The States are missing out by not taking more charge of their food stamp programs.
To start out, food stamps are a real “Twilight Zone” support program, and nothing is as it appears. It should never be compared with any other form of public support.
In the US, since before the Great Depression, we have had the problem that our farmers are over productive. Even when the Dust Bowl wiped out much of the agriculture on the Great Plains, those farmers outside of the Dust Bowl region produced so much food that it was almost worthless.
And today things are such that every year we have thousands of tons of food that rots in warehouses. And it is very expensive to keep in warehouses. As such, giving it away actually *saves* money.
But, as the reasonable argument goes, if you give it away, won’t it depress prices? Ironically, no. This is because the overproduction food is in its basic form. Most people who buy their own food, buy only small quantities of “basic” food items, like raw vegetables or flour, at a time. The bulk of purchased food has been processed in many ways.
Yet people on food stamps are, and should be encouraged to buy food in bulk. 20 pounds of potatoes, 20 pounds of dry beans, 20 pounds of rice, and importantly, food that is on seasonal sale.
And this is critical. Crops all come in at once, of a particular crop. This causes a glut in the market, with much of the crop put in storage, either to be sold during the off season, or just as excess that will probably spoil.
So retailers have huge sales, trying to unload the excess, the sooner, the better.
And this is where food stamps can come in handy. Food stamps are issued in fixed amounts every month. But the States should intervene, to help their farmers at low cost, by buying a lot of their excess crop that would otherwise rot. At very low prices. Then they could turn around and give “bonuses” of one particular food item that month, to their food stamp recipients.
In one fell swoop, by doing this the States would help their local farmers, retailers, and food stamp recipients, while normalizing the cost of seasonal foods. And with low costs to taxpayers, which they would probably get back with more stable food prices.
Food stamps are a strange thing. As a final note, cutting food stamps does not work as a motivator to find employment, and it certainly doesn’t help poor children to do better in school.
“Yet people on food stamps are, and should be encouraged to buy food in bulk. 20 pounds of potatoes, 20 pounds of dry beans, 20 pounds of rice, and importantly, food that is on seasonal sale.”
60 lbs of potatoes, beans, and rice takes up the entire back seat of the average car. You are thereby displacing no less than 2 people from their living quarters!!
While the above was in jest, these people do have storage problems, especially refrigerated storage. There are often multiple families living in one small dwelling. Most of my career food stamp queens don’t think that far ahead anyway.
Tah was before modern farming and today's communication not to mention the futures markets.
Most farmers sell their crops long before they are harvested. What is in place now, it simply a grandfathered political program...
Government cheese is given away not sold for food stamps.