We wouldn’t normally think of the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a repository of wisdom on how to bring the United States out of the current economic crisis. But we read a startling claim by the USDA, and we thought we would share it with you.
“According to USDA, which oversees domestic food assistance, every $5 in new (food stamp) benefits generates as much as $9.20 in economic activity,” The Associated Press reported.
Five dollars in food stamp usage creates $9.20 in economic activity? Really? That’s more than an 80 percent return!
If that’s true, then shouldn’t we all go on government food assistance? Wouldn’t that have the wonderful dual benefit of keeping everybody fed while creating prosperity such as we have never seen?
By this point, you very likely realize we are speaking tongue in cheek. The fact is, if federal government spending could create general prosperity, we might all be millionaires by now. Remember: The federal government is nearly $13 trillion in debt — and that figure is growing every year, with deficits in the $1.5 trillion range.
Has prosperity flourished as a result? Hardly. About 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, and millions more have given up trying to find work or have had to settle for part-time jobs when they need full-time.
It is when the federal government is restricted to its proper, constitutional functions — with all other powers remaining vested in the states and the people — that we will see real prosperity. Washington cannot spend us out of the economic crisis, and it is absurd for the federal government to claim otherwise.