Thanks, Bush and Obama: 1 in 7 Americans Were on Food Stamps in 2015.

[BIAD]

'Forty-five million Americans were on food stamps — also known as the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — at some point in 2015.

That's equal to one in seven Americans. It's a big number, although not an all-time high.
The all-time high was reached back in 2013 when more than 47 million Americans
enrolled in the program. The total budget in 2015 was $73.9 billion, or approximately
12 percent the size of all defense and veterans programs.

In spite of falling unemployment rates — which are really driven by declining work
force participation — food stamp use remains near record highs and is up by
78 percent over the past ten years:



And, the picture doesn't improve if we adjust for population growth.
(Obviously, the US population has not increased 78 percent over the last ten years.)
If we take the numbers on a per capita basis over time, the curve looks essentially
the same:



So can we just blame food stamp growth on the currently lackluster economy?
Only partially. It stands to reason that the post-2008 surge in food stamp participatio
 has indeed been driven by a weak economy in part.

But, as we can see in the graphs, food stamp use increased during the non-recessionary
Bush years between 2001 and 2008. In fact, during that period, food stamp participation
increased 62 percent...'
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