Food Stamps in Antiquity and Today

Augustus, Wikipedia

Food stamps are not a new idea. Taxes earmarked for religious upkeep and gleanings for the poor date back to the Biblical record, thousands of years ago. Somewhat later, near the end of the Roman Republic, politicians instituted handouts of grain for the poor of Rome. Citizens still had to get the grain milled, but they were assured of a monthly supply of food. (Gregory Aldrete in The Roman City: Rome, Pompeii, and Ostia claims the monthly handout was enough for two people.)

Imperial Rome was no different. Here, in Suetonius' words (tr. by Robert Graves) are emperor Augustus' remarks on the free grain distribution:

I had a good mind to discontinue permanently the supply of grain to the City, reliance on which had discouraged Italian agriculture; but refrained because some politician would be bound one day to revive the dole as a means of ingratiating himself with the people (The Twelve Caesars, Section 42).

Augustus realized that Italian farmers could not compete against "free" grain, brought over from Egypt, and the image of the small, self-reliant Republican farmer had become a mere myth. He also saw the danger of demagogues using free grain as a means of gaining power. Similarly, Abraham Lincoln felt that homesteaders could not compete against slave labor and came out against slavery for, at first, economic reasons. In our time, African farmers are ruined by the free grain the United States gives to their countries, and food stamp programs alter the turnout of American elections.

from Agora Financial

During the last four years the number of Americans receiving food stamps has skyrocketed, while the number of Americans supporting the program has diminished. If this was a temporary situation and there was a quick jobs recovery, employment would rise and food stamp participation would fall. The blue and red lines on the graph on the left would intersect, and we would congratulate ourselves for supporting the poor while on the road to economic growth and prosperity. But there is little evidence that employment is roaring back. We have not had a good jobs report (more than 200,000 jobs created/month) in a long time. Unlike Rome, we are not (I hope) going to take over another country and steal its grain. We will be forced to cut other programs and/or raise taxes, which may slow our economy further.