Say Anything Blog

And the obvious reaction from the media/left is to freak out.  Blame it all on our greedy, unfair free markets.  And then demand an expansion of the food stamps programs as a response to what they’ll undoubtedly be calling a “crisis.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A record 32.2 million people—one in every 10 Americans—received food stamps at latest count, the government said on Thursday, a reflection of the recession now in its 16th month.

Food stamps are the major U.S. antihunger program and help poor people buy groceries. The average benefit was $112.82 per person in January.

The January figure marks the third time in five months that enrollment set a record.

“A weakened economy means that many more individuals are turning to SNAP/Food Stamps,” said the Food Research and Action Center, an antihunger group, using the acronym for the renamed food stamp program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“Anti-hunger group.”  What a hoot.  As if the opponents of these groups that endlessly demand bigger and bigger entitlement programs were pro-hunger groups.  You can’t oppose the anti-hunger groups, because then you’re pro-hunger.

Convenient, no?

Anyway, the reason we’ve seen a spike in people enrolling for food stamps is because government expanded the entitlement.

The 2007 US Farm Bill changed the name of the Food Stamp Program to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (all the better to fool the taxpayers into thinking this isn’t welfare).  It did more than just change the name of the program.  It expanded the benefits of the program as well.  Not only was the benefits amount of program raised, the qualifying income levels were expanded to.  This not only made the program more attractive to people who weren’t already signed up, it also made more people eligible.

And, low and behold, the number of people on food stamps increased.

It’s a bit like arrest numbers going up after more cops are put on the streets.  It’s not necessarily indicative of more crime.  There’s just more cops available to arrest more people. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.  And neither is the food stamps situation.

What this creates is a vicious cycle by which the government expands entitlements, more people use the entitlements, and then the government bureaucrats use that as a justification to expand entitlements even further.

And all the while, we foot he bill.