverty line) and giving them money to purchase food.

 

The trouble, as I see it, is that the SNAP program has become wildly successful.  That is not a slam against the people that use it – I personally agree that no one, especially a child, should go to bed hungry in America.  But it’s not hard to see where this program is creeping its way from counter-cyclical stimulus and support to a lasting entitlement program that will be very hard to change.

 

The USDA division that provides the infrastructure for the SNAP program, which is technically a joint Federal/State effort, put out an interesting report earlier in the week that gave me a chance to think through the program’s goals and consider its role in American society.  A few points from the report as well as the basics on the program here:

  • As of January 2012, the most recent month available, there are 46.5 million Americans in the program.  That equates to 22.2 million households.  To put these numbers in perspective, that is 20% of all households in the country.  If the “Food Stamp Nation” were it state, it would be the largest one in the Union.  If the adults enrolled in the SNAP program (about half the total) all voted for one Presidential candidate in the Fall, they would represent over 2x the margin of victory in the last election.
  • SNAP is not supposed to be the only source of food purchasing power for a household in the program.  The calculations used by the USDA to determine the amount of the benefit assume that SNAP participants will spend 30% of their income on food.  Keep in mind that the food component of the Consumer Price Index is 8%.  The average household in SNAP receives $277/month; the average participant receives $132/month.
  • The typical SNAP participant is a child under the age of 18.  This demographic accounts for 47% of the program.  Households with children account for 71% of all demand for SNAP. Surprisingly, the elderly are only 8% of the program.
  • Households in the SNAP program are overwhelming reliant on other government transfer payments to make ends meet.  Earnings only represent 30% of their income.  The remainder comes from Social Security (21%), Social Security Insurance/Disability (21%), child support payments (10%), and other mostly government payments.
  • It’s hard to know how long the current cohort of participants – those who started receiving benefits in the last 3-4 years – will be in the program.  Those in the program in the early-to-mid 2000s seem to stay enrolled for long periods of time – 7 years on average.  Over half of those who left the program returned within 2 years.
  • Less than half of the SNAP benefit paid monthly goes to buy food.  This is an unexpected finding, but the math behind it shows that when a household starts to receive SNAP, they shift spending patterns.  If the SNAP benefit for a given household is, for example, $100/person then the typical increase in food purchases is $14-47/person/month.

I could go on and on – the link to the full report is included below.  There’s some surprising stuff in there, like the fact that typical Democratic states are much worse at ensuring that their poorer citizens are enrolled in the program than all those supposedly heartless Republican enclaves.  Or that, contrary to what you’ve read in the press, EBT cards (the credit card-like method of payment used by SNAP) can’t be used at ATMs in strip clubs and casinos.  That is another program entirely.

 

But my key takeaways are that a large percentage of the population – 20% of households is a big number – is locked into this program.  There are endless studies in the world of behavioral finance that show that people are very quick to budget increases in disposable income as permanent.  And don’t forget that by the USDA’s own numbers, most of the benefit is effectively NOT being spent on food.  In the narrowest sense, the money spent on the SNAP program is tiny relative to the Federal budget - $6 billion a month, or a drop in the $270 billion/month government spend.

 

But this is where I wonder about the long shadow of the last recession.  Have we reached a point where Americans want a clear and potentially permanent social safety net?  And how far should it go? Again, the current SNAP program is a cheap way to provide this, so from a budgetary or societal standpoint it is hard to argue that it breaks the bank.  But what if it is an emblem of something greater?  In many ways I think this is a big chunk of what the November election will be about, and at least the Food Stamp program seems to show that Americans have made up their minds.

 

 

 

Report: http://www.fns.usda.gov/ORA/menu/Published/SNAP/FILES/Other/BuildingHealthyAmerica.pdf

 

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Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:50 | 2361746 krispkritter
krispkritter's picture

You know, if we'd just spent the 'war funds' on food and sent it over to those countries, we'd probably have a bunch of fat, happy Brown people who fucking love us...and maybe $2 a gallon gas.

/sarc on

But where's the fun in that?

/sarc off

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:18 | 2361879 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

I'll do you one better.  Pay farmers to actually grow food and then send the shit overseas to either sell or give away.  Right now we are paying farmers not to grow, and we are giving money to poor brown people to buy food elsewhere.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:52 | 2362760 smiler03
smiler03's picture

Not to grow? Some farmers are lucky, they get $6bn a year in subsidies to grow corn for ethanol. Will the subsidies really end in Dec 2012? 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:18 | 2361609 vegas
vegas's picture

We want our free shit now and that's that. I ain't payin' the mortgage, screw the bank, I want free healthcare, give me a student loan I don't pay back, and don't even think about takin' that EBT card away from me. Other than that, I'm all for individual responsibility and free markets.

 

http://vegasxau.blogspot.com

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:18 | 2361616 Diogenes
Diogenes's picture

"Have we reached a point where Americans want a clear and potentially permanent social safety net?"

You reached that point in 1932. That is how Roosevelt got elected.

