Walmart ‘Moderately’ Psyched About Food Stamp Cuts’ Potential For Profit

The November 1st cuts to food stamps, or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), caused by the expiration of bolstered benefits enacted in the 2009 Stimulus bill, have now hit. (Despite Democrats’ repeated assurances over ensuing years that they would never allow this to happen.) This means that 47.6 million Americans now have 5 percent less to spend on food. While a 5 percent cut may not sound like much, remember that we’re talking about benefits averaging less than $1.50 per meal. Does anyone care?

House Republicans actually wish to cut the program even further, making it a major stumbling block in the long-delayed quest to craft a Farm Bill. But truth be told, even Senate Democrats have drafted a bill with cuts to SNAP, albeit not as severe as the GOP would like. In this land of plenty, things are looking mighty grim for many Americans. But there’s one unintended victim of these cuts which politicians may just listen to — Walmart. Turns out, nearly 1 in 5 food stamp dollars is spent at Walmart. (Not to mention the high percentage of Walmart employees who rely upon the program themselves.)

That’s bad news for the families that rely on the program to put food on the table. It’s also bad news for the huge retailers who cater to the large number of people clustered on the lower rungs of America’s income scale, including the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart.

Here’s why. Critics tend to think of food stamps as a form of welfare. They are—for the people who get them, and for the stores at which they are spent.

The Wall Street Journal’s, Shelly Banjo and Annie Gasparro reported:“Walmart estimates it rakes in about 18 percent of total U.S. outlays on food stamps. That would mean it pulled in $14 billion of the $80 billion the USDA says was appropriated for food stamps in the year ended in September 2012.”

So we should all be expecting a big push from Walmart to kick Congress in the rear and help shore up SNAP benefits, right? Not so much.

But not everyone is worried. First, there are those policymakers and their supporters hell bent on waging war on the poor. And then there are those for whom the thought of Americans with fewer meals to feed their children conjures dollar signs. Walmart, for example, is “cautious but modestly optimistic,” about the food stamp cuts’ impact on their business. “Our view,” CEO Bill Simon explained to investors,  “is that… [if] everybody’s benefit is going to get cut, price will become more important. And when price is more important, we’re more relevant.”

Got that? The prospect of 47 million Americans having less to eat is seen by Walmart as a “moderately optimistic” potential for profit. It galls. This is a hugely profitable business that rakes in $14 billion annually from the SNAP program. Walmart itself tops the list of companies whose own employees receive food stamps in nearly every state in the U.S. But instead of decrying the fiscal hit to its shoppers, or even the gut punch to its own employees, Walmart embraces these benefit cuts as a means of solidifying its niche in the market. In other words, Walmart has decided that more poor people equals more profit.

By: Sandi Behrns

Sandi Behrns is a noted policy nerd, new media & web developer, and consultant to progressive organizations and campaigns. She is a senior contributor to Liberaland, and the Executive Editor of Progressive Congress News.