Alan C. Posted October 17, 2013 Posted October 17, 2013 Food Stamps Most Rapidly Growing Welfare Program Food stamps are the most inefficient, vastly expanding social welfare program in the country, according to a new study.Forty-seven million people participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, and costs have increased over 358 percent since 2000.The increase in recent years cannot be attributed to the economic recession, according to Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, but lax eligibility requirements and an aggressive campaign by governments to boost their rolls.. . ....in 2000 the cost of the food stamp program was just $17 billion. It has risen in cost to $78 billion today.Spending on advertising and outreach for food stamps by federal and state governments has also increased, now amounting to $41.3 million a year.States like Florida have hired “food stamp recruiters,” who have a quota of signing up 150 new recipients each month. Rhode Island hosts “SNAP-themed bingo games,” and the USDA tells its field offices to throw parties to get more people on their rolls.
Alan C. Posted October 23, 2013 Author Posted October 23, 2013 Craigslist makes turning food stamps into cash a SNAP The federally-funded grocery assistance coupons -- which are issued by states in the form of debit cards under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- are being sold on the online bulletin board as well as auction sites like eBay. FoxNews.com found several offerings at Craigslist sites around the country, where the sellers offered the welfare benefits at large discounts from face value. . . . Since 2008, the cost of SNAP has more than doubled from $34 billion to $74 billion...
Alan C. Posted June 11, 2014 Author Posted June 11, 2014 88 Charged in One of Largest Food Stamp Frauds Ever Fifty-four of the defendants were charged with conspiring to open "purported grocery stores" specifically for the purpose of defrauding the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) and Food Stamp program. After the fake stores were "approved as WIC and Food Stamp vendors," many of the fifty-four defendants went through neighborhoods soliciting WIC and Food Stamp participants to exchange government benefits for cash instead of food in clear violation of the law. The remaining thirty-four defendants werebenefit recipients who sold over $1,000 of their own or their minor children's benefits for a fraction of their worth. In all, over $18 million was laundered in this way in at least nine cities in Georgia.. . .A report in August 2013 revealed that in the latest period studied, 2009-2011, Food Stamp fraud had increased from 1 percent to 1.3 percent, an increase of 30 percent over the previous study period of 2006-2008. However, with the explosion in Food Stamp participation beginning with the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession, the increase in the dollar value of fraud illustrates the jump more dramatically, from $330 million in 2006-2008 to $858 million in 2009-2011.
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