Billionaires Live Lavishly While The Poor Face Hunger
A poster featuring the SNAP Benefits Program that assists over 42 million Americans avoid going hungry. Photo courtesy of USDAGov via Flickr
On Nov. 1, 42 million Americans lost access to Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits due to the program’s funding running dry. SNAP has been providing food benefits for low-income families since 1939.
SNAP allows low-income families to allocate their money toward necessities such as utilities and rent rather than food. However, in many cases, the amount of money SNAP provided could not feed an entire family for an entire month.
In 2024, the average SNAP benefit was $188 per month in the fiscal year. Now, if the average family of four were to live off this, that would be roughly $48 per person per month, which equates to $6 a day. That is simply not enough money to feed a family for an entire month, no matter what kinds of food they are purchasing, with the price of groceries being what they are.
On Nov. 3, the Trump administration revealed its plans in a set of court filings, claiming that the administration will send partial payments this month to SNAP recipients, offering only a temporary and limited relief to the millions of Americans who need food assistance.
Two days before this announcement, the Trump administration was at fault for initially refusing to use available funds—billions of dollars—to fund SNAP benefits. To reiterate, the government was found to be guilty of refusing to feed people, and the courts forced them to do so.
Even with the limited funding, this still means that the roughly one in eight families that receive SNAP benefits may still be at risk for hunger and financial hardship. Remember, SNAP benefits weren’t much before, and now, they’ve been slashed tremendously.
Just five days later on Nov. 8, the Supreme Court of the United States granted the Trump administration's emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP.
It seems that since the beginning of the month, the future of SNAP has been ever changing and controversial
In true American fashion, we have to find someone to blame. And in even more stereotypical American fashion, we’re choosing to blame and vilify the poor.
Many people blame these struggling individuals for not working; however, they are working but are making unlivable wages from the multibillion-dollar corporation they work for. So many people blame these struggling individuals for having children while not being financially stable, but finances can change suddenly and drastically. So many people blame these struggling individuals for not saving their money, but they have immense medical bills to pay because insurance refuses to cover them.
86% of SNAP beneficiaries are households with children, and another 86% of benefits include the elderly. 58% of SNAP benefits go to working adults, and on average, 1.7 million veterans receive SNAP benefits. But yes, they should have planned out their finances better, of course. This is the politics of cruelty, the politics of framing the vulnerable American population and tossing them to the side.
Yet, so many people are pointing fingers at the poor while they themselves are closer to relying on SNAP benefits than being the billionaires who are receiving tax cuts or building lavish ballrooms and throwing luxurious parties.
In fact, Trump hosted a lavish 1920s Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago just mere hours before millions of Americans lost their access to their vital source of food income.
Keep in mind, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald essentially portrays the theme of the corruption surrounding the American dream and how wealth ultimately leads to moral decay.
The president of the United States, amidst the longest government shutdown in the nation's history, while citizens run the risk of starvation, is partying with his quarrel of right-wing billionaires.
The party was filled with expensive clothing, professionally prepared meals, and the president himself at the center of it all; meanwhile, millions of Americans were counting their spare change, thinking about the possibility of their next meal.
This is the great America we live in. This is the great America where people are losing their right to food. This is the great America where presidents throw fabulous parties while children go to bed hungry. This is the great America we live in, an America where the top 1% receive tax breaks while money and food are weaponized against the lower class.
This great America is Donald Trump’s America, a place where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Or, as they say in The Great Gatsby, “the rich get richer and the poor get—children!”. Poverty is claimed to be inescapable and generational throughout the novel. I suppose Trump is drawing great inspiration from Fitzgerald by taking this so literally–if only he hadn’t missed the entire point of the novel.