# The entire ‘Food Stamp’ program in its various forms is a subsidy to help farmers by keeping demand high **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512 "2024-12-11T19:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/1 "2024-12-11T19:46:55Z")
Hope this is not off-topic. The entire ‘Food Stamp’ program in it’s various forms is a subsidy to help farmers by keeping demand high. You pay less for food because everybody’s tax dollars funds these programs. I suppose the benefit of feeding people who need food is an unintentional consequence. I know it’s largely children who have the greatest need for that and since they’re non-productive members of society it seems like a bigger ripoff of the taxpayer but no government program is perfect. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/2 "2024-12-11T19:49:10Z")
Feeding kids is not a rip-off of the public and I’m going to split this off. Talk about a hijack. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/3 "2024-12-11T19:52:13Z")
Didn’t pick up that as satire did you? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/4 "2024-12-11T19:53:00Z")
Well, now what? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/5 "2024-12-11T19:53:43Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The entire ‘Food Stamp’ program in it’s various forms is a subsidy to help farmers by keeping demand high. You think people wanting to eat food is a government plot? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/6 "2024-12-11T19:54:13Z")
Poe’s Law strikes again. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/7 "2024-12-11T19:55:37Z")
It’s 2024. It’s pretty much impossible to say something so ridiculous that it goes beyond the things Republicans are actually saying. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/8 "2024-12-11T19:55:56Z")
Sad but true. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/9 "2024-12-11T19:57:37Z")
Joke or not, that thread did not need another hijack and you knew it was one. Please refrain. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/10 "2024-12-11T20:03:42Z")
I tend to think of it as a general subsidy on the price of food. At the beginning of the month, there can be days where over 50% of our revenue is EBT. Just imagine what would happen to food prices if that money went away and stores had to find another way to remain profitable. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/11 "2024-12-11T20:05:48Z")
Your “joke” is told by far too many who treat it as if it was reality…which renders it absolutely useless. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/12 "2024-12-11T20:07:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I tend to think of it as a general subsidy on the price of There are huge government food subsidy programs that aren’t some left-wing liberal scheme to give poor people tax dollars. These programs exist because they are heartily supported by the reddest of Red States because it channels tax dollar back to them. I think it was entirely on-topic in the other thread. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-entire-food-stamp-program-in-its-various-forms-is-a-subsidy-to-help-farmers-by-keeping-demand-high/1011512/13 "2024-12-11T20:12:25Z")
As long as this was just an ill-timed joke, I’ll close it.