Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Are Food Stamps Higher than Mid-1990 Levels?
39 Million Americans are now living on food stamps. One viewer told me that the current level wasn't much greater than the levels in the 1990s when you adjust the ratio to population.
So let's do that.
There are currently 308 million Americans in the United States and 39 million are on food stamps.
So to calculate the percentage of Americans on food stamps, we'll have to divide 39 by 308.
39 million /308 million = 12.6% of the current population
Food stamp program participation peaked in the 1990s at 28 million. It peaked in 1994 and 1995 when the population was around 263 million.
28 million/263 million = 10.6% of the 1995 population
So if 10.6% of the population lived on food stamps in 1995 and 12.6% are living on food stamps in 2010, we have see an increase of more than 18% since 1995.
Final Answer: We have a significantly greater participation now than what we had in the 1990s.
Here's a 1992 article that states that 1 out 10 Americans were on food stamps.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19920229&id=tzEfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=884EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6207,4354842
http://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersfa/33793.html
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html
http://www.npg.org/facts/us_historical_pops.htm
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Just factor in the extra millions of illegals and their anchor babies that have come in since the early 90's when nafta passed and you can see that an extra 1 or 2 percent out of total population compared to the 90's makes it about even. Food stamp usage will get worse from here no doubt, but right now its not that bad when you account for increased mexicans and the economy being so much worse than the early 90's you would think it would be much higher than it is right now.
ReplyDeleteYou can't use illegals because there's no reliable data.
ReplyDeleteYes you can because those illegal aliens from years ago are having millions of babies over the last 20 years and every year they were crossing the border at ever increasing rates. Ive lived in california Ive seen first hand how they are spreading and having tons of kids. Now those kids are having kids sucking off welfare. You factor in illegal immigration, anchor kids, and the 3rd generation, Id say these food stamp numbers are actually pretty damn good considering the state of the economy right now.
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