{"id":1129,"date":"2017-06-13T18:46:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T22:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=1129"},"modified":"2017-06-13T18:46:15","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T22:46:15","slug":"snap-cuts-would-hurt-the-economy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=1129","title":{"rendered":"SNAP cuts would hurt the economy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Trump\u2019s proposed budget seeks to rein in federal expenditures for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It\u2019s fair for progressives to debate the merits of SNAP, but many on the left and their media surrogates argue that spending less on SNAP would hurt the broader economy. See, for example:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2017\/05\/24\/us\/ap-us-food-stamps-cuts-economy.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The argument goes something like this. If you cut SNAP, its recipients wouldn\u2019t be able to spend as much on food, or they would have to spend money on food that might have been spent on something else. Either way, the ripple effect would hurt grocers and other retailers, and then farmers and manufacturers, resulting in a broad slowdown in the economy. They invoke an economic term, the multiplier effect<\/em>, to legitimize their claim. But there is one major question they don\u2019t ask.<\/p>\n

Where does Washington get the funds to pay for SNAP? There are three options. First, if taxes are used, then any increase in economic activity promoted by SNAP is automatically balanced by a decrease in economic activity for taxpayers who have less to spend or invest. Second, if we borrow to pay for SNAP, then the economic activity it promotes will be balanced by a decline when future generations have to pay it back. Finally, if we \u201cprint money\u201d to pay for it, then the purchasing power of the dollar declines proportionally, thereby creating an invisible tax on all wealth.<\/p>\n

Economists like to say that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that\u2019s certainly the case here. There are different ways to break down SNAP expenditures, but they must come from a combination of these three options. There\u2019s no other alternative. Claiming that SNAP\u2014or any other social program\u2014helps the economy by injecting money that gets \u201cmultiplied\u201d is ignoring this reality. While it is true that SNAP changes could help or hurt certain industries, the net effect must balance.<\/p>\n

So why do progressives make this claim whenever \u201ccuts\u201d are proposed to social programs? Some are pandering for votes, but others just don\u2019t understand basic economics. They\u2019ve been overloaded with Keynesian thinking for so long that they believe government spending is always required to \u201cjumpstart\u201d a weak economy. They overlook free enterprise, the stifling effect of regulations, harmful incentives created by government programs, and real people who have to pay the bills. This is why our national debt has risen to $20 trillion, with no end in sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump\u2019s proposed budget seeks to rein in federal expenditures for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It\u2019s fair for progressives to debate the merits of SNAP, but many on the left and their media surrogates argue that spending less on SNAP would hurt the broader economy. See, for example: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2017\/05\/24\/us\/ap-us-food-stamps-cuts-economy.html The argument goes something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}