| America: The Food Stamp Nation |
| America has over 44 million people on Food Stamps. The food stamps program’s real name is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).The Food Stamp program is “hidden” from view through Electronic Benefit Transfer Cards that work just as credit cards. This article visualizes the size of the program and the vast amounts of people participating. |
| One Hundred Dollars |
| $100 – Most counterfeited money denomination in the world. Keeps the world moving. |
| Ten Thousand Dollars |
| $10,000 – Enough for a great vacation or to buy a used car. Approximately one year of work for the average human on earth. |
| One Million Dollars |
| $1,000,000 – Not as big of a pile as you thought, huh? Still this is 92 years of work for the average human on earth. |
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| Bread Lines of the Modern Era– The Great Recession |
| IF all EBT recipients shopped at only Walmart Super Centers for ALL their SNAP benefits, then this is how the Bread Line would look each month– 14,588 people. There are 3051 Walmart Super Centers in USA and 44,510,598 participants in SNAP (2011), making the average SNAP line at each Walmart at 14,588 people. The Modern Era’s Bread Lines are not visible because the business is handled discreetly through EBT Cards. According to this Food Stamps report pg 16-17, Walmart receives half of all SNAP dollars in Oklahoma. Walmart is the largest retailer in America.Short Facts: 47% of Food Stamp participants are children. 78.6% of all SNAP participants are in metropolitan areas. 93.2% of all SNAP benefits go to US citizens. Only 4% are self-employed. |
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| One Hundred Million Dollars |
| $100,000,000 – Plenty to go around for everyone. Fits nicely on an ISO / Military standard sized pallet. |
| $100 Million Dollars = 1 year of work for 3500 average Americans |
| It takes 3500 Americans 1 year of work to make $100 Million dollars. The 155 million Americans who worked with earnings in 2005 on average made $28,567 / year.In front of the 3500 people is the $100 Million pallet that they all have to work for 1 year to earn. Look carefully to see a stack of $1 Million and the 35 average Americans required to earn that $1 Million in 1 year. |
| One Billion Dollars |
| $1,000,000,000 – You will need some help when robbing the bank. Interesting fact: $1 million dollars weights 10kg exactly. You are looking at 10 tons of money on those pallets. The couch is worth $46.7 million. Made out of crispy $100 bills. |
| Food Stamp Budget / Cost in 2011 for United States – $71.8 Billion Dollars |
| United States spent $71,810,990,000 dollars on Food Stamps in 2011. Here you see the money on trucks with Walmart Super Center as a backdrop.The most SNAP participating states are (by % of population): Mississippi (20.9%), Oregon (19.96%), Tennessee (19.92%), New Mexico (19.90%), Michigan (19.53%), Louisiana (19.33%) and Alabama (19.16%).The least SNAP participating states are (by % of population): Wyoming (6.34%), New Hampshire (8.60%), New Jersey (8.61%), Colorado (8.86%), North Dakota (8.90%), Nebraska (9.45%), Minnesota (9.47%) and California (9.74%).Sources: SNAP Annual Summary, SNAP Program Data 2011, Walmart, Population by States, see individual SNAP state data compiled here: Excel Data Sheet. * US territories Washington DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, were are excluded from above calculations (No Walmart Super Centers in those territories). Share this with everyone. |
harry p. says:
who says government can’t make things more “efficient”???
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24th October 2012 at 3:20 pm
Eddie says:
These virtual SNAP recipients are far too thin to be Walmart shoppers.
On a more serious note, this makes me nauseous.
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24th October 2012 at 3:23 pm
AWD says:
There are 14,588 Food Stamp participants for each Walmart in America.
Wal Mart get 38% of it’s business from SNAP cards/food stamp participants.
Jeezus, no wonder Wal Mart is so crowded on “pay day”, the first of the month, when welfare/disability/SNAP money hits the cards. The biggest retailer in the world gets almost 40% of the business from taxpayers. Where is it going to end?
A small story for your amusement:
I saw a guy the other day. He’d just gotten his disability approved. He had a shiny new medical gold card (free medicare/medicaid/meds), his new EBT/SNAP card, and said he’d finally gotten his “back pay” for a job he never had ($25,000 in cash, no taxes taken out).
