The shutdown will halt about $8 billion a month in federal food assistance. Walmart captures 24% of all SNAP shopper spending, according to Numerator’s 2025 SNAP Evolution report—triple Kroger’s share and far ahead of Costco, Amazon and Sam’s Club.
Walmart was the first retailer to accept SNAP online in all 50 states in 2023 and launched the Walmart+ Assist program, which offers half-price memberships for those receiving aid.
“If SNAP payments stop, spending by the lowest income groups will fall,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of data and analytics firm GlobalData. “Walmart gets a plurality of the spending, so it will be hit the hardest.”
This was somewhat epiphanic for me.
I already recognized companies such as Walmart were subsidizing pay through social programs such as SNAP and essential funneling/laundering tax payer money to their executives.
This headline made me further realize they’re not only making taxpayers subsidize wages, they’ve also effectively turned the USD into a form of company scrip. While that scrip can be spent at some other locations I bet a large percent of funneled right back to e.g. Walmart itself. If you already work at Walmart it makes spending your SNAP benefit there easier.
So the federal government subsidizes not only Walmart employee wages, but Walmarts grocery sales too? And Mamdani is apparently crazy for saying New York should run its own grocery stores that actually benefit the community instead of making the Walton family richer.
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Wait, I wonder, who was funding that message 🤔
Alice Walton, the world’s richest woman, listed her address as a post office box in Bentonville, Arkansas — Walmart’s hometown — when she made a $100,000 donation in August, on top of a $100,000 donation in April. Walton has little history of political giving in New York, beyond donating to pro-charter school groups and candidates. Mamdani has said he opposes the expansion of charter schools.
She was one of the first to bitch openly that tariffs means higher cost.
Is that the bitch that has gotten off scot free with literally hundreds of DUIs?
I dunno why it says “If SNAP goes dark” becuase it already did go dark. It’s already been a week woth no payments and it looks like nothing is going to change that. SNAP has already “gone dark”.
judges are forcing the USDA to pay snap this month… latest ruling was by today.
it’s not dark yetJudge says something.
Trump admin says “no lol”
naive oversimplification
Is it? What is the more nuanced view?
Trump administration: “Good! Maybe some of those poors will die and save us the trouble of removing their tents!” [roflol]
the USDA is operated by thousands of people, the head is appointed by trump.
if the head of the usda is facing jail for contempt vs maybe getting fired, he’ll fund snap.
and that’s exactly what happened today, ebt was funded. trump is appealing but the money is there.
my state funded it and was waiting for a commitment by the usda, apparently they got it.
trump and his administration have complied with other court orders, they’ve defied some… but they eventually give in when appeals run out.
a big part of the shutdown is that they’ve slipped in legislation to strip judges of their powers to enforce their orders… such as nationwide injunctions, holding people in contempt, and sending federal marshals out to arrest people in contempt of court… they currently still have those powers.
it’s quite complicated.Was it the head of the USDA withholding funds? I was under the impression that the administration said there were no funds, and then there was no way to release the funds, and then that it would be too complex to do so with any expediency.
Why are they appealing the ruling, do you think?
The head of the USDA does what Trump says or she gets fired… but she’s still the one with direct control.
The USDA already has a contingency fund, for this very sort of thing. They were refusing to fund SNAP until a judge forced them too…. they had this money set aside before the government shutdown, and December is still uncertain.
Why they’re appealing it is, id assume, what they’ve been saying about hating all social safety net type programs, and really it’s about rich people paying taxes….
they’re vindictive enough to use any opportunity to fuck with any program as much as they can get away with…
Is it? SNAP hasn’t been paid to anyone yet.
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Some states were able to use some state funds to pay some SNAP recipients. My family hasn’t gotten anything at all in NY state.
The only naive oversimplification here is believing that when the USDA is ordered to do something by a judge that means Trump automatically does it.
Snap is dark. There was a court order to turn on the lights. Those lights have not turned on yet. Don’t be pedantic if you can’t bring the receipts.
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But that is exactly what is happening. They are ignoring the courts.
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https://www.newsweek.com/snap-tracker-states-that-have-paid-benefits-november-11010336
Only 8 states have been funded…and as quoted in the article, “although it remains unclear when full benefits will be paid and where the funding will come from”.
So no, it isn’t clear at all if it is being federally funded, or if the states are banking on getting paid back.
So please refrain from sounding like “I got mine so fuck off”
No state has received full funding for their snap/ebt as of this morning. Some funds are being released by the federal government to states but not fully, not uniformly, and with serious delay. I can’t find any credible evidence that anyone has definitely received their full November benefits as scheduled. In fact, the USDA has told states they can’t fund the cards and then be reimbursed by the federal government under current rules and the USDA has stated, as of this morning, that they will not fully fund benefits due to the shutdown.
I don’t believe you are telling the truth.
https://www.google.com/search?q=oregon+ebt+paid+today
i think you have too much faith in your own ability to research things.
It’s not. This has literally been government policy for 2025.
they have defied and appealed rulings, some have been upheld and complied with….
what you’re talking about is what they want to do and one reason why the government is shut down right now.
