July 18, 2011. Copyright 2011, Graphic News. All rights reserved 

One in seven Americans relies on food stamps

LONDON, July 18, Graphic News: The world’s richest nation has seen a record rise of more than 11 million people over the past three years turning to the government to put food on the table.

In April, 44.6 million Americans -- one in seven -- depended on food stamps, almost equivalent to the entire population of Spain, with at least one in five residents in Mississippi, New Mexico and Oregon receiving benefits.

About half of the recipients are children, and another 8% are elderly. Only 14% of food-stamp households have incomes above the poverty line; 41% have incomes of half that level or less, and 18% have no income at all.

The average benefit is $133 a month and the maximum, for an individual with no income at all, is $200. Compared to America’s median income of $2,238 a month, this is meagre.

The Economist reports that a recipient in New York -- where three million residents rely on food stamps -- says she compares costs at five different supermarkets, assiduously collects coupons, eats mainly cheap, starchy foods, and still runs out of money a week or ten days before the end of the month. The South Bronx has the country’s highest food hardship rate with almost one-in-three residents struggling to afford food.

The first food stamp programme was started in 1939, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, and ended after four years. It was reintroduced by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The number of recipients peaked in 1994 at 27.5 million, but fell during the Clinton administration to 17.3 million.

During the presidency of George W. Bush the number of recipients soared as tough welfare laws forced millions of people into low-paid jobs. The cost of benefits soared too, from $15 billion (in today’s dollars) in 2000 -- when President Clinton left office -- to $65 billion last year.

In 2004, the Bush administration contracted Wall Street investment bank JPMorgan Chase to provide food stamp debit cards in 26 states, a deal worth an estimated $60 million a year. In 2008, the Food Stamp Programme changed its name to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme or SNAP.
/ENDS