Posted on 10/26/2025 1:33:42 AM PDT by dennisw
The U.S. government has been shut down for three weeks since October 1. If it doesn’t end soon, millions of people will lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments starting November 1. With 41.7 million recipients nationwide relying on these food stamps, states warn of halted payments without federal funding. Social media erupts with videos of desperate individuals threatening to loot Walmart stores, turning policy gridlock into potential retail mayhem.
The USDA’s SNAP program, which injected $99.8 billion into economies in FY 2024 with average monthly benefits of $187 per person, faces a funding freeze.
October payments should proceed, but November’s billions are at risk if the shutdown persists past October 27.
States like California, Texas, and Arkansas urge stockpiling, as delays could spike hunger, school absences, and food bank strains, echoing 2013’s EBT glitches.
Walmart, serving SNAP via EBT at 4,600+ locations, braces for impact. Spokespeople monitor closely, hinting at bolstered security amid rising theft fears.
The retailer donated $2 million to hunger relief this year, but warns that unchecked shoplifting could raise prices in vulnerable areas.
Online fury boils over. A TikTok video shows a Texas woman in her car, mason jar in hand, ranting, “Food stamps or we stealing OG!” She vows to “hit Walmart hard” if EBT dries up.
Another clip features a man in a tank top bellowing he’ll “rack up” a cart and walk out unpaid, blaming the shutdown.
These posts, amassing millions of views, predict retail spikes. One user warns, “People will kill to not die… Grocery store employees will be beaten up if they don’t let people steal.”
Single mothers echo, “We’ll go to Walmart and steal food.“
Advocates call it systemic desperation, not crime, yet police in SNAP-heavy zones prepare for surges, recalling 2023’s EBT fraud billions.
Politics polarize: Republicans eye cuts and work rules effective November 1; Democrats decry “cruel” delays.
SNAP aids 70% of the working poor, seniors, and parents, or 1 in 8 Americans. With Thanksgiving approaching, communities are on the march: in Detroit, pantries, and job fairs in Phoenix. Lawmakers must compromise before aisles turn to battlegrounds. Hunger isn’t leverage; it’s a crisis demanding fixes, not fights.
EBT shouldn't be used for junk foods
The numbers may be skewed a bit.
After I retired a second time I got a job as a manager of a large 24 hour per day food/gas store. I couldn't sleep at night so I became the night management for quite a few years. Our store was located right by I95 and was always busy.
Getting to the point, so many travelers and all the people who started moving from Jersey/New York to North Carolina and Atlanta, would stop in. Most of these types would open their purses and take out four or five EBT/SNAP cards and decide which one to use. They would also have several $100 bills to use for the food they were not allowed to purchase with SNAP.
The fraud was started by the Democrats using NGOs to sign up as many people as they could, and it was never questioned that the NGOs let people sign up for more than one SNAP/EBT card. It truly was mass fraud and it still runs rampant today.
This is a sign in a supermarket near my house that infuriated me:
We watch our budget, my wife clips coupons and goes to multiple stores to get the right price, buys things on sale, and we eat leftovers. I like lobster, but I don't often eat it because it is a luxury.
And these people can use MY tax money to buy lobster.
It would probably be a good thing as of now since Wally World just cancelled its H1B program and will hire US citizens.
The only issue is the ghetto rats have been raised from birth to think they are owed everything and they can sit on their butts and do nothing.
And the Democrats WANT them all to riot, pillage and burn. Let that sink in!
Ahem … do this in my neighborhood and looters will be shot on site.
Democrats idea of helping the little guy with DEMOCRACY.
"Not a single H1-B worker among them."
[so they feel no guilt about stealing]
People like this NEVER feel any guilt about stealing.
I’ve seen them in action.
This is a slightly different version of a Reprobate Mind 🧠.
LOL who is that man? He is funny.
Way less than 1% is as good as nothing. If all the classes of people in United States, my bet would be that H1-B group has the least PERCENTAGE of convicted criminals, least PERCENTAGE of people on welfare, and highest percentage paying federal income tax compared to any other group.
That said, H1-B visa system has been badly exploited by American corporations. I arrived on student visa 25 years before H1-B was passed. I had to jump through hoops to become US citizen.
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