Sounds pretty accurate to me.
Don’t count your chickens until they hatch. Or in this case, don’t count your SNAP until it’s actually in your pocket.
it’s in my pocket right now. it was fully funded today.
Awesome I’m happy for you and everybody else who needs it
I’m truly shocked that they actually paid. That’s some good news. I’m glad the people in need are getting when we owe them.
My mothers has not been paid nor is pending. Some states used state funding to pay out, most have not.
Yeah I’m always saddened to see anecdotal “it works for me” or “it doesn’t work for me” comments about something like this, where it’s super complex and until we know the rules are in place and enforced, we should assume it is not working for those who need it.
me too… next month is still scary
Justice Department announced they are appealing, so who knows?
Imagine being the one who appeals poor people eating. I hope they fucking rot (the justice dept)
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A piece of paper is worthless. Can’t buy anything with that.
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Thank you. Didn’t make the news around here.
Oh yes this administration has such respect.
read the news, the usda paid up today
Never call it a good day while the sun is still up.
So odd seeing libs talk you down in this thread, and not do basic research.
I haven’t really been following all of this because I don’t need SNAP (yet), but it seems like it’s not hard to figure this out with Google.
Hopefully more states figure out how to allocate the USDA’s emergency funds before more people starve.
it’s doomer stuff i think… they can only scream about how horrible everything is.
if anything good happens, no it didn’t.
that or bots.
seems like a bot thing to not have live google access
SCOTUS already overturned it
no they didn’tIt’s literally all over the news: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administration-asks-appeals-court-promptly-halt-ruling/story?id=127294307
yep, i saw that and: fuck… fucking fucks….
seems like some will still be funded?
Happy Thanksgiving, btw
“it’s not dark yet”
Tell that to the people without food.
The article is from Oct 29. I doubt the SNAP situation is news to many on the fediverse. I shared it more so because A) What a tone deaf headline, and B) To share the epiphany it caused me.
California is paying full SNAP benefits starting this morning. California cares. Trump, Mike Johnson, and The entire GOP couldn’t give less fucks about anyone else.
It’s the Democrats fault because they won’t cancel health care so we have to cancel food assistance - every republican I know
Oh no. Not Walmart. Leave it to America to be more concerned about the shareholders and not the people within the borders.
We can be concerned about both things equally, can’t we?
Edit I used the word “concerned” because I was responding to the comment above me and he said “concerned”. “Interested” would be a more suitable word because this is an interesting topic. We’re interested that Walmart is taking a hit and we’re also interested that snap people are taking a hit. It’s interesting. Tragic for the snap people but interesting for the demise of walmart.
Nah. Having seen small towns crushed when Walmart comes in and all the mom & pop shops close. So then your options to shop are Walmart or Amazon or drive to the next town. Fuck em.
Why would anyone avoid their local Walmart just to drive to the next town to use their Walmart?..
You ask that question, in a lot of rural areas the small walmart in town is run down and doesn’t get as much stock. It reduces slowly over time until shopping at that walmart is a waste of time and people go to the next one. So Walmart closes down the “Underperforming” walmart forcing people to go to the bigger one few towns over, centralizing and cutting the amount of staff/delivery locations walmart has to deal with, making them more money.
Can’t get in the car and say “no, not that one. Let’s go the nice one”if you don’t put in the work.
Why are you as equally worried about Walmart shareholders as you are starving people?
Ok then go back & re-read my comment & the comment I was replying to, and swap the word “concerned” for “interested.”
Equally would be tough for me. The cutting shifts of the workers will suck though. That’s near $ billion that doesn’t need to be shelved and onwards. (Possibly ordered).
Considering that Walmart is one of the largest corporations benefiting from deliberately underpaying their workers and telling them it’s the government’s job to feed them, I find that my field of fucks is barren.
SNAP is basically a tax break for walmart. Underpay the staff and let the government cover their food, which is often bought at walmart.
Yeah Walmart would rather just have
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip
Don’t even need the government involved, which is ideal for them
Yes millions of people can’t access food, but have you thought about the impact this is having on Walmart’s profits?
Walmart gets it both ways. They get to under pay full time employees to the point they are eligible for snap, then they make money when people use snap in their stores.
The American taxpayers are basically subsidizing Walmart.
I never considered the second point. Holy hell US lawmakers are captured by special interests
And yet no one is EVER happy to be there
Bappy enough that they only shopped there, causing all the small businesses in their areas to close.
Sounds like the waltons are getting it 3 ways then, since they seem the types to enjoy just the misery of it all.
True sociopaths in every sense of the word
I think its important for people to know there are consequences for supporting fascism. Walmart has been donating to conservative PACs for decades and the Waltons themselves tilt even harder than the company.
I don’t disagree, it’s just so fucking frustrating that people can scream from the rooftops for months/years that “this is bad, bad things will happen” and people will ignore them until it affects them personally or it affects a company’s profits.
The problem is all the people starving, not Walmart losing less than 1% of their profits. But apparently that less than 1% profit loss is what people listen to. It’s disgusting.
Honestly? If it’s what gets people to be fed, I’m okay with doing it because people starving is bad for the economy.