Feeding all the hungry children in America costs less than what Goldman Sachs top executives paid themselves in bonuses. Money well spent.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:22 | 2361631 manhunter
manhunter's picture

Agree. I say mothball an aircraft carrier, and spend the money on feeding people.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:20 | 2361887 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

How about parking the aircraft carrier near the people and let them chop it up for parts and scrap metal to sell? It's like teaching a man to fish ... and they get to keep their dignity.

/sarc>

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 22:18 | 2362995 mjk0259
mjk0259's picture

Like in Pakistan where they actually do this. Lot's of dignity there.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:43 | 2361620 Monedas
Monedas's picture

They probably don't mess with the SNAP numbers (like they do with BLS data) because they like to dangle them in front of the hungry voters !       "There once was a lady from the Azores.....Whose body was covered with sores.....The dogs in the street, would snap at the meat, that hung in festoons from her drawers !"....Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity limerick !   Monedas  1929    Comedy Jihad Nostalgia Nostrums

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:20 | 2361622 fwchiro
fwchiro's picture

I wonder how the strong the correlation is between the 46.5 million on SNAP and the leaderboard on Bejeweled at Facebook?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:22 | 2361623 libertus
libertus's picture

If you want to go down the rabbit hole, spend some time studying SNAP and the government agencies that run it.   The amount of publically available data on this program can be read in an afternoon. If you want to crunch numbers and do some modeling based on those numbers be prepared to hire a lawyer. Here is my point.

1. We really have no idea about the number of people going hungry in America. I've read a few studies that indicate that only 68% of the people eligible for these programs are actually signed up. 

2. There are no audits of the program. Is SNAP really helping the poor or is it just another backdoor payment to the banksters who make the EBT cards? 

3. If this program is ever cut or cancelled we will see people in the streets starving or rioting. 

4. Federal law makes it really difficult to get any information on SNAP. You really need to be a detective to get data that you can use for all like of cool statistical analysis. 

 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:23 | 2361628 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

More importantly, what are the administrative costs? 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:25 | 2361648 libertus
libertus's picture

Who the hell knows? I sure can't find out any information on that. 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:48 | 2361741 Boxed Merlot
Boxed Merlot's picture

JPM administers this program.  Don't count on ever learning anything more than that.

Not that you or any one else would / could do anything anyway.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:18 | 2361878 libertus
libertus's picture

Bullshit. Resistance to tyrants is obediance to GOD.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:22 | 2361626 the not so migh...
the not so mighty maximiza's picture

Fuck foodstamps, BRING BACK THE SOUP KITCHENS!!!!! 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:53 | 2361762 krispkritter
Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:22 | 2361627 Flocking swans
Flocking swans's picture

ALSO, A PerpetualWar Nation. And I think that costs a bit more....

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:24 | 2361638 Imminent Collapse
Imminent Collapse's picture

If you think this is bad, wait to see what is over the horizon.  This is nothing.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:27 | 2361641 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

46.5 million Americans, that's nice voting block.

Of course if they don't get fed we could be a few meals from anarchy...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:28 | 2361650 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Problem is, they dont vote. Hell they dont even get up till noon.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:30 | 2361668 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

That's why the current administration buses them to the polls...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:36 | 2361681 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Still pretty much irrelevant, the voters dont matter. The bankers already have picked who they want in there. My guess is contrary to popular belief ObaMao is a shoe-in, I believe they want a white republican face back in there for the collapse and world war.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:45 | 2361722 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

Voters matter if you want to keep up the facade...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:22 | 2362092 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

The facade of what, the wall of lies? Big deal.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:00 | 2361781 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

voting is a safety valve, keeping the pot from boiling over.  You get to vote, just like everyone else, because that's fair.  Your guy didn't win?  Well, it was close... it was a Good Try!  You can vote again in four years.

We need a Great Levelling.  Darwin has been denied the part he got correct for far too long.  Feeding the useless, preventing them from suffocating in plastic bags, eating silica gel packets and drowning their spawn in 5 gallon buckets has brought us to this place.

Just like the markets, there are levels in society.  When these levels are artificially inflated, you get bubbles.  We're going to see a huge social bubble pop before much longer.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:25 | 2361644 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Just swipe yo EBT card, bitchez!

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:27 | 2361647 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 I wonder how many of these SNAP recipients have student loans?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:31 | 2361665 sabra1
sabra1's picture

and paying rent, cannot afford medicare! this is the grand plan! we shall all bow before the great ones'! NOT!!!!! before the foodstamp program is cut off, and it will be, lampposts will be adorned with new windchimes!!!

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:46 | 2361718 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

That won't happen until the food stamp program is cut off. Then when people get hungry maybe they will direct their anger where it needs to go. My suspicion is that we will have us a good hi body count war before that happens.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:27 | 2361652 Ted Baker
Ted Baker's picture

SAD SAD

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:29 | 2361660 New_Meat
New_Meat's picture

Some busts for fraud happened yesterday in Boston and maybe other places in NE.

