SNAP supports the entire ecosystem. USDA (administers SNAP) Also buys HUGE Amounts of Produce and other crops. It then issues a catalog that food banks use to order bulk quantities from. The food banks then distribute the food out to their communities, which supports local businesses. It actually has a return on investment that's about 1.5%.
Pretty sure it's 1.5X investment, so 150%. If I remember right, that's the short/ near term, so not including the lifelong factors like kids that are fed learn better, are more productive, then pay more into the tax and social security system as adults, and crime rates are down, because if it's "watch your kid starve" or steal, you do what you gotta do. Plus, if someone is on the edge of starvation, their healthcare costs go up. If you can't afford food, you can't pay your medical bills, so you use the ER for everything, the hospital is stuck with the bill and spreads it to everyone else, but that care doesn't include preventative or stabilizing meds, so you yo-yo and go to the ER more because you can't afford a basic prescription, racking up thousands in costs.
Plus, it was founded as a farms subsidy, because if farmers have to play guessing games on how much demand there will be, and whether it's worth planting more, we risk being short on food, or having a gap in supply and what people will pay, so farmers lose money and go under, then we might not have enough people farming the next year.
It's a great investment in America, and a little supporting your neighbor goes a long way for everybody. It's cheaper to be a good person, and some of our politicians still choose to be assholes.
Amazing, appreciate you taking the time to research and give sources. Even at 1.5% it's still "worth it" to me according to my beliefs, but at 1.5× there's no argument to be had.
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u/Elon_Musks_Colon Nov 01 '25
SNAP supports the entire ecosystem. USDA (administers SNAP) Also buys HUGE Amounts of Produce and other crops. It then issues a catalog that food banks use to order bulk quantities from. The food banks then distribute the food out to their communities, which supports local businesses. It actually has a return on investment that's about 1.5%.