Townhall – The Government Wants to See your Supermarket Receipt
Government programs are often controversial, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one that isn’t a stranger to controversy. The current question is should someone on federal assistance be able to purchase sweets like candy, cola, or potato chips? As a parent, the answer is yes. And, as someone fortunate enough to help out others – the answer is yes. In fact, having some of these items around is what may allow a child in need to feel like a part of the community – able to invite their friends over and not be embarrassed, able to understand the sweets that their friends are talking about. These things might be what makes a kid feel human. As an economist – the only real question is if the program should exist.
A lot of time the answer to this question is going to be no, but there are not many bureaucrats that will ever come to that answer. Ronald Reagan summed up this idea best, “The war on poverty created a great new upper-middle class of bureaucrats that found they had a fine career as long as they could keep enough needy people there to justify their existence.”
However, assuming that Congress isn’t going to end the SNAP program – what food should be eligible or not is not the important question. In fact, asking what should be available or not available is an invitation for cronyism, favoritism, and corruption.