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20220420raid_of_ebt_card_chea...

The DeValuator says it is just anecdotal, though.

- Ned

 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:34 | 2361676 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture
401(k)s are failing millions of Americans

 

The average balance in all 50 million 401(k) accounts is just over $60,000, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Even people within 10 years of retirement have saved an average of only $78,000, and more than a third of them have less than $25,000. More than half of U.S. workers have no retirement plan at all. With Social Security averaging $14,780 a year for individuals and $22,000 for couples, many Americans will exhaust their savings in just a few years.

 

http://theweek.com/article/index/226886/how-401ks-are-failing-millions-o...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:45 | 2361723 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Bullish!!!  The banksters and the paper-pushers still have (50,000,000x60,000)=$3,000,000,000,000 left to steal.  That ought to keep things going for six months to a year.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:46 | 2361729 Monedas
Monedas's picture

And what little they have is going to get wiped out !  Monedas  1929   Comedy Jihad Bubble Up Poverty

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:49 | 2361743 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

In one recent survey, 43 percent of workers between the ages of 45 and 54 said they weren't currently saving for retirement at all.

 

some people have no one to blame but themselves looks like....but I suspect they will use OPMs to support them using EBT and SNAP.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 22:21 | 2363001 mjk0259
mjk0259's picture

Actually makes sense. Lots of people get 'retired' by just getting laid off for being over 50 and then can't get hired anywhere else. Paying for medical or medical insurance in such a situation, with probable pre-existing conditions, will quickly consume any savings someone making under $50K could reasonably have accumulated. Might as well just spend it while you are young and go bankrupt a couple years sooner.

 

 

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 15:46 | 2363920 Diogenes
Diogenes's picture

Yeah why can't they save some money out of all those high paying jobs out there? (sarkylert)

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:02 | 2361798 Dumpster Fire
Dumpster Fire's picture

I'm planning on working until I die just to show those fuckers.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:45 | 2361686 Monedas
Monedas's picture

Hear Rush's program today ?  A reporter with camera man goes to Eric Holder's precinct and wants to vote as Eric Holder !  Long hair poll puke checks voter registration list and says OK ! Reporter says he forgot his ID and will have to go home and get it ! Pool puke says no, no, no problem....you don't need it !  Any one got the link ?  I don't have a staff !    Monedas  1929    Comedy Jihad Baltimore Beat

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:49 | 2361737 rumblefish
rumblefish's picture

thats a few weeks old. search you tube  and you'll find.

I believe the film maker is O'Keefe.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:52 | 2361747 Monedas
Monedas's picture

Thanks !

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:39 | 2361693 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

Pelosi calls this stimulus. How insane is that.

I call it unsustainable. What do you call it?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:41 | 2361699 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

There was an article from Maine last year where the SNAP users buy a case of water at a liquor store, dump out all of the water outside of the store, walk back in with the empty bottles, redeem them for the bottle deposit, and then buy some beer with the cash.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/19/news/state/food-stamp-%E2%80%98water-dumping%E2%80%99-scam-continues/

 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:45 | 2361720 Clowns on Acid
Clowns on Acid's picture

arbitrage...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 20:01 | 2362773 smiler03
smiler03's picture

It sounds enterprising to me, a bit of a poor return on assets though...

"The Bangor Daily News put a spotlight on water dumping in August 2010 after a pair of men purchased $86.79 in bottled water from the Shaw’s in Bangor, dumped it out behind the store and returned the empties for $24."

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:48 | 2361730 rumblefish
rumblefish's picture

cut cut cut...

whatever the progrom, it is just a subsidy to allow people to live beyond their means and avoid real life decisions.

I am will to wager the number of people on this program with a smart phone or plasma TV is high.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 22:24 | 2363005 mjk0259
mjk0259's picture

So if at some point in your life you could scrape up $300 for a TV or maybe less to buy one used and could pay $30/month for a phone, you never need any help? What do you recommend, they should sell their tv for $50 first? Then they got no  reason to stay home and will be walking around the street more. Once you sign a phone contract, you're stuck with it for a while and you need a phone to get a job.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:51 | 2361744 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

I like how they forecast a reduction starting immediately going into 2015.  I wonder what math was used for that forecast.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:56 | 2361766 Monedas
Monedas's picture

That's the BLS "Bell Curve" !   Monedas  1929   Sometimes I make shit up....but usually I don't have to !

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:55 | 2361767 junkyardjack
junkyardjack's picture

By 2015 World War III they forecast should be well underway so a large portion of the population will be suffering from radiation poisoning and won't require food stamps...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:53 | 2361760 SlorgGamma
SlorgGamma's picture

That 46.5 million will shortly increase by one (1) debt-serf. Namely, me. A newly minted PhD, in a dead job market, overloaded with 165K of student debt, compounding at 6.5% a year, while the Vampire Squid can borrow at 0.25%.

There are no goddamn jobs out there, even for those of us with degrees from topnotch universities. This economy is a cruel, sick joke, a predatory monster which pulverizes the 99% for the benefit of the 1%.

