Over at Grist, Sharon Astyk writes:
Increasing food stamp funding, incidentally, is considered one of the stimulus measures with the highest multiplier effect. It generates $1.85 of economic activity for every dollar the government spends.
In the last few years, we've seen food stamp enrollment (and let's be honest, they've changed the name before; they will still be calling it food stamps, no matter what marketing Vermont does) move up to 1 in 9 Americans, and 1 in 6 people in Michigan and Washington, D.C. Given the scale of the expected economic crisis in 2009 and 2010, it would not be surprising to see those numbers hit 1 in 5 Americans.That's crazy, I thought. 1 in 9 Americans is currently on food stamps? But sure enough, the USDA recently released data showing that in September, 31.5 million Americans were enrolled for food stamps. Think about that. Not only are 31.5 million Americans eligible for food stamps. But 31.5 million are facing such grueling economic stress that they were willing to enroll in the food stamp program. They were willing to go to a government office and sign up for a sort of aid that's long been a signifier of poverty. And as Astyk writes, that number is about to go through the roof. But even as more Americans need the program, it's grown less generous. The following graph comes from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and compares the historical value of food stamps, a USDA program, to the historical price of the diet that the USDA considers minimally-adequate for a family of four:
Increasing food stamp funding, incidentally, is considered one of the stimulus measures with the highest multiplier effect. It generates $1.85 of economic activity for every dollar the government spends. 
