Food stamp inflation.

"CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Food stamp use continued to rise in the U.S last year, with almost 12% of all households receiving some form of the assistance, the Census Bureau said Thursday. In 2010, 13.6 million households reported receiving food stamps, a 16% increase over the previous year. The state with the highest percentage was Oregon at 17.9%. Other states near the top of the list include Tennessee and Michigan. Among those with the lowest level of food stamp use were California, New Jersey, and Wyoming. Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 45 reported increases while only one - Louisiana - posted a decrease. Nevada, Idaho and Rhode Island had the fastest rates of growth in food stamp use."

I almost didn't blog about this, because well, at this point I think this food stamp number is a bit of a sham. It does get most of us who care about this topic to clench up in a visceral reaction.

Also, I was surprised California wasn't at the top of the list. Oregon was. So I basically shrugged and moved on.

Still it has been nagging at me. The government of course believes with all it's heart, that food stamps are a form of economic stimulus. How much stimulus is up to interpretation.

In 2008, Mark Zandy of Moody's, said for every dollar the economy would see a return of $1.64. Here.

Two years later, the number returned to the economy is $1.84. Here.

This site claims that for every 5 bucks spent on food stamps, two times that will be returned in economic activity. Here.

And poor Oregon! Did you see how many people were on food stamps? At the top. What a shit hole that place is. 17.9%. That has got to make you feel really bad. Right? Well don't.

Oregon actually just got a 5 million dollar bonus because they rock so hard at signing people up for food stamps. No shit!

"In its quest to promote taxpayer-funded entitlement programs, the Obama Administration has actually rewarded one state with a $5 million bonus for its efficiency in adding food-stamp recipients to already bulging rolls." Here.

The article goes on to say:

"This week Oregon officials bragged that the USDA has given the state $5 million in “performance bonuses” for ensuring that people eligible for food benefits receive them and for its “swift processing of applications.” The money comes on the heels of a separate $1.5 million award from the feds for making “accurate payments of food stamp benefits to clients.” So welfare recipients are clients?"

I wonder how many Oregonians there are in the Occupy movement. Because honestly - I haven't seen so many beards since the 70's.