I’d rather we did at least the bare minimum for the right reason, but I’ll accept the wrong reason. At this point, hoping for more than the bare minimum seems unrealistic when we’re most likely to get the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.I’m sure they’ll just get a handout directly from the government instead.
“Our profits are in the RED, pls give money daddy govt 🥺🥺” but also somehow still makes record-breaking profits.
Remember kids, when a company says their profits are in the red, that does not mean they are losing money - THEY STILL MADE A PROFIT. Just not as much profit as last year.
Bruh, that would certainly be devastating, and it’s disgusting I can see that happening.
Maybe thisnmeans something might get done about all this.
Oh, would you prefer to ignore the blatant corruption? … If minimum wage (Walmart wage) were living wage, far fewer people would be on food stamps.
That is not what I said at all and off topic from the discussion.
One point would be WalMart has 2B in lobby money to make it stop
I’ll be quite honest, Walmart’s bottom line would be the least of my worries personally
Even regional grocers will feel this too. Any snap loss, is loss where ebt is accepted. So many different markets…
I’m more worried about the SNAP recipients. Small businesses second and Walmart not at all.
That’s so much money. It’s immensely frustrating that any assistance programs we come up with ultimately become a massive wealth transfer to big companies.
SNAP, subsidized student loans/forgiveness, Medicaid/Medicare, etc. The market will just happily absorb the free taxpayer money and then still raise prices on everyone because of the increased demand.
and then still raise prices on everyone because of the increased demand.
Ostensibly because of increased demand, actually due to greed.
In a world not run by the rich, for the rich this wouldn’t be an issue. Just tax large corporations over a certain size at a slightly higher rate and redistribute it back down to the poorest, turning it into a loop.
This isn’t new for Walmart. They have ‘how to apply for food stamps’ employee programs. They have food drives for their employees during the holidays b/c they can’t afford food. All while taking in obscene profits.
Thanks for the reminder of why I never shop there. Disgusting.
They have ‘how to apply for food stamps’ employee programs.
It took me forever to understand this wasn’t just a roast of Walmart, but that they were speaking literally. It sounds dystopian as hell.
Welcome to capitalism.
What the article doesn’t mention is how many of Walmarts employees are on SNAP themselves.
Thats what i thought they were referencing at first. That Walmarts were going to be shutting their doors as all their snap subsidised employees started quitting in search of jobs that they could actually put food on the table with.
Walmart tends to blight communities of similar jobs, once they are established in those communities.
Exactly. They corner the market and destroy local industries because Walmart can sell items for a cheaper price
That’s an aspect of social security nets that’s rarely talked about: They stabilize domestic demand and thereby the local economy.
Food assistance programs are a huge subsidy/bailout program for big ag.
I think it does get talked about plenty. But not to the people that need to hear and understand it. You certainly won’t hear about it on Fox News or Truth Social.
Maybe it is different in the USA. I’m German. There’s plenty of people here who can explain to you why social security is good ethically, but you have to search long and hard for somebody who is able to explain some of the reasons it’s also the smart choice economically, let alone media who will let them finish their sentence.
I pay attention to more liberal/educational media sources. This sort of subject is pretty common on, for example, National Public Radio (NPR). I’m pretty sure their popular series, Planet Money, has covered SNAP and other social support programs multiple times. I mean, just as an example: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/26/981686254/socialism-101
This sort of thing is why the Trump administration immediately pulled funding for public radio and television in the US. Can’t have people learning things that contradict their propaganda.
Walmart also relies on the government to cover their employees health insurance and food assistance. They might have to start providing health insurance to their employees otherwise we might to start hearing about quiet quitting again.
This is the only good news from trump’s term. The waltons losing money in this way exposes who they are, and might piss them off enough to do something.
The waltons losing money in this way exposes who they are, and might piss them off enough to do something.
As much as I hate the idea of corporate interests having that much influence over the government (any government), someone richer than him complaining could be the only thing that gets through Trump’s mushy head.
I’ve seen a lot of tik toks that are just veiled racism posts. “Oh look now that snap is gone the store is empty and I don’t see any ghetto people!” Like brother white people are the biggest recipients of snap.
He’s saving them so much in taxes that they can just lose $2 billion and be fine with it. The Walton family is worth almost $500 billion. They don’t give a fuck about this.
If a rational person was in their situation, they would see the benefit of taking the loss and making it back. But I don’t know if you become a billionaire by having a healthy relationship with money.
Waltons only own 45% of walmart now. There are a lot of non-billionaires that will be pretty pissed if the stock slumps. But many of those will just be regular joes, not the rich folk who have divested and planned ahead.
employees on snap
Similarly, I expect that a lot of airline CEOs are calling their pet Senators after Trump announced plans to scale back air traffic controllers.
Yea they are calling for more scale backs so they can implement “priority pricing” or bidding or some other price gouging technique. Run half the planes but still make the same if not more profits.
To be fair, running half the planes would be great for the environment.
And it’s Walmarts fault. Has been. Always was. Always will be. This is literally their economic model at play.
FUCK EM.
The Waltons were major named donors to the Heritage Foundation.