This summer, it's either food stamps, or I starve to death. Literally. Starve. To. Death.

That's how bad things are.

To the 99Percenters on this list: love and respect, keep fighting The System.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:59 | 2361782 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

There's always roadkill.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:05 | 2361805 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

damn!  You should have went to that DeVry course on automotive electronics after all, instead of getting a degree in post-modern macrame fashions at the University of the Unshorn Sisters of the Apocalypse.

Try the dumpsters out back of McDonalds.  I hear they have the shortest shelf time on their swill so you'll be getting the very best.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:17 | 2361874 XitSam
XitSam's picture

Please tell us what subject your degrees are in and which universities you attended.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:25 | 2361903 libertus
libertus's picture

Send me a private message. I may have a project for you...unless it is a Ph.D is basket weaving. Deprogram yourself. All that learning has made your mind soft. 

Remember the words of Al Swaringan  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Q7YRDL90E

Don't be a pussy!

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:29 | 2361926 HiHoAg
HiHoAg's picture

Maybe practice the following in front of the bathroom mirror-

"Would you like fries with that?"

Is you doctorate in womens/ethnic studies or poli sci?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:10 | 2362049 MachoMan
MachoMan's picture

go get A job...  start your 20 years to clicking...  it's going to be a long 20 year sentence...

You might also consider government or nonprofit work to help mitigate the pain...  (all things considered, you could take a substantial decrease in salary if they'll forgive the loans).

Just out of curiosity...  at what point in your studies did you figure out that you had made some terrible decisions?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:35 | 2362137 my puppy for prez
my puppy for prez's picture

I'm sorry you are in this predicament.  I'm sure it is disheartening.  But DON'T become a slave to the system!  My parents grew up poor during the Depression.  They always taught me, do whatever you have to, but DO NOT take the dole!  They did whatever they had to do to stay self sufficient....even if that meant working 3 low paying jobs.  Why should younger generations feel too good for that approach?  You will end up being tired, but able to look yourself in the mirror without shame.  If you take SNAP, you are basically telling the banksters (and the corporate education system as well!) that they have won....that they have achieved their goal of making you their little slave bitch!  Do you really want that?

Try to think outside the box...something the endless years of institutional education has successfully removed from your soul.  I'm not saying it will be easy....au contraire...but you will salvage self respect in the process.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:01 | 2362198 Dingleberry
Dingleberry's picture

PhD in what, may I ask? We need to make sure no other ZHer (or their kids) major in that field.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 21:51 | 2362954 Lednbrass
Lednbrass's picture

Yeah this is a critical detail.  If they wasted that much on Ethnic Gender Studies or Buddhist Literature they dont deserve any sympathy.

I also didnt notice any statement that they are physically crippled and unable to work a labor job at $8-10/hr.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 13:58 | 2361777 Monedas
Monedas's picture

Wouldn't you love to see a CBS disclaimer:  "Sometimes we make shit up....just to keep our viewers honest !"  Monedas  1929  Comedy Jihad Dan Rather Moment

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:02 | 2361796 JohnKozac
JohnKozac's picture

 

The New American Dream: Rent, Don’t Buy

 

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/01/04/The-New-American-Dream...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:05 | 2361810 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

i'm hearing that Buy, Don't Pay Mortgage is even better.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:18 | 2361809 scragbaker a ca...
scragbaker a cape cod clamdigger's picture

     Get the bail out money back from the banks (let the fuckers fail) and take back the bonuses that the ass holes paid themselves for nearly blowing up the financial system - Then take all that money and feed the folks that are going to bed hungry, help out the families living in cheap hotel rooms get back on their feet, and with dignity, help out the elderly and the infirm.  Also, start a research program looking into what industry of the future could put as many people as possible into MEANINGFUL, DIGNIFIED HIGH PAYING WORK.  In addition,  excepting the wealthy, take everyone's debts ( student loans, auto loans, credit card debt and home mortgages) and wipe the slate clean.    Then working people would have a fighting chance at a better life while they are working two and three 'shit bag' jobs that combined, just barely are allowing them to keep their heads above water as they watch food, gas, clothing costs head higher and higher - THANKS TO BEN "FUCK'N A" BERNANKE.  Not perfect solutions but a start.    

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:08 | 2361821 Encroaching Darkness
Encroaching Darkness's picture

I'm raising a family of four below the poverty line without SNAP - so far we don't need it, don't want it and don't like the idea of being any more dependent on government than we already are (EIC, Pell grants and occasional Medicaid are keeping us afloat, though).

Someone else might need this assistance more than I do, so let them have it. Once I get employed somewhere again, I'll go back to being a productive, contributing member of society - if there's still any left by then (see: financial crunch, currency collapse, etc.)

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:26 | 2361899 Monedas
Monedas's picture

Go for 'em with Monedas' blessings....quickest way to bring down the beast !  Report back to us your experiences !  Monedas  1929   Comedy Jihad Egalitarian Gall

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:41 | 2362146 css1971
css1971's picture

Someone else might need this assistance more than I do, so let them have it.

