Obama's food stamp epidemic

December 5, 2011
Posted by Matt

I was strolling around the waterfront fish market in DC on Saturday, admiring the whole octopi, the squid, lobsters, jumbo crab legs and Maryland blue crabs for sale.

Imagine my surprise when I spotted this sign above a pile of crabs.

The food stamp epidemic in our country is getting worse thanks to President Obama.

WSJ: Food Stamp Use Rose in 2010

Food stamp use continued to rise in the U.S last year, with almost 12% of all households receiving some form of the assistance, the Census Bureau said. More recent data show that 15% of the population gets food-stamp assistance. In 2010, 13.6 million households reported receiving food stamps, a 16% increase over the previous year. The state with the highest percentage was Oregon at 17.9%.

WSJ: Some 15% of U.S. Uses Food Stamps

Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in August, as the number of recipients hit 45.8 million.

Food stamp rolls have risen 8.1% in the past year, the Department of Agriculture reported, though the pace of growth has slowed from the depths of the recession.

The number of recipients in the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may continue to rise in coming months as families continue to struggle with high unemployment and September’s data will likely include disaster assistance tied to the destruction and flooding caused by Hurricane Irene.

Mississippi reported the largest share of its population relying on food stamps, more than 21%. One in five residents in New Mexico, Tennessee, Oregon and Louisiana also were food stamp recipients.

Food stamp rolls exploded during the downturn, which began in late 2007. Even after the recession came to its official end in June 2009, families continued to tap into food assistance as unemployment remained high and those lucky enough to find jobs were often met with lower wages.

States also made changes to make it easier for residents to tap into the program, such as waiving requirements that limited the value of assets food stamp recipients could own.

But this is all good news, according to this administration. Remember, food stamps stimulate the economy!