The Coming Food Stamp Riots
Economic Collapse | October 16, 2013
By Michael Snyder
It may not happen this month, or even this year, but food stamp riots are coming to America. In fact, we got a small preview of the coming food stamp riots this past weekend when a “temporary system failure” caused food stamp cards to stop working in 17 U.S. states. Within hours, there were “mini-riots” at Wal-Marts and other retailers that rely heavily on food stamp users. So what would happen if food stamp benefits were cut off or reduced for an extended period of time? As you will see below, if Congress had not pushed through a “deal”, the USDA would have started cutting off food stamp benefits on November 1st. Considering the fact that 47 million Americans are on food stamps and more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government, that could have sparked massive rioting. So the good news is that the coming food stamp riots will probably not happen in November. The bad news is that the “deal” in Congress only delays the political fighting until after Christmas. In just a few months we will be dealing with a potential “government shutdown” and a debt ceiling deadline once again.
Most Americans have no idea what almost just happened. According to Reuters, the state of North Carolina had already cut off some welfare benefits for the month of November…
North Carolina has become the first state to cut off welfare benefits to poor residents in the wake of the partial federal government shutdown, ordering a halt to processing November applications until a deal is reached to end the federal standstill.
More than 20,000 people - most of them children - receive monthly benefits aimed at helping them buy food and other basic supplies through North Carolina’s welfare program, called Work First, which is fully funded by the federal government. Recipients must reapply each month.
And as Mac Slavo recently detailed, the USDA was already planning to cut off food stamp assistance to millions of Americans on November 1st…
We say next month because the USDA, which oversees the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), has just issued an order to SNAP agency directors calling for their respective States to implement an emergency contingency program because of government funding issues. In a letter obtained by the Crossroads Urban Center food pantry, the USDA is directing state agencies to, “delay their November issuance files and delay transmission to State Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) vendors until further notice.”
What this means is that should Congress fail to increase the debt ceiling this week, come November there will literally be millions of people in the United States who will have exactly zero dollars transferred to their EBT cards.
What will happen to the nearly 50 million people who depend on these benefits to survive?
Ariel Gail MacLean: 
Two Plus Two Equals Four: 
Alex Young: 
La Mocha: 
Don: 
“Fascism is capitalism in decay” quoth Vladimir Lenin. Decaying Capitalism is now prepared to be fully Totalitarian. The facts are evident: guns or butter. More guns, less butter. Since 1980 guns have had priority. Since the abolition of restraint on financial markets profiteering has had even higher priority than guns. So the harvest is coming. And the question seems to be how much blood has to be spilled to create a new social order.
Food Insecurity http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/child-hunger-facts.aspx
15.9 million children lived in food insecure households in 2012.[ii]
20% or more of the child population in 37 states and D.C. lived in food insecure households in 2011, according to the most recent data available. New Mexico (30.6%) and the District of Columbia (30.0%) had the highest rates of children in households without consistent access to food.[iii]
In 2011, the top five states with the highest rate of food insecure children under 18 are New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Arizona, Oregon, and Georgia.[iv]
In 2011, the top five states with the lowest rate of food insecure children under 18 are North Dakota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Minnesota.[v]
Emergency Food Assistance
Nearly 14 million children are estimated to be served by Feeding America, over 3 million of which are ages 5 and under.[vi]
Proper nutrition is vital to the growth and development of children. 62 percent of client households with children under the age of 18 reported participating in the National School Lunch Program, but only 14 percent reported having a child participate in a summer feeding program that provides free food when school is out.[vii]
54 percent of client households with children under the age of 3 participated in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).[viii]
32 percent of pantries, 42 percent of kitchens, and 18 percent of shelters in the Feeding America network reported “many more children in the summer” being served by their programs.[ix]
Poverty
In 2012, 16.1 million or approximately 22 percent of children in the U.S. lived in poverty.[x]
Participation in Federal Nutrition Programs
In fiscal year 2011, 47 percent of all SNAP households contained children.[xi]
During the 2012 federal fiscal year, more than 31 million low-income children received free or reduced-price meals daily through the National School Lunch Program.[xii] Unfortunately, in 2012 less than 2.5 million children participated daily in the Summer Food Service Program.[xiii]