No you misunderstand. The money doesn't exist. It is created when you spend it. If you don't spend it then you are reducing the GDP, reducing inflation and making it more difficult to pay for the existing pile of debt. The purpose of these programmes is to move private debt on to the public books freeing up the private sector.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:10 | 2361835 HiHoAg
HiHoAg's picture

Hope and changes bitches.

Anyone who voted for the current administration needs to see a shrink.

Anyone thinking about voting for them this trip around needs a beating.....

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:16 | 2361866 roadhazard
roadhazard's picture

That's the exact same thing I said about BushCO.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:21 | 2361886 HiHoAg
HiHoAg's picture

I as well....doesn't seem to be getting any better nomatter the party eh road.

Maybe it's time to make a real *change*.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:31 | 2361921 scragbaker a ca...
scragbaker a cape cod clamdigger's picture

     No one that anyone votes for is going to do ANYTHING to change ANYTHING !  Every election year it's the same old shit - X politician promising all sorts of everything - but once they get into office those promises go right out the window.  What I find truly pathetic though, is that each election season people line up at the show just like a 'Pavlovian Dog' ( gullable, stupid dumb asses) and swallow all the shit they are told and seem happy to eat it all up -It's a sickening cycle that just keeps repeating every 4 years and nothing seems to change. 

     So go wave your flags and blow your horns for the next white house occupant that will once again ride into town on empty promise. 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:12 | 2361851 roadhazard
roadhazard's picture

Just think, if the Banks and Wall Street had not fucked over the world people would still have jobs and not need food stamps. And if business paid a living wage that kept up with inflation and people could save money then the half of Americans that "pay no income taxes", would be in a paying bracket. 

If the Government can not protect the People from the criminal financial terrorists then they should at least have to keep the people who are getting fucked over fed and with enough money in their pocket to survive. And they HAVE to, otherwise, revolt.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:19 | 2361880 HiHoAg
HiHoAg's picture

roadhazard,

The "goverment" is complicite in the fraud.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:32 | 2361940 scragbaker a ca...
scragbaker a cape cod clamdigger's picture

HERE HERE !  You're on a roll

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:36 | 2361949 scragbaker a ca...
scragbaker a cape cod clamdigger's picture

There are many in high place guilty of treason but they will never be prosocuted.  They have the keys to our nation's treasury and friends in very high places. 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 17:52 | 2362518 Igiveup
Igiveup's picture

Most small businesses, which hire most of the people,  pay their employees based on the prices of the products and services they sell.  If you want businesses you frequent to give their employees more in wages and benefits, ask them to raise their prices.  And while you are at it, quit shopping at Walmart.  I'm going to guess you like pontificating about wages and benefits but have never paid them.  If you don't know what you are talking about, don't talk.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:45 | 2361974 Shizzmoney
Shizzmoney's picture

Maybe we should start teaching people how to grow their own food.  Oh wait, what?  Monsanto and the big box chains like Walmart and the big grocer chain stores (including the left-leaning "Whole Foods"), wouldn't like that?

And just give money to some corrupted government official to enforce said rule and voila!  You've just created a higher demand for food stamps (which can be bet upon on the NYSE)!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/vegetable-garden-brings-criminal-charges-oak-park-michigan/story?id=14047214

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

- some Jesus guy

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 17:20 | 2362434 Incubus
Incubus's picture

I heard that jesus guy let 12 other dudes eat him. 

 

 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:13 | 2362058 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

Can't we just feed the people on foodstamps with "Green Shoots?"

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:18 | 2362076 Axenolith
Axenolith's picture

There's no indicator of how "poor" you are from food stamps anymore.  Hell, the USDA has an ongoing campaign right now to award "creative" people for thinking up ways to get folks to "set aside their pride" and get on the program.  Government stats and figures are meaningless now, you can 100% rest assured that ANY shit that comes out of government statistical or weepy anecdote wise is merely to assure that whatever agency is pushing it won't get cut (cut = have annual increses lowered).  It's nothing but job insurance. 

Way back in the 80's I worked at a place that took food stamps, but everybody I saw use them always bought a piece of hard candy or pack of gum with them and then used the cash change (which I don't believe you can do now, but people barter/trade items purchased these days) to by beer and smokes

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:19 | 2362080 panda
panda's picture

I went to SNAP wesite to do a food stamp calculator.  I get $0 assistance.

my income is not even clost to a average middle-class.  I feel left-out.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:27 | 2362117 juwes
juwes's picture

The ebt'ers should organize under the we are the 22% banner.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:34 | 2362134 lolmao500
lolmao500's picture

And now just imagine what happens when the budget has to take cuts bigger than Greece...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:02 | 2362174 dwdollar
dwdollar's picture

Six billion per month??? Whoa now!!! Haha...

That's pocket change for Uncle Scam. By far the cheapest and most practical peace-keeping tribute handout. Besides, it's the least he could do after allowing the bankers to extract all the wealth.

