This is one of those charts that is a bit of a head scratcher…
The Global Financial Crisis/U.S. Housing Bubble essentially created an additional 20 million food stamp users within a couple of years. While the U.S. unemployment rate has been in a steady downtrend since the economic recovery began during the 2nd half of 2009, food stamp participation has remained stubbornly high. The most viable explanation for this curious dynamic is that the recovery has not touched the poor and a large swath of the population who do not have college degrees or unique skill sets that are in demand.
20 million Americans have been left behind by the ‘recovery’ and they couldn’t care less about the 5% unemployment rate or the fact that the stock market has more than tripled since March 2009.