If states are unable to pick up the temporary costs until the federal government eventually reopens, will the lack of that amount of money that is usually spread out across 42 million recipients across the country drive food prices up, down, or leave them unchanged?
How will widespread theft at supermarkets affect prices?
It’s not about what the theft will do to prices. Trump is looking for an excuse to declare martial law, which he can use to suspend elections. He tried to go after Medicare/Medicaid but the Democrats stood firm on the issue and the government shut down because the two parties could not agree on a budget. So now Trump is going after food stamps (also called EBT, also called SNAP). The idea is to push poor people to crime so he can justify marching the military into cities.
Pretty typical dictator shit.
Worry more about what the hit on distribution does to prices. It’s a big country, they will want to monitor and limit movement between states/major areas. Of course they will let food through, but delays will lead to shortages. Of everything. And that’s the idea.
42 million people suddenly not receiving money for food would certainly have some impact on the overall market would it not?
Aside from the politics of the situation, and being solely pragmatic
Should everyone prepare for the worst eventuality?
On the face of it, it would seem so, but despite those big numbers, the bigger picture they fit into says no. The AI bubble is poised to burst and have an effect on the economy orders of magnitude greater than SNAP can or will. Right now, the top 7 companies on the stock market are all AI related and account for about 30% of US GDP. Cerebralhawks has the gist of what is going on, i.e., this is all a standard part of the dictator handbook. I would posit that this isn’t about politics so much as it is about the realities of the two economies mentioned colliding. The “real material economy” is constrained by physical limits and laws, such as oil is a finite resource and thermodynamic efficiency limitations, whereas the ability to make more money is limitless. I think that the rise of tRump, his dictatorial policies, and the rise of right-wing authoritarianism worldwide are all symptoms of the real problem, which is that the days of cheap energy that enabled the “golden years” of capitalism in the post-WW2 era are gone, never to return. When capitalism falls on hard times, fascism and authoritarian policies come to the forefront as a last ditch effort to maintain the status quo.
Yes, everyone should prepare for the worst eventuality. Societal collapse has happened many times throughout history, and while the commonality in those collapses is the extreme inequality of wealth distribution, our particular coming (happening?) collapse is unique in that unlike past times we live in society that spans the globe, and is full of people who do not have the knowledge or ability to be self sufficient. As such, most people won’t benefit, like happened in past collapses. After the fall of Rome, people got taller and healthier. This seems to be attributed to relief from the tax burden of the state. These days, with most our population in large cities, and with so many of the world’s natural resources either used up, or replaced by humanity and our foodstuffs, most people would not be able to capitalize on that same relief. So, yeah, buckle up, cause the next couple of decades is gonna be a wild ride very much unlike anything humanity has experienced before.