I don't advocate dependence, and it won't last anyway, but to think you can allow the bankers to rape everyone and not give a little back to keep the peace (for the time being) is "French aristocracy" kind of arrogant and clueless.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:54 | 2362183 kahunabear
kahunabear's picture

I give Bernanke all the credit!

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:20 | 2362190 Dingleberry
Dingleberry's picture

Here are your choices Bitchez. And they are stark:

1. Either you pay for food stamps thru taxes, and allow lazy and/or irresponsible breeding fuckers to mooch off of you 

OR.....

2. The animals will break into your shit and rob you blind while you are at work.

Which do you choose?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 21:57 | 2362964 Lednbrass
Lednbrass's picture

Door #3- Get out of debt and the system as much as possible, refuse to pay or bleed into it to the maximum possible extent, swap for as many goods and services as possible, and be ready when it starts imploding.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:00 | 2362200 Westcoastliberal
Westcoastliberal's picture

It's becoming more apparent each day that all it will take is a charismatic leader to step forward and lead the downtrodden, lewdly-screwed masses on a march to the "gated communities" and "country clubs" of America to reclaim their wealth.  Torches and pitchforks, bitches!

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:07 | 2362226 zonetraders
zonetraders's picture

http://capital3x.com/trades/performance-week-of-20-april-2012-capital3x-fx-portfolio/

 

Capital3x has its 7th consecutive weekly gain as Forex and futures portfolio rises by over 635 pips with

remarkable accuracy. 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:21 | 2362239 Bicycle Repairman
Bicycle Repairman's picture

How much is this program per year?  300M people x 15% of population x $132 per person-month x 12 months per year = $71.3B per year.  Now the banksters were given $16T.  That would fund this program for $16T / $713M = 224 years.

Fuck it.  Let them starve.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:21 | 2362277 dolly madison
dolly madison's picture

I think the food stamp program is the 2nd least likely federal program to go away, with the 1st being defense.  The elite won't get rid of the banksters army, but they also know from history, that when the younger people go hungry, they revolt. 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:28 | 2362297 Ricky Bobby
Ricky Bobby's picture

Res publica mortuus est, vivat imperium!

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:32 | 2362301 surf0766
surf0766's picture

This is what a recovery looks like. Now lean the f**k forward and see it...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:36 | 2362307 Monedas
Monedas's picture

We's all niggas now !  Cheat this fucking socialist beast any way you can ! This is Ayn Rand's producers on strike ! No more "Randian Filth" working harder, having smaller families, doing back flips to bail out the socialist beast and lick his hole !  Apply en masse for every govmint service, don't pay your taxes, don't even file, waste their time, Occupy Washington Street !  We's all niggas now....take care of us !  Monedas  1929    Comedy Jihad Rand's Raiders  

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:39 | 2362320 pauldia
Fri, 04/20/2012 - 16:43 | 2362334 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Instead of Bailouts for Banks, how about Bail-Money for Bankers ... which they earn at $0.93 per hour with their own hands in the Gulag.

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 00:16 | 2362357 dvp
dvp's picture

Hmm, consider the comment from the article, "There are endless studies in the world of behavioral finance that show that people are very quick to budget increases in disposable income as permanent."  Wouldn't the same logic apply to the wealthy?  In which case, just as the poor come to "budget increases" in welfare, so do the rich come to "budget increases" in welfare.  If this is so, then the author of this article's focus on the poor alone exhibits a telling bias in terms of which human beings the author values more.

Alternatively, if welfare is eliminated for all classes, then can anyone do what she or he desires?  Is this "war of all against all" what the author of the article values?  If not, then some sort of legislative and police function must exist.  Do these functions engender budgeting "permanent" expecations, especially by the wealthy?  Or, perhaps, does the author feel the only humans who should have legislative and police functions are the wealthy, because they can afford to buy them privately?

Indeed, is not budgeting "permanent" expectations the defining condition of society?  If so, then does not civilization itself reach "a point where [humans] want a clear and potentially permanent social safety net?"  Is the author rejecting civilization itself?  If not, how far should the "safety net" constituted by the very existence of society go?  Is the author of this article at war with the Enlightenment itself, the notion that humans can construct a harmonious society based on mutual reason, rather than the sword?

In fact, does not the privately acquired security and legislative ability of the wealthy not constitute "permanent" expectations composing a "potentially permanent social safety net?"  Indeed, on the author's logic, only the Hobbesian state of "mutual war" provides no potential of "permanent" expectations.  Even here, though, there is a "permanent" expection, the expectation of a life which is "poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

This is the problem with "slippery slopes," for assuming a universe in which everything is related to everything else, being of anything presents a potential slippery slope.  As to where the limit of extension from a to b is drawn, that is the purpose of value theory, a subject little studied by economists.  It is also the substance of legislation, another subject little studied by economists since their abandonment of political economy.

