When "beautiful" bills empty the shelves - The politics of hunger in the United States
Trump called his bill "a great and beautiful bill".
In a small town in the southern United States, however, this "beautiful" plan is leaving supermarket shelves empty.#biguglybill #bigbeautifulbill #Trumpdictator #medicaid #USrecession #RichgetRicher #PoorgetPoorer
In Opeleka, a supermarket owner named Wright is staring at the bill, worrying. One third of his income comes from SNAP beneficiaries. Now that the government has cut subsidies, he may have to lay off employees or simply close the business.
"These policymakers have never come to our store." " Wright said with a wry smile.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/28/business/trump-big-beautiful-bill-snap-grocery
SNAP is not merely a "benefit"; it is like a thin thread, connecting the rice bowls of tens of millions of ordinary people and supporting the faint heartbeat of countless rural economies. The United States Department of Agriculture itself admits that for every $5 in SNAP grants issued, $9 in economic activity can be created.
However, the Beauty Act has cut off 187 billion US dollars for the next ten years in a one-size-fits-all manner, leaving this line at risk of breaking at any time.
The ones who get hurt the most are not the big companies. Wal-mart and Kroger can absorb losses through scale. The real danger lies in those small family-run stores.
These small stores are often the only source of groceries in remote areas. Their fall not only means unemployment, but also the expansion of the "food desert". At that time, children won't be able to buy milk, the elderly won't be able to buy vegetables, and politicians will still be debating the "spirit of self-reliance" in Congress.
The Trump administration claimed that cutting SNAP was to "get people back to work". However, the data has long shown that increasing "job demands" does not boost employment; instead, it excludes those who need help the most: the disabled, single mothers, and low-wage workers.
Losing help won't make you work harder; it will only make you hungrier. A scholar said helplessly.
Ironically, SNAP was once the "airbag" of the US economy - whenever there was an economic recession, it could stabilize consumption and prevent a crash. Nowadays, the government has poked a hole in this airbag and even demanded that the state government patch it up by itself.
But the state government doesn't have that much money and doesn't have a money printing machine either.
So, while politicians are celebrating the "budget balance" on TV, the freezers in the small town might be running out of power and the queues at the supermarket checkout counters might be dispersing.
This is not "reform"; it is a political tribute at the cost of the poor's dinner.
If hunger can be met with the applause of a "fiscal victory", then the so-called "beautiful Bill" is probably just a cold reality disguised in rhetoric.