U.S. Food-Stamp Use Reaches Record 45.8 Million, USDA Says

[Roland99]

Source: Bloomberg

The number of Americans receiving food stamps reached a record 45.8 million in August, the government said.

The figure was 1.1 percent higher than the previous month and 8.1 percent more than a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report on its website. Assistance rolls are increasing as joblessness remains at 9.1 percent of the workforce.

Texas had the most food-stamp recipients in August, at 4.12 million, followed by California with 3.82 million, according to the USDA. Spending was a record $6.13 billion.

The number of Americans receiving food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has set records every month but one since December 2008.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/u-s-food-stamp-use-reaches-record-45-8-million-usda-says.html

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edited to add the pretty picture:

[lib2DaBone]

1. ..and what happens to these people when the Repukes cut off all food stamps?

After all.. if we are spending $40 Billion a month in Afghaistan.. we can't afford to give food stamps to Americans....

[Marazinia]

4. Do you have to ask?

Food riots. And rightly so. No one should lay down and let themselves and their families starve.

[No Elephants]

17. Maybe, but I'm skeptical. Most of us are law abiding to a fault.

[SoapBox]

10. Ditto....

And if there is "fraud", then tighten up the system.

Disgraceful to hold Americans hostage for food.

[slackmaster]

2. Ugh. Something has gone terribly wrong indeed.

A pretty picture with a longer reach.

[Marazinia]

3. The worst thing is

A lot of those Americans are working, they just don't get paid enough to afford to eat.

[slackmaster]

6. Yes, that is a travesty.

I grew up in a time when a middle-class family could live decently on one income.

[Marazinia]

7. Well you know

That's all the fault of those darn feminists who wanted jobs! :sarcasm:

[No Elephants]

19. Who wouldn't want to get out of the house, what with kids whining all day about being hungry.

[alp227]

8. Huh? I thought the free market would pay a livable wage!

Why do we need minimum wage laws when companies will set prices well enough? :sarcasm:

But really, unfettered capitalism=inequality.

[No Elephants]

22. It does. If you live in another country.

Living on U.S. wages in the U.S., on the other hand, can be a challenge.

[No Elephants]

18. That chart can be misleading, if you do not place some things n context.

For instance, the modern food stamp program we know was only a pilot project in the early 1960's, until passage of the Food Stamp Act of 1964. And the 1964 Act covered only 350,000 people in 40 counties and three cities. It was not until the mid 1970s that the program got expanded to every political district.

So, for one thing, the program itself was expanding from the 1960's to the 1970's and for another, people were getting to know about it and accept it.

1977 saw additional legislation, a mixed bag of improvements and cuts and that legislation went effective in 1979.

Major cutbacks in the program began in 1981. Then, expansion as hunger became a publicized problem. And then the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996, as the Republicans and the Clinton Administration worked to "end welfare as we know," a term coined by a Clintonite who is no a No Labels leader).

And so on.

If you track the chart to legislation and to what else was going on in the US at the times in question, the movements of red line become more and more understandable.

[Turbineguy]

5. Cadillac sales are up.

:evilgrin:

[alp227]

9. Free fake IDs straight out the trunk!

[No Elephants]

20. If they're made in the U.S., I'll take it.

[area51]

11. Our government thinks

that if it won't acknowledge the 2nd Great Depression, then it's not really happening.

[No Elephants]

21. It's like unrecc'ing an OP at DU because you don't like what the news story says.

I can't deny it: Denial makes all our lives better.

[ellisonz]

25. The 30.5% number excludes the military, prison, and student populations.

[OhioChick]

12. Keep shipping those jobs overseas and watch this graph grow n/t

[defendandprotect]

14. Obama has just pushed 3 new trade agreements, started by Bush -- !!!

Korea, Panama, Colombia - !!

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[defendandprotect]

13. 66 million impoverished Americans ... Does anyone in government care??? Hello, Obama/Congress???

[Rex]

16. That is what happens when you let the 1% play social engineers.

It dooms us all.

[No Elephants]

23. This is what you get when those the 99% pay to do social engineering really work for the 1%.

But, of course, strictly because the 1% are, you know, creators of decent jobs for the 99%, so it's all okay.

Well, somewhere in the world, the jobs they create must be considered decent.

[ellisonz]

24. "Texas had the most food-stamp recipients in August, at 4.12 million..."

"followed by California with 3.82 million." Texas has 25 million residents. California has 37 million residents. Do the Math - Some Texas Miracle right there I'll tell you what. We're looking at you, Rick Perry!:evilgrin:

[PassingFair]

26. I know quite a few people with tens of thousands of dollars in the bank who receive food stamps.

3 of my old co-workers that have been fired
participated in the 401k program at work.

After they were fired, they stopped paying their
mortgages (they were all underwater on them),
and 2 of them had already declared chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Now they are just waiting for the hammer to fall.
Collecting unemployment and food stamps and sitting
on thousands of dollars in their 401k to start their
new lives elsewhere when they are finally evicted.

One of them is actively looking for work, the other
2 are enjoying the down time. (Although they wouldn't
have chosen to leave our office.)

I can't feel TOO sorry for them, because they have
more money in the bank than I have, by FAR.

The PTB do NOT want people pulling from their
401k's....they are providing a floor for the
stock market casino with those funds.

[closeupready]

30. Your last paragraph is very insightful. I never thought about it like that, but

I learn something new here every day, which is one reason I love DU. Thanks. :hi:

[sarcasmo]

27. The multi billion dollar severance packages for corporate whore continue as millions of families

struggle to put food on the table. This is the worst industrialized nation on the Planet.

[Hotler]

28. Fucking freeloaders. Get a job.

:sarcasm:

[woo me with science]

29. There is no excuse for this.

None.

Meanwhile, our President was busy pressuring attorneys general for settlements that halt criminal investigations of the banks that did this...

...extending tax cuts for the rich...

...signing free trade agreements that will ship more jobs overseas...

...*and* offering up Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.


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