Yes, it is true economists study utilitarianism, but a utilitarian calculation is possible only within finite limits, when the universe is infinite.  To define limits, then, is deontological, a function of intrinsic values.  Which values are justified and which not is the subject of normative ethics, again a subject little studied by economists.  Although so, it should be, not only by economists, but the author of this article.  For it is deontology, the sense of intrinsic right and wrong, which limits the slippery slope reasoning the author, along with the American right wing, seems to so fear.

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 13:55 | 2363784 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

Excellent post.

   is not budgeting "permanent" expectations the defining condition of society?

Considering that the great majority of human beings appear to be wired to DISLIKE CHANGE, yes, this would be a reasonable assertion.  One of the reasons we coalesce into "society" in the first place is to reduce the threat of constant change in how we must live.  I think it's something like 95% of people don't like change, and 5% do.  Obviously the 95% are going to dominate in any even vaguely "democratic" form of self-organization. 

So...society itself is largely a construct intended to prevent nature from occurring.

    For it is deontology, the sense of intrinsic right and wrong, which limits the slippery slope reasoning the author, along with the American right wing, seems to so fear.

This, in my view, is a good example of the threat to actual survival that purely commercial calculations obtain.  The "ideal" (or perhaps "idealized") businessman, fixated SOLELY on the interaction between flows of money and legal proscription, makes a great effort to stamp out the influence of his own "sense of intrinsic right and wrong"--unless such a sense can be used to improve results of the commercial transactions he engages in.

I don't think I'd go so far as to say this is specifically a feature of the "American right wing," but for sure there is a sub-component of loud right wing voices which attracts much of the attention, and has already completely captured American "libertarian" debate.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 17:04 | 2362381 HankPaulson
HankPaulson's picture

So - as wealth continues to accumulate for a small minority of the population who don't actually need it, large numbers of people at the bottom - who are too inefficient ie. requiring wages higher than the minimum that can be found somewhere else on the planet eg. Chinese peasants, are deprived of jobs and therefore income and therefore food, and would die in the gutter if not for the assistance of (evil) big gubmint.

Thank you, financial geniuses! What a brilliant plan for our society! (and not at all selfish, either :)

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 18:26 | 2362474 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

"So - as wealth continues to accumulate for a small minority of the population who don't actually need it ...."

You've obviously never been rich, and never will be.  Who's to say they don't "need" it?  Don't be so judgmental until you have walked a mile in my John Lobbs (British, £2800+VAT, and Bespoke, of course).


Fri, 04/20/2012 - 23:42 | 2363130 dvp
dvp's picture

Concerning, "Who's to say they don't 'need' it?  Don't be so judgmental until you have walked a mile in my John Lobbs (British, £2800+VAT, and Bespoke, of course)," "Who's to say [the poor] don't need it, until you have walked a mile in their shoes?"  Indeed, "Who at all is to say who doesn't need what?"  On your solipsistic reasoning--other's unable to judge your "need"--no one can judge another's need.  Since I can't "have walked a mile in . . . John Lobbs" shoes, on your reasoning I cannot know your "needs."  Indeed, how can I know your "needs" from your "desires?"  How can I know when you are conning me by your expressed "needs," and when not?  I can't on your reasoning.  Being so, I need not consider your "needs," because I cannot know, and thus trust, them.  I only can consider my own needs.  Only these I know.  Since this is the case, to hell with you and everyone else.  I'll take what I "need" when I "need" it, and everyone else be damned.

It is to this your reasoning comes.  Certainly, John Lobbs, I hope you have not a family, because they cannot trust you.

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 04:15 | 2363320 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

I would walk in the shoes of the poor, but they stink and they would chafe my tender feet because they are not sized right, so I will do the economist thing and simply assume that I am poor, if only for a minute.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 17:08 | 2362396 Decolat
Decolat's picture

I just got an ad on here from the Department of Benefit Support... Always looking for more 'customers' I see.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 17:59 | 2362541 krispkritter
krispkritter's picture

Yeah I got those too.  Since '08 especially; the free phones, the free food...the bennies just keep getting pushed in people's faces.  They're running ads for the programs like they're selling iPads. I was on a commuter train in Philly a few years back and probably every 3rd ad was for some 'benefit program'. Worst part was I had to put up with some loud mouth ranting about 'slave reparations' and how she was going to show people 'how to spend the Benjamins'. It was surreal...

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 17:41 | 2362483 Igiveup
Igiveup's picture

The government cannot distinguish those who can't from those who won't.  All well intentioned programs are designed to help those who can't.  Once implimented, those who won't go to work gaming the system.  Inevitably, they get qualified for the program, enter the program, wind up outnumbering those who the program was designed for and because of their inclusion, render all program participants piriahs.  When those who are forced to pay for the program rebell because of the hijacking of the program by those who won't, the bleeding hearts all trot out the those who can't in an effort to make those rebelling look heartless.  The poor in this country aren't getting the shaft and neither are the well off.  It's the working stiffs who show up for work everyday, for whatever wage they can get, give it their all, hoping they can make a better life for themselves and their families not understanding their government is putting another rock in their backpack everyday that they never determine is there until the weight of the backpack puts them on the ground (sorry, a Palin sentence)  By then, it's too late.  Who's standing up for them?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 18:42 | 2362639 dolph9
dolph9's picture

Out of all the fucked up federal programs in this fucked up country, I have the most sympathy for food stamps.  Bear in mind it's relative, though.

