Food stamp usage in the United States has been the defining theme throughout the tenure of the Obama administration. Tens of millions of Americans have been either forced to because of no other choices or encouraged to file for food stamps by government bureaucrats. The food stamp issue has been the general depiction of both the U.S. economy and the incumbent presidency since the economic collapse.
According to the latest information from the Department of Agriculture, food stamp use in the U.S. has finally fallen, which could be because the economy is (supposedly) getting better. The latest government data indicates that 46.1 million Americans are still receiving food stamps, down four percent from the peak in December 2012 when 47.8 million Americans were food stamp recipients.
Georgia, North Carolina and Utah were the three states with the biggest declines since Mar. 2013. In terms of the percentage of population, Wyoming, North Dakota and Utah had the smallest number of residents on food stamps. Mississippi, Washington D.C., Oregon, Tennessee and New Mexico, meanwhile, have at least 20 percent enrolling in the food stamps program.
The national average is 14.5 percent. However, the U.S. still has a long way to go to have that number at or below 26.3 million, which was the total number of food stamp recipients in 2007.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that food stamp spending will still be an expensive expenditure in 10 years from now as it currently costs taxpayers approximately $71 billion per year to maintain.
Here is what Thomas Sowell wrote in 2012 regarding food stamps and other government welfare programs that incite dependency on civil servants:
“Optimistic Republicans who say that widespread unemployment and record numbers of people on food stamps hurt President Obama’s reelection chances are overlooking the fact that people who are dependent on government are more likely to vote for politicians who are giving them handouts.
“The Obama administration is shamelessly advertising in the media — whether on billboards or on television — for people to get on food stamps. Welfare state bureaucrats have been sent into supermarkets to tell shoppers that food stamps are available.
“The intelligentsia have for decades been promoting the idea that there should be no stigma to accepting government handouts. Living off the taxpayers is portrayed as a “right” or — more ponderously — as part of a “social contract.”
“You may not recall signing any such contract, but it sounds poetic and high-toned. Moreover, it wins votes among the gullible, and that is the bottom line for welfare state politicians.”
Food stamps are here to stay…until the government exacerbates the budget and it runs out of money.
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