My examiner.com article today looks at who is really making big money off food stamps. Unlike what Newt Gingrich, it isn't the poor recipients of food stamps (or EBT-supplied SNAP benefits) who make out—it's the usual suspects—big business.
On the one hand, the states have outsourced management of SNAP accounts, including the issuing and management of EBT debit cards to SNAP recipients, to various payment services suppliers.
Chief among those is JPMorgan Chase, which supplies these services to over half the states in the USA. That means billions of dollars in food stamps are managed each month by JPMorgan Chase, not the states supposedly managing the accounts. For this Chase makes a bundle.
In addition, big businesses, such as Walmart of course, make big profits on food stamp purchases. Unlike what Gingrich and other right-wing critics allege, food stamps are closely monitored for usage, and there are strict limits on how EBT food stamp cards can be used. You cannot purchase tickets to Hawaii with EBT cards.
However, you can stimulate the economy each month with billions of dollars that feed poor people, and keep working poor people (and bankers of course) employed.