Snap Benefits and Bootstraps

Snap Benefits and Bootstraps

So the other day I had one of those conversations that perfectly captures the rot at the core of the U.S., the sort of conversation with a right wing conservative who starts foaming at the mouth with rage over SNAP benefits, the program that keeps 41 million Americans from starving.

This self-described "fiscal conservative" could hardly contain his anger at the 1.5% of the federal budget that goes to feeding poor people. He appears to consider 1.5% an unreasonable figure. However, 1.5% of the U.S. budget is approximately $100 billion. For comparison, the U.S. government spends 10 times that on the Pentagon, which it then uses to bomb people in countries that most Americans could not locate on the map. Social Security takes 20–25% of the budget, while Medicare and Medicaid consume another 25–30% of the budget.

So in the grand buffet of U.S. spending, SNAP basically costs next to nothing and keeps society from collapsing.

This gentleman is of the same demographic who yells about white Americans not producing enough children, that the country is being “overrun” by immigrants, and is staunchly anti-abortion. But once these children are born, what does his sort expect to do for the hungry children?

Another detail that those on the right like him seem to ignore is that between 38% and 86%* of SNAP recipients are working. That thing conservatives keep saying poor people refuse to do? Turns out, they do it. Constantly. They just don’t get paid enough to afford to keep a roof over their head AND eat.

(*Polls have shown that 38% have a job, and 86% have worked within the last 12 months while receiving the benefits.)

In the U.S., a full-time job basically just means you’re getting efficiently exploited, not that you can afford to live.