The Cato Institute has published another fascinating report I recommend highly. In “SNAP Failure: The Food Stamp Program Needs Reform,” Michael Tanner discusses stats that are often misused by people in leadership positions; for example, how many people on welfare are working? how much food do America’s poor consume? and how much has increased spending on government food programs addressed food insecurity?
As recently as 2000, just 17 million Americans participated in the program at a cost of less than $18 billion. Today, roughly 48 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, costing taxpayers more than $78 billion per year. Yet according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), nearly 18 million American households remain “food insecure.”
