U.S. food stamp list tops 34 million for first time

Source: Reuters

Thu Aug 6, 2009 5:05pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the first time, more than 34 million Americans received food stamps in May, the government said on Thursday, another symptom of the longest and one of the deepest recessions since the Great Depression.

Enrollment surged by 2 percent to reach a record 34.4 million people, or one in nine Americans, in the latest month for which figures are available.

It was the sixth month in a row that enrollment set a record. Every state recorded a gain, and Florida had the largest increase at 4.2 percent.

<snip>

"Food stamp enrollment is rising because the economy is having a devastating impact on low-income families and they need this program to eat," said Stacy Dean of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank. "Every single state has been affected."


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE57569720090806

That's a HUGE number! Isn't our population something at 300 million or something? That's just wrong...that's really just wrong.

Looking for a hand-out.

I would bet that most people receiving food assistance are doing it not because they want to, but because they need to. :(

Good morning, saigon68! :hi:

and sit there and wait so that they can be looked down upon by the state worker and treated like a piece of crap.... I know what it takes to go down there.... it's humiliating and demeaning, but when you have kids to feed... you will do that.... I have done that. At least it's there. I just wish people wouldn't be so judgemental about it. Any one of us could be there.... it doesn't take much. Although i must admit the card instead of the food stamps was an improvement.... less time for the stares from the people behind you. I can only hope that some of the newly indoctrinated will remember what it was like when they get back on their feet and not accuse everyone on any assistance of being lazy.

From the OP: "Enrollment surged by 2 percent to reach a record 34.4 million people, or one in nine Americans, in the latest month for which figures are available."

The land of milk and honey.

:argh:

I'm OK with feeding people who are hungry, but it would be a whole lot better if more people had decent jobs.

and how many don't even have food stamps ? the destituted, the homeless etc...

million. So if you took 34 million from the 150 million it comes to 22.66%. So, when they say 34 million Americans receive food stamps, do they only count the person who applied for the food stamps, or do they count the number of people (children, dependents) in the person's household?

since the article refers to an average benefit $133.65 per person in May; I can't imagine that any state would expect $133.65 to feed a full family for a month -- hell, it's very little to feed one person for a month.

Other similar statistics from http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/faqs.htm:

In 2005, it served 25.7 million people (8.9%) a month and cost $28.6 billion
In 2000, it served 17.2 million people (6.2%) a month and cost $17.1 billion
In 1995, it served 26.6 million people (10.1%) a month and cost $24.6 billion
In 1990, it served 20.1 million people (8.1%) a month and cost $15.5 billion
in 1985, it served 19.9 million people (8.8%) a month and cost $11.7 billion
In 1980, it served 21.1 million people (9.3%) a month and cost $9.2 billion
In 1975, it served 17.1 million people (7.9%) a month and cost $4.6 billion
In 1970, it served 4.3 million people (2.1%) a month and cost $577 million.

Also based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2006:

49 percent of all participants are children (18 or younger), and 61 percent of them live in single-parent households.
52 percent of SNAP households include children.
9 percent of all participants are elderly (age 60 or over).
76 percent of all benefits go to households with children, 16 percent go to households with disabled persons, and 9 percent go to households with elderly persons.
33 percent of households with children were headed by a single parent, the overwhelming majority of which were headed by women.
The average household size is 2.3 persons.
The average gross monthly income per SNAP household is $673.
43 percent of participants are white; 33 percent are African-American, non-Hispanic; 19 percent are Hispanic; 2 percent are Asian, 2 percent are Native American, and less than 1 percent are of unknown race or ethnicity.

(Thank you for collecting these stats).

49 percent of all participants are children (18 or younger)
The average household size is 2.3 persons.
43 percent of participants are white;

:grr:

States are cutting budgets and in some cases cutting programs that serve the needy.

Less people working, no jobs.

Less people paying taxes, no jobs.

More people applying for help, no jobs.

But we're spending billions on 1.5 wars and we're spending trillions on shitty, greedy banks.

It's all so discouraging.

I would hope we could create a future in the US where many fewer people need public assistance, but until we do, I hope it's always available to those who need it.

The problem I see is the factories went to Mexico, then India, and now China leaving the US without jobs across nearly all sectors now. That's fine only if we are going to place high tarrifs on the products those companies bring back in - since they are no longer using our labor to make them.

The world trade organization fought for free trade so they don't have to pay those tarifs - which Europe now demands they pay if they make products out of the country and plan on selling them back.

People are on foodstamps because they can't find jobs. Jobs continue to outsource to other countries and we are not creating new ones because we're buying the products from those other countries without tarifs so they are cheaper - than making it here - making us keep not employing people here to make them. So the no job issue will continue to escalate since it has been since the 70's when all of this outsourcing started.

Companies have more money than countries now and have since the 1980s because of WTO profits by outsourcing and little tarifs selling products back. The person with the money makes the rules.

WTO continues to destroy countries it goes to - right now india is starting to feel it, as they grabbed all those jobs from the US and now have been underbid by China and jobs are fleeing india. They are always crying about it now and they are on a downword spiral like every country WTO goes into for cheap labor, makes the economy suddenly evolve around them, and then leaves flat for the next cheapest country. The US feels the same thing only not as bad since our whole economy wasn't built on that - as Indias giant growth was.

It will only stop in the US when we stop WTO by demanding the high tarrifs for imported goods.

Unfortunately Bill Clinton sold us out badly on that, Hillary Clinton was in bed with the WTO everytime she spoke on them, and President Obama made a big turn around the one time he spoke against them during his campaign last year - appearing to have apologized to them and possibly now be sidled up with them.

So get used to the food stamps, it's only going to continue to get worse until they are stopped. They have no conscience.