Starvation is riots in the streets, people.  Followed by a totalitarian response.  That's generally not good.

Of course, in the end it's a zero sum game.  The more government spends on food stamps, the less it will have for the military or sickcare or corporate subsidies.

We aren't little children.  We can't "have it all."  But Americans act as if they can.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:21 | 2362707 lotsoffun
lotsoffun's picture

we don't have much left in terms of fossil fuels safely recovered.  but we have food.  mountains of it.  but please - read my post.  snap cards should be for unprocessed foods.  not double bacon cheese burger at some crap hole.

and it brings the family together.  they have to prepare food and do dishes and eat together at the same table.

if there is one take away from what the powers that be learned - they broke up the slave familys to create an underclass with no values, and then they realized they could do the same thing with the middle classes.

team work.  somebody goes to work.  somebody goes to the market.  somebody comes home and cooks.  somebody sets the table.  everybody eats together (without i-sucks).  somebody does the dishes.  everybody interacts.  people watch mature elders and learn.  the family exists for the benefit of all.

 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 18:48 | 2362647 geekgrrl
geekgrrl's picture

I'm having great difficulty believing only 4% of recipients are legal immigrants. The only people I see using EBTs here (Oregon) are mexicans that can't speak english. They might be legal, but I doubt it.

I don't have any problem with helping children and citizens, but paying for migrant farm laborers is an agricultural subsidy, not a social safety net.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:14 | 2362696 lotsoffun
lotsoffun's picture

my personal peeve is this.  snap should be used for buying UNPROCESSED FOODS.  if i have a family - and i have no employment, i have time.  i can bake potatos and cook rice and make apple sauce.  but that's not the case.  the multi-nationals accept the snap cards and these deprived familys are shopping and eating garbage.

 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:26 | 2362713 geekgrrl
geekgrrl's picture

No argument here. Last year I was traveling and stopped at a supermarket to pick up some food. I got in the express line behind a mexican woman w/child and she was buying 30 (I counted) of those cheese and cracker pack thingees, and all I could think (beyond the fact that she obviously couldn't understand the sign that said less than 12 items) was that the kid was getting zero nutrition. It was a real WTF moment.

I knew folks on food stamps when I was a kid, and I remember the government cheese and milk. Processed foods were not allowed, and forget fast food. I sometimes wonder if SNAP is designed to help people survive or corporations.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:33 | 2362729 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

You may be misinterpreting what you saw.  Best not to be too quick to leap to judgment.

She may be buying those to sell on the street.  It's very common in NYC.  Candybars, too.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:54 | 2362768 geekgrrl
geekgrrl's picture

Perhaps. I'm not sure there's a big market in Vancouver Washington for that sort of thing, but I suppose it's possible.

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 14:02 | 2363791 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

I didn't intend that as rebuke, just a comment. I spent a good chunk of my life as a bit of a "hatah"--OF COURSE I knew what the poor were doing with their resources, and OF COURSE they were making bad decisions.

I eventually spent a few years with the very poor.  (Ok, ok, actually I WAS one of them.)  I was delighted to find that virtually every assumption I had previously made about them turned out to be WRONG.  (I was correct that most of them had very limited academic education.  That was one of the few assumptions that was accurate.)

More impressive to me: many poor folks also use "extra" SNAP benefit money to provide charity to other poor folks. 

A cheese'n'crackers pack in the purse is a great offering to the homeless guy who asks for a dollar.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 19:37 | 2362730 lotsoffun
lotsoffun's picture

snap is now for corporations.  and yes - i remember my parents friends scammed the system - and it was cheese, milk, eggs, huge cans of peanut butter and soy oil and bags of flour and rice and real staples.  70's.

 

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 21:39 | 2362938 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

46.5 million Americans or 46.5 million residents?

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 22:03 | 2362973 tulip_permabull
tulip_permabull's picture

Grains and legumes are not food for humans bt they certainly are what the government/agro-business want us to eat. Eat primal. That will both make you healthy and kill the present corporatist system.

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 22:32 | 2363016 mjk0259
mjk0259's picture

Ruling class sent the jobs to China. Increased support system while American's "adjust" was supposed to be part of the deal. Instead it's been cut back. 82 billion is only $300/person. Not that big a deal. Gas tax is $400B at 18 cents a gallon so 5 cents a gallon more would pay for this. Well worth it.

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 09:48 | 2363508 Gavrikon
Gavrikon's picture

What fucking moron McDonnell is.  Does he really think that those mexican legal and illegal immigrants are going to vote republican?  Hell no!  They will vote for whoever gives them the most handouts.

McDonnell, I repeat.  You R a FUCKING MORON!  The republican party won't exist 30 years from now because of dimwits like you!!!

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