HI-TRANSFER

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak (which looks like a minor blip by comparison) set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in December, 227,922 recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total increasing 5.52% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 7.23%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 4.84% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 5.57% on a year-over-year basis to $6.22 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak (which looks like a minor blip by comparison) set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in November, 94,086 recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 5.82% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 7.46%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 5.06% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 6.86% on a year-over-year basis to $6.20 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak (which looks like a minor blip by comparison) set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in October, 45,528 recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 7.0% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 8.85%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 6.22% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 7.87% on a year-over-year basis to $6.23 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak (which looks like a minor blip by comparison) set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in September, an additional 430,434 recipients were added to the food stamps program increasing 7.82% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 9.81%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 7.04% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 9.08% on a year-over-year basis to $6.26 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in August, an additional 492,351 recipients were added to the food stamps program increasing 8.13% on a year-over-year basis and household participation increased 10.32%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 7.34% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 7.98% on a year-over-year basis to $6.13 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in July, 161,019 recipients were added to the food stamps program (latest several months effected by disaster assistance), while participation continued to increased 8.39% on a year-over-year basis and household participation increased 10.41%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 7.58% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 8.68% on a year-over-year basis to $6.08 billion for the month.

Oh! What a gross and smarmy milieu the policy junkies in Washington D.C. have concocted!



I know I’m reposting this (I missed is the first time around) and probably beating a dead horse at this point, but check out this clip of Bloomberg interviewing a JP Morgan exec about its “public sector benefit payments” division.



Though by outsourcing (thus privatizing) the electronic payment function of the food stamps program, the government is likely just making a (rare) likely efficient business decision, taken in its totality, the fact that some of JP Morgan’s profits are tied to the expansion of this reckless public policy fiasco is somehow just too nasty to accept as legitimate.



Aside from the interviewee not helping the matter (he came off a little strange), the notion that the food stamps “transaction flow” has been completely digitized from government to recipient through to warehouse stores like Costco and Walmart all via the help of JP Morgan just seems off.



Further, can you count how many times the suit mentioned how “important” the business was to JP Morgan? … the volume having gone “through the roof” in recent years is “good news”?!!



The U.S. is just plainly doomed.

What a horrendous and ruinous program the policy junkies in Washington D.C. have doomed us with.



While many longtime readers are aware that I have been tracking the food stamp program for years and noting the stupendous rise in individual participation from 26 million back in 2007 to roughly 46 million today, the most outrageous take away from observing this disastrous public policy tool is not simply its largess but the fact that it is rife with fraud and abuse.



Quickly perusing the current news provides a clear sample of the types of abuse that are likely occurring all over the country.



Stories like a ring of middle aged government workers in New York City that are being charged with scamming the taxpayers for over $8 million by creating at least a thousand fictitious food stamps recipients and pocketing the funds.



Or a North Carolina woman using a local food mart to misuse her EBT (electronic food stamps credits) credits, buying unauthorized items and receiving cash during the transaction.



Or a similar occurrence in Portland Oregon whereby several food stamps recipients as well as a store owner were charged with felony food stamp fraud after authorities determined that the recipients were selling their benefits at a 50% discount to the store owner (store charges full credit on the card and kicks the recipient back 50% in cash with little or no products actually purchased), a common scheme used by recipients to quickly turn their credits into cash.



Or a ring of recipients and merchants in Arizona using the same scheme to defraud the U.S. taxpayer of about $700,000.



Or even kids in Michigan using their food stamps credits to buy cases of canned soda with the intention of merely emptying the product into the ground so as to trade the cans in for the 10 cent deposit return.



Drug felons in California lobbying state legislators to lift a lifetime ban on participating in the food stamps program (a sensible restriction enacted during the mid-90s cleanup of welfare fraud) while Michigan is finally cutting off college students from automatically qualifying for food stamps eliminating 30,000 entitlement abusers.



One has to wonder if the “war on poverty” policy junkies of past generations would have been as proud of the current outcome of their efforts as they were when they implemented some of the first “free” food stamps pilot programs.



Given that by the mid-1970s you had a clear pattern of abuse and a pristine blueprint for a failed policy tool, one has to wonder how this appalling program has survived so long.



While you wonder, give the video associated with this report a watch to see the senseless anger spewed by irate food stamps recipients in Georgia when a subtle administrative quirk temporarily prevented them from accessing their credits.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in May, a whopping 1,105,217 new recipients were added to the food stamps program, an increase of 12.14% on a year-over-year basis, while household participation increased 14.22%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 11.43% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 12.32% on a year-over-year basis to $6.12 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in April, an additional 60,586 new recipients were added to the food stamps program, an increase of 10.38% on a year-over-year basis, while household participation increased 12.70%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 9.66% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 10.38% on a year-over-year basis to $5.95 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in March, an additional 387,849 new recipients were added to the food stamps program, an increase of 11.13% on a year-over-year basis, while household participation increased 13.57%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 10.28% over the same period.

Participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 11.32% on a year-over-year basis to $5.98 billion for the month.

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in February, an additional 11,517 new recipients were added to the food stamps program, an increase of 11.65% on a year-over-year basis, while household participation increased 13.97%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 10.78% over the same period.

The latest results show food stamps participation continuing to grow but at a notably slower rate and coming nearly simultaneously with a correlated decline in the total unemployment rate likely indicating that both indicators are defining a peak.

Still, participation continues to increase with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 11.37% on a year-over-year basis to $5.889 billion for the month.