He was on disability for back pain, (was morbidly obese) yet there was no evidence that there was anything wrong with his back, and he was demanding (not asking or suggesting) pain medicine, “nerve pills” and some costly MRI’s done on his entire head and body.
He acted like he had won the lottery, and indeed he had. He will probably get more in his lifetime than someone who wins a $1million lottery prize. He will have won probably 3-4 million dollar lottery prizes in disability income, when you include his healthcare spending. He was also incredibly rude and abrasive, and was clearly intent on getting anything and everything he wanted in regards to his healthcare, since it wasn’t costing him a dime. He is living the American dream!
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24th October 2012 at 3:25 pm
AWD says:
SNAP is for what? To prevent people from starving?
Food Stamps and Obesity
Forty-two percent of low-income women in the United States are obese, and the rate of obesity is even higher among women who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — formerly the food stamp program.
More supermarkets in poor neighborhoods might not change people’s diets, if they only make more junk food available.
Researchers have spent a lot of time trying to figure out whether this is the result of receiving SNAP benefits or whether there is simply a correlation between obesity and SNAP participation that arises because the low-income women who are more likely to be obese are also those most interested in getting SNAP benefits. The research suggests that SNAP participation may actually cause an increase in the likelihood of obesity for low-income women. A relationship between SNAP participation and obesity has not been found for low-income men.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/09/27/expand-the-use-of-food-stamps/the-link-between-food-stamps-and-obesity
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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24th October 2012 at 3:31 pm
Stucky says:
It will all be fixed if you just give him four more years.
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24th October 2012 at 3:36 pm
Stucky says:
Another perspective;
EACH tiny little square, or pallet is …………. one billion dollars.
$15 trillion dollars
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24th October 2012 at 3:42 pm
Administrator says:
Report from the SNAP front lines of West Philly:
I report not one emaciated starving West Phillian.
Spotted: Hundreds of Obese fat asses waddling in the cross walk at a pace of 1 mph while I wait for them to cross.
Thank God KFC takes EBT
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24th October 2012 at 3:43 pm
Kill Bill says:
Buy Buy Miss American Pie
Drove my Dart
To the Walmart
But the chicken was fried
Poor old folk singing
This will be the day that I die
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24th October 2012 at 3:48 pm
AWD says:
No shit. About time they are getting around to it:
Ryan: Poverty Winning in ‘War on Poverty”
Wednesday, 24 Oct 2012 03:02 PM
Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan is telling voters in Ohio that poverty is winning in the war on poverty.
In a speech Wednesday, Ryan said he and running mate Mitt Romney would work to help poor people climb out of poverty and help middle-class workers feel they are on stronger financial ground. He says all Americans should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, no matter their background.
Ryan also criticized existing anti-poverty programs that he says are not working. He says that for all the money spent on such programs, the government could give each poor person a check for $22,000.
Ryan spoke at Cleveland State University.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Ryan: Poverty Winning in ‘war on Poverty’
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama’s Re-Election? Vote Here Now!
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24th October 2012 at 4:59 pm
llpoh says:
Not a single fat guy in the welfare line from the depression. Imagine that.
My grandpa shovelled coal in the depression for a dime a day. My dad used to drive tractors twelve hours a day overnight in the 40′s for about the same amount.
Imagine Laquisha trying to work. Anywhere. No one would hire that fat fuck. Only way she could get a job is to starve her fat ass for about a year. Maybe if she was a third that size someone would hire her.
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24th October 2012 at 7:04 pm
Persnickety says:
What’s the point of even commenting on SNAP? Connect the dots and realize that 10′s of millions of American’ts will never contribute anything productive to the US economy for the rest of their lives. What do you do with that information?
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24th October 2012 at 8:59 pm
Kill Bill says:
“Ryan said he and running mate Mitt Romney would work to help poor people climb out of poverty”
He is A going to increase subsidies
B send Americans to China
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24th October 2012 at 11:22 am
DaveL says:
Persnickety says: “What do you do with that information?”
