SNAP Food Stamp Participation: May 2013

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in May, 86,720 individual recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 2.45% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits increased to 47.63 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population now stands at a whopping 19.41% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased by 32,084 to 23.07 million households with the current total rising 3.29% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.27% on a year-over-year basis to $6.32 billion for the month.

SNAP Food Stamp Participation: April 2013

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in April, a notable 175,902 individual recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 2.75% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits declined to 47.54 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population now stands at a whopping 19.39% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits declined by 76,082 to 23.03 million households with the current total rising 3.72% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.80% on a year-over-year basis to $6.29 billion for the month.

SNAP Food Stamp Participation: March 2013

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in March, a notable 168,888 individual recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total increasing 2.85% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits increased to 47.72 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population now stands at a whopping 19.48% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased by 109,731 to 23.11 million households with the current total rising 3.86% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.58% on a year-over-year basis to $6.34 billion for the month.

SNAP Food Stamp Participation: February 2013

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in February, a notable 213,962 individual recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 2.66% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits declined to 47.55 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population, declined 1.66% since February 2012 to now stand at a whopping 19.42% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits declined by 82,324 to 23 million households with the current total rising 3.84% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.32% on a year-over-year basis to $6.30 billion for the month.

SNAP Food Stamp Participation: January 2013

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in January, a whopping 514,518 individual recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 1.78% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits declined to 47.27 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population, increased 0.79% since January 2012 to now stand at a whopping 19.32% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased by 23,322 to 23.08 million households with the current total rising 4.05% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.85% on a year-over-year basis to $6.32 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation December 2012

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in December, 109,924 recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total increasing 2.75% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits increased to 47.79 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population, increased 1.16% on the month to now stand at a whopping 19.55% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased by 48,683 to 23.06 million with the current total rising 4.07% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.78% on a year-over-year basis to $6.39 billion for the month.

SNAP Into Reality!

Part of today’s Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU was dedicated to a nonsensical, “immense-government” era propaganda event currently taking the country by storm termed “SNAP the Silence” or “The SNAP Challenge” whereby participants show solidarity with the poor by attempting to live on roughly $5 a day, the equivalent of the daily stipend for a typical Food Stamps recipient.

Formally the Food Stamps program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP for short) function, as its new name directly implies, is to “assist” low income individuals and families in getting basic nutrition.

Given the simple fact that recipients are explicitly NOT expected to actually live on the assistance, what is the purpose of attempting to meet such a challenge?

Keep in mind that there are federal representatives from around the country (look up yours here) supposedly taking up this challenge and various groups participating and even producing videos that seek to strategize living on such a small sum.

For a hilarious example, watch this video of a guy who while first drawing the viewers attention to the plight of the poor and the small $5 a day stipend then goes on to suggest that he’s so far making it through the challenge “unscathed” due mostly to the fact that his “nutrition coach” has made him up a menu of “healthy and interesting meals” including such delights as “sweetened quinoa and berries”, a “tuna fish and hummus sandwich and a side salad”, and a “whole bunch” of “carrot ginger soup” which along with a diet soda came in at $4.75.

Again, the stated purpose of the SNAP program is only to provide “assistance” and is specifically not intended as the sole source of a recipient’s nutritional requirements.

With over 47 million Americans (23 million households) receiving SNAP assistance at an average individual monthly benefit of $135.72 ($281.21 per recipient household), the burn rate for just this one assistance program comes to $6.47 billion/month or $77.64 billion/year, but listening to these propagandists, you would think our country was providing little to nothing.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation November 2012

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in November, 141,067 recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total increasing 3.04% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits increased to 47.69 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population, increased 1.46% on the month to now stand at a whopping 19.53% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased by 73,952 to 23.01 million with the current total rising 4.50% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 4.26% on a year-over-year basis to $6.47 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation October 2012

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation October 2012

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

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed 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 indicated that in October, 184,954 recipients were removed from the food stamps program after August and September's addition of over 874,000 with the current total increasing 2.79% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits declined to 47.52 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population, increased 1.22% on the month to now stand at a whopping 19.47% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits declined by 40,952 to 22.93 million after rising by over 431,000 in August and September with the current total rising 4.36% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 1.74% on a year-over-year basis to $6.34 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation August 2012

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 dwarfed 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 indicated that in August, a whopping 420,863 new recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total increasing 2.86% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits rose to 47.10 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population, increased 1.30% on the month to now stand at a whopping 19.33% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased by 146,677 to 22.68 million, a 4.42% increase on an annual basis.

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.51% on a year-over-year basis to $6.28 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation July 2012

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 indicated that in July, 11,532 recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total increasing 2.95% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 5.05% over the same period.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 1.39% over the same period.

Participation continues to swell with nominal benefit costs climbing 2.91% on a year-over-year basis to $6.26 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation June 2012

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 indicated that in June, 173,612 recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total increasing 3.29% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 4.90% over the same period.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 1.73% over the same period.

Participation continues to swell with nominal benefit costs climbing 2.75% on a year-over-year basis to $6.20 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation February 2012

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 February, 123,385 recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 4.81% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 6.56%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 3.26% over the same period.

Participation continues to swell with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 4.61% on a year-over-year basis to $6.16 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation January 2012

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 January, 64,307 recipients were removed from the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 5.22% on a year-over-year basis while household participation increased 6.94%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 4.36% over the same period.

Participation continues to swell with nominal benefit costs climbing a lofty 4.84% on a year-over-year basis to $6.15 billion for the month.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation December 2011

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.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation November 2011

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.

On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation October 2011

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.