SNAP Judgment

One welfare program where cuts are being strenuously resisted is SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka "food stamps." Your humble blogger agrees with those who want to keep the program intact (after eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, of course).

Economists say that letting recipients choose what they buy allows them to achieve maximum utility for themselves. Handing out cash allows them to do that.

Pop-Tarts: on the naughty list? (Guan/Bloomberg/WSJ)

However, distributing cash is a bridge too far for those in charge of welfare programs. Preventing starvation, on the other hand, is a program that nearly everyone can get behind.

Food stamps still afford a wide range of choices. Food stamp rules and restrictions prevent beneficiaries from using welfare funds to purchase undesirable goods like beer and cigarettes.

Over the years the list of items that food stamps cannot be used for has grown:

Hot Food

Beer/wine/other alcoholic drinks

Cigarettes/cigars/other tobacco products

Gasoline

Dog food/cat food/other pet foods

Vitamins/medicine

Baby bottles/diapers/wipes

Forks/spoons/knives/coffee filters

Toilet paper/paper towels/napkins

Tampons/feminine pads

Soap/detergent

Mobile phone cards

Food manufacturers, in addition to revising their forecasts downward in anticipation of SNAP cuts, now have a new worry: [bold added]

The pain could be even worse for manufacturers of sugary and processed foods if efforts to restrict SNAP purchases of soda gain traction and spread to other indulgences. In the past, states have pushed to exclude soda from food stamp eligibility, but the Agriculture Department has historically rejected such proposals.

Trump Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has signaled she might grant waivers allowing states to impose restrictions.

The narrative is taking hold that sugar is poison; sugar is to health as CO2 is to global warming. Your humble blogger draws the border of the nanny state here. Warn people about the dangers of eating too much sugar, but let them consume what gives them pleasure.

Meanwhile, have a look at the Netflix comedy Unfrosted about the invention of Pop-Tarts. To those of us who lived through the Fifties it's a hilarious remembrance:

A tale of ambition, betrayal, sugar, and menacing milkmen, Unfrosted stars writer-director Jerry Seinfeld.

Part of the genesis of Unfrosted was the simple fact that a serious boardroom meeting about cereal is, well, not very serious. “We love the idea of grown-up men in suits talking about cereal all day,” Seinfeld said. “The silliness of how they look and what they talk about just seemed like a fantastic world to be in.