America: The Food Stamp Nation

America: The Food Stamp Nation

America has over 44 million people on Food Stamps. The food stamps program's real name is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Food Stamp program is "hidden" from view through Electronic Benefit Transfer Cards that work just as credit cards. This article visualizes the size of the program and the vast amounts of people participating.

One Hundred Dollars

$100 - Most counterfeited money denomination in the world. Keeps the world moving.

Ten Thousand Dollars

$10,000 - Enough for a great vacation or to buy a used car. Approximately one year of work for the average human on earth.

One Million Dollars

$1,000,000 - Not as big of a pile as you thought, huh? Still, this is 92 years of work for the average human on earth.

Food Stamp Cards - EBT Cards ($23.4 Million in 14,588x cards) 44.5 Million people are on Food Stamps in America, that's 14,588 participants for each Walmart Super Center. The program is called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). To remove the stigma of food stamps, the EBT card was created and is used the same way as a credit card.

$23,428,328 Total money loaded into the 14,588 EBT cards that are stacked in the shopping cart

14,588 EBT Cards There are 14,588 Food Stamp participants for each Walmart in America.

EBT Card The average Food Stamp participant had $1,606 loaded into the participant's card in 2011.

458 People in each line @ 1/4 mile 2x lines, each of 458 food stamp participants. Total of 916 in two rows span 1/4 mile.

1/4 Mile Bread Line During the Great Depression of the 1930's there were bread lines, where people waited in line to get food at a soup kitchen. Today bread lines have been removed with the help of technology; EBT cards are filled with Government money for Food Stamp participants to purchase food at local retailers. Walmart is Americas' biggest retailer. The Walmart Super Center can be seen in the background. There are 3051 Walmart Super Centers in America as of October 2012.

Bread Lines during the 1930's-- The Great Depression During the Great Depression people lined up to get food at soup kitchens. Skilled and non-skilled workers stood in lines for hours to get some food. The lines were visible to everyone, a reflection of the hard economic times.

Bread Lines of the Modern Era-- The Great Recession

IF all EBT recipients shopped at only Walmart Super Centers for ALL their SNAP benefits, then this is how the Bread Line would look each month-- 14,588 people. There are 3051 Walmart Super Centers in USA and 44,510,598 participants in SNAP (2011), making the average SNAP line at each Walmart at 14,588 people. The Modern Era's Bread Lines are not visible because the business is handled discreetly through EBT Cards. According to this Food Stamps report pg 16-17, Walmart receives half of all SNAP dollars in Oklahoma. Walmart is the largest retailer in America. Short Facts: 47% of Food Stamp participants are children. 78.6% of all SNAP participants are in metropolitan areas. 93.2% of all SNAP benefits go to US citizens. Only 4% are self-employed.

7731 SNAP Adults per Month, per Walmart Super Center The bread line is 4.1+ miles (6.6km) long.

6856 SNAP Children per Month, per Walmart Super Center The bread line is 3.67+ miles (5.9km+) long.

One Hundred Million Dollars

$100,000,000 - Plenty to go around for everyone. Fits nicely on an ISO / Military standard sized pallet.

$100 Million Dollars = 1 year of work for 3500 average Americans

Here are 2000 people standing shoulder to shoulder, looking for a job. The Federal Reserve's mandate is to maintain price stability and low unemployment. The Federal Reserve prints money based on the assumption that increasing money supply will boost jobs.

One Billion Dollars

$1,000,000,000 - You will need some help when robbing the bank. Interesting fact: $1 million dollars weighs 10kg exactly. You are looking at 10 tons of money on those pallets. The couch is worth $46.7 million. Made out of crispy $100 bills.

Food Stamp Budget / Cost in 2011 for United States - $75.7 Billion Dollars

United States spent $75,706,080,000 dollars on Food Stamps in 2011. Here you see the money on trucks with Walmart Super Center as a backdrop. The most SNAP participating states are (by % of population): Mississippi (20.9%), Oregon (19.96%), Tennessee (19.92%), New Mexico (19.90%), Michigan (19.53%), Louisiana (19.33%) and Alabama (19.16%). The least SNAP participating states are (by % of population): Wyoming (6.34%), New Hampshire (8.60%), New Jersey (8.61%), Colorado (8.86%), North Dakota (8.90%), Nebraska (9.45%), Minnesota (9.47%) and California (9.74%). Sources: SNAP Annual Summary, SNAP Program Data 2011, Walmart, Population by States, see individual SNAP state data compiled here: Excel Data Sheet. * US territories Washington DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, were are excluded from above calculations (No Walmart Super Centers in those territories). Special thanks to BWM for preliminary data mining.