You put up big signs all over America. “YOU DON’T WORK? YOU DON’T EAT.”
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24th October 2012 at 11:37 am
Buckhed says:
One factor is missing….the Millions being made by the banks ( J P Morgan I believe) on the EBT transactions. EBT ….Eating Better Today. I’m glad the parasites are fat….they’ll die off quickly when SHTF!
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24th October 2012 at 1:05 pm
TeresaE says:
From the article, “… To remove the stigma of food stamps… ”
My ass
It was to put a printer (probably lots and lots of them across the country) out of business and transfer their wealth to the big bank – JPM.
We, here, know the gdamn truth. EVERY law, EVERY choice, EVERY regulation is packaged as helping citizens, the planet, whatever, but the ONLY true “winner” is a freaking bank.
Nearly EVERY government program now runs through banks that skim directly from the top.
There just ain’t no fixing this shit. Nothing will change until it all goes *boom*
In the meantime, if you qualify, for fuck’s sake, use it! We left “fixing” it a long, long, time ago, might as well get in on some of the bread and circuses now, we’ll all pay later no matter what.
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24th October 2012 at 5:19 pm
Drowning in Parasitism says:
What galls me even more (if possible) than disguising the cards as legitimate “credit cards” (and as “Bukhed” points out they certainly ARE to the Banksters) is the little signs throughout the store on products with obvious inflationary prices that remind these enterprising, FSA baby- machines that those particular items we have to pay for with our hard-earned dollars are “eligible for WIC.” It’s meant to demoralize and incense the working class, and it works.
“Hundreds of Obese fat asses waddling in the cross walk at a pace of 1 mph while I wait for them to cross.” – Admin
They don’t “walk,” they saunter at as slow a pace as possible (a deliberate impediment on the assumption you’re hurrying to work) as a reminder of who the new masters are.
Admin: “Market Oracle” (which is how I originally came to this website) has the word “spending” from your latest article misspelled; I smiled when I saw it. I thought “no way would that anal perfectionist have missed a beat.” I knew it was “Market Oracle’s” fault. On a flattering note, I’ve never so much as spotted an isolated “typo” or improper grammer (not to mention flawless, compelling writing) since I started reading here; Wish I could say the same for myself.
I know how seriously you take your craft.; Just a little something to keep you tossing at night.
Cheerio,
S.
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24th October 2012 at 5:49 pm
Jimi d says:
When “TSHTF” you are going to need all of those stacks of “C” notes on those pallets in the “living room picture” just to buy your groceries !
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24th October 2012 at 7:41 pm
sangell says:
Checking the 11:00 PM National Hurricane Center forecast for ‘Sandy’ the European model ( the most accurate in recent times) has the storm making landfall Monday night with the NE quadrant heading close to D.C. The composite forecast has it doing the same over… Philadelphia. Winds
around 80mph.
What has this to do with Food Stamps? Well a storm this powerful can be expected to knock power off for sometime. EBT cards may not get replenished and most users of the program will have exhausted their balances even before the storm arrives thus the underclass will be unable to stock up in preparation for the storm. In some areas power may not be restored for a week or more especially if damage is widespread. Look out for a breakdown in organized society in low income areas if food run shorts. It may not be kids out trick or treating on Halloween!
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24th October 2012 at 12:11 am
John A says:
When I retired in March 2012, I immediately started looking for a part-time job just to see what was out there. I applied for a few ding-a-ling $8 to $15 an hour jobs and then got NO employer responses of any kind. As it turned out, what I did get were many e-mails from individuals representing companies trying to get me to return to college (at age 60), inquire about SSDI for medical disabilities or inquire about government income subsidies. The college “recruiters” pestered me for weeks about “furthering my education”. Replies to all of the above: “No thanks”.
I have two earned monthly retirement accounts totaling $876 a month (after taxes) and I live like a king on this money because my modest home is paid for, my car is paid for, I have very little debt and I manage my income prudently. Whenever I shop at the Walmart (which is located within walking distance of my condo), I pays wif cash.
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24th October 2012 at 6:16 am