Grocery stores aren't loaded with profits, don't park money in the Caymans, and don't contribute a lot to politicians, so the fat cats don't care if they fail. They'll just go to the ritzier stores that don't rely on food stamps. The fat cats truly resent every penny spent on the safety net, they are such greedy vultures.

lunch programs and children are at home everyday. And yes it is definitely going to hurt the retailers.

due to my age 59. But my whopping $74 was put into my account today. So tomorrow I go to Aldi's and the local grocery store that has a Thursday & Friday mega sale, my coupons are ready on the table for me to take. This past Saturday I went to a Program called Produce to People, came home with fresh fruit & vegetables. Today I went to the Food Pantry and came home with 10 lbs. of chicken legs & thighs & 2 lbs. of ground meat. The chili is in the crockpot.

If it wasn't for these 2 programs, I don't know how far the $74 would go.

If Snap cuts are deep, they are likely to cause a downturn in profits for retailers and companies in the grocery biz. How much such a downturn might become is still an open question.

You make no mention of the American families who depend on SNAP and what such cuts would do to THEM! I am on disability and the money on my SNAP card just barely makes it possible to get by now - never mind after any cuts. Many people seem to believe that charities will step in and take up the slack. Nothing could be more wrong. Churches and other charities are already turning some of the hungry away - including families with children. Government commodities have become available on a very limited basis in some areas (including mine). The cuts will mean even more children with empty stomachs who find it hard to concentrate in school. It means more low income elderly being turned away from Meals on Wheels and other badly needed programs. It means more low income Americans losing their housing because they've had to use the money for rent on food instead. There will be even more homeless people than ever, and when one of them asks for spare change to buy a loaf of bread, they're likely telling the truth. The United States has reached the point where it is losing the will to continue with the social contract - even something as basic as making sure our citizens have food is being tossed out the window. We are the only nation in the First World to do such things (or not do them as the case may be).

Frankly, I am surprised to see a post like this one on DU. Normally, the right - along with the tea party - would present the coming changes in the SNAP program in such a light. If our people go hungry, the Waltons couldn't care less; nor would any other major grocery chain. They'll simply raise their food prices to make up for the drop in sales of ra men noodles and boxes of mac 'n cheese. They know how biz very well. You'll be spending a dollar two per pound extra on your steak, and low income people will be dumpster diving behind the fast food places. The poor are never a priority while profits always are. If you're so worried Walmart, write Trump a letter. I'm sure he considers Walmart "too big to fail" and will shoot along some reduced tax rates to the world of retail zillionnaires should he become our next fearless leader. I hear roast dog or cat aint't that bad once you get used to it.

but it will hurt employees who will have their hours cut back. I think that's the point. The goal is to hurt the poorest among us, but the side effects hurt everyone. None of us will ever shed a tear for the Walton family. I avoid Walmart like the plague, but have a few friends who work for them and they're hanging on by a thread. Who am I hurting?

I couldn't find any that are current.

Forget the survival of the fittest issues and the condemnation of the poor.

Food stamps and related programs is money that goes right back into the local economy. People at this level of society are not putting their money in a mattress or a bank account or a 401K. They are putting the money right back into the local economy. Sure, that money might be going to large corporations, but is responsible for employees being able to keep their jobs. Cut back the benefits, local economies suffer, people are laid off, perpetuating a cycle that Republicans and some Democrats seem to love.

according to the OP is shy of $200 million for 2016. Might be less than $100 million.

If most of that goes for food, then it's going for something with a very low profit margin. So most of that money goes to food distributors.

If they buy fresh food, then it gets distributed among farmers and ranchers, many of whom are not in the US. If they buy processed food, then it gets distributed among food processors and less goes to farmers and ranchers.

Very little stays in the community. It's not buying manufactured goods, esp. big ticket items, which has a higher return to workers.

As for wrecking the US economy, in 1998 the student store/restaurants at the university I was at had net revenues of $84 million all by itself. By now they should be north of $100 million, with inflation and increased enrollment. Dispose of that, and the city's economy wouldn't have noticed it.

Walmart, for example, calculates net operating cash at around $40 billion for 2014. Their revenues are 10 times that.

200/40000 = 0.5%, and that's $200M gross, not net. In other words, worst case, with the entire impact felt by Walmart, it would be a barely noticeable blow.

Those affected, single mostly able-bodied, will feel it acutely. Small stores in high-poverty areas that have high profit margins because they've jacked up prices will feel it some, but much of what's bought will still be bought. Food ranks more as a need than many other things.

probably think they can blame it on Obama and the Democrats. Austerity is a cool, cruel joke played on trusting American citizens who believe the malarkey about the national budget being the same as a household budget.

This is part of their hating all things related to Obama, all things related to Democrats, all things related to working together for the common good.

GO BERNIE!

otherwise steal from. The system has been manipulated to slowly bankrupt and starve anyone without at least $500,000 to give to the candidate of their choice. If you aren't in the 1% you aren't going to survive the near future.

That's intentional.

You see it only takes a certain number of productive people to service and entertain the 1% and a certain number more than that to keep the first group of service providers fed and housed. ANYONE else is surplus to demand in the new world order and therefore subject to redundancy and expiration. Fewer people in excess of the numbers proposed above means more air, water, fuel and food for the !% and what I'll call their support and entertainment staff. In a world where global warming is going to radically limit the numbers of people the planet can house and feed safely that kind of culling is a practical necessity.

This is a kind of passive-aggressive program. No matter that you think you have saved enough for retirement, they've gone and rigged the investment system to steal much of it from you. What they don't steal off the top they get from you in over-priced health services, add-on fees, or radically increased state taxes on those below a certain income threshold.

People dependent on food stamps and similar programs are simply out of luck because they cannot collectively afford to buy enough members of congress to protect the programs or increase taxes on those who can actually well afford it. Meanwhile state and federal legislators keep cutting funds for public programs and lowering taxes on their patrons, thereby shrinking the tax base and further imperiling public programs for any purpose other than arms purchasing.

So in the end it is well organized and legalized genocide on a scale not seen since the Great Depression, intended to conveniently eliminate those who are deemed in excess of requirement. Jonathan Swift would appreciate such a modest proposal.

Something is fundamentally wrong with an economy that is reliant on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance to be "healthy". More like one misstep from implosion and anarchy.

Just ask the good folks at Abbott Laboratories (makers of Ensure).