Posted on 08/11/2014 1:48:14 PM PDT by Theoria
Should the public know how much money Wal-Mart, or that convenience store down the street, takes in through the federal food stamp program? Or does that amount to a retail trade secret? Those are the questions at the heart of a request for public comment announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the food stamp program.
Here’s the background: Last year we spent $76 billion tax payer dollars on the food stamp program (officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP). That money goes to about 47 million low-income Americans, who use it to buy food at more than 250,000 retail stores across the country.
But, as I have reported here before, exactly which stores and which companies benefit most from those food stamp dollars is something the federal government has never disclosed. Officials have long argued they are required by law to keep the information secret, in order to protect retailers.
A few years ago the Argus Leader, a newspaper in South Dakota, sued the USDA, arguing the public has a right to see this data. The issue is still tied up in court. Last spring, when I interviewed Agriculture Under Secretary Kevin Concannon about the issue in March, he told me that in his opinion, greater transparency would be a good thing.
“I think personally it’s in the interest of the American public,” he said. “These are public benefits that are moving through the economy.”
Yet when I asked him if he would push his agency to disclose the information he said he needed to “talk to the lawyers.”
Judging from the USDA’s announcement Monday, the lawyers have been consulted.
In the press release announcing the agency’s request for public input, Concannon said: “Our goal is to provide more transparency so that people can have access to basic information about the amount of SNAP benefits that individual grocery stores and retailers are redeeming. We hope that this public comment period will be informative as to how we can do that in the most thoughtful and appropriate way possible."
The USDA will take public comment until Sept. 8. As for what kind of comments might come in over the next month, we have some clues already.
When I asked Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar last spring about how much revenue his company took in from food stamps, he told me it was proprietary information.
“We don’t provide our market-share data on any categories like that,” he said, pointing out that knowing how much a particular Wal-Mart in a particular location makes in food stamps could be helpful to competitors. “I think any information that a retailer shares about how they’re serving customers and how they’re going to market would be interesting to lots of other retailers.”
It’s worth pointing out that aside from being the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart likely takes in the most food stamp dollars, an estimated 18 percent last year, according to leaked comments from a company vice president at a private dinner last fall, which Walmart later confirmed. That sum would amount to $13 billion, or about 4 percent of Wal-Mart’s total U.S. sales.
Wal-Mart is also one of several retailers that have a significant number of employees who make little enough that they rely on food stamps to get by. In Ohio, up to 15 percent of Wal-Mart’s workforce uses SNAP, based on our analysis of state food stamp enrollment data.
Outside the retail community, there are voices advocating for making the data public, arguing that it could help citizens and policy makers better understand which stores profit the most from food stamps, what kinds of foods they promote and sell, and what their business practices are.
“It could be used to improve SNAP and make it more accessible to poor families,” writes Stacy Cloyd, the Senior Domestic Policy Analyst at Bread for the World Institute, an anti-hunger organization. Knowing which stores attract the most SNAP customers would “allow hunger advocates to learn from successful businesses and share best practices. It would also help them identify the highest-volume vendors so that they can offer the stores information and recommendations on how they can supply a variety of nutritious foods,” she writes.
As Jonathan Ellis, the South Dakota journalist who sued the USDA to make food stamp data public, points out: “Typically, if a business participates in a government program, you can get a copy of their contract and find out how much they’re being paid.”
That’s how it works when the government pays a construction company to build a bridge, or a defense contractor to build a fighter plane.
But that’s not how it works when the government reimburses retail companies that participate in the federal food stamp program, at least for now.
I was at a gas station convenience store this weekend and the woman in front of me had just bought 10 deli sandwiches, paying with a SNAP card. I noted the Bluetooth earpiece she was wearing for her cell phone... and I just started to boil inside.
SNAP cards should not exist... if people need assistance it should be a humbling and humiliating experience. This business with a debit card to get a monthly cash infusion needs to go... there is no sense of shame that the user is on assistance at all...
and for the $100 of sandwiches that woman bought... one could have a pretty amazing feast with cold cuts and rolls... from the GROCERY STORE.
(After all, WE'RE the ones who are paying their tab!)
You can be sure the Obama Administration knows how many food stamps get spent at Walmart. To the penny. To be used as leverage when they cram a union down Walmart’s throat.
Just yesterday I was wondering if there are stores owned by people that refuse to accept SNAP cards on principle... sure there must be... and those business should be promoted.
100% YES. I am surprised the USDA would actually propose such a thing. Wouldn't be surprised if the crony-capitalists at Wal-Mart and elsewhere make sure it doesn't happen.
I work for Walmart and that sounds about right. $13 to $20 Billion would be in the ball park.
This site got the SNAP spending for 2006-2009 in MA per store location with a FIOA, MA tried to sue him for publishing it, but MA dropped the charges.
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2010/oct/18/where-massachusetts-food-stamp-money-going/
I’ll bet its a lot. My hunch is that without food stamps, Walmart might now even be profitable.
Big CronyBiz needs food stamps for everyone.. so they can afford to buy $100 footwear, video games, cosmetics, etc.
Every actual dollar you don’t spend on food you can spend on discretionary.
He with the most and best lobbyists wins.
That’s crony capitalism and American today.
Hey I know there are people whom use Food Stamps that do not abuse the system. There are way too many that do abuse the system though.
No it isn't. The business has to apply and a certain percentage of their sales must be in qualifying food items to get into the system.
A 39% increase in 2009, and 2010 shows spending of $1,075,000,000.
These numbers are only higher now.
And $76 billion isn't anywhere near what we spend on SNAP nowadays.
Interesting thought you have. I saw once...on Free Republic, no less...that a FReeper thought if CWII ever happened, it would be a great idea to get a list of food stamp users.
Except this person then wanted to go out out, find them, then SHOOT them. “Way to get rid of the parasites”, was what I believe they said.
Soro’s JPMorgan recieves a nice percent for just processing EBT purchases. Follow the money.
There was an article on National Review where communities in rural areas of Appalachia basically have replaced cash with canned pop at food stores.
Joe uses his EBT card to buy X number of cases of canned pop at Market A, lugs them to Market B which purchases them for 60% of the original price paid in cash. Then Market B resells the pop to Mary who uses her EBT card for the purchase, lugs it to Market A and gets 60% in cash.
I’M SHOCKED!! (not really)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/01/jp-morgan-s-food-stamp-empire.html
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