I asked this question of myself a number of times yesterday. If you didn't know, the EBT system was down in much of the United States. The technological glitch stopped people from using their food stamps to purchase items at grocery stories across the nation.
I heard one person asking, "Is this just a dry run?"
And that is a fascinating question, given the possibility that if our government can't agree on anything, October 17 may be a very bad day in the markets, and the global economy.
That's the date we default.. on debt.. owned by lots of other nations.
China will be seeing red!
Nonetheless, the prospects of permanent inactive EBT cards--and social security checks that stop being sent--are possible Armageddon-like scenarios that the United States faces. About 49% of people live in a household that receives some type of government assistance. that can be minor, to major.
I have long held a belief that the people on welfare and other programs, though maligned and used as political fodder during election campaigns to divide voters, don't pose much of a threat to anyone.. As a matter of fact, numbers back up my way of thinking: The government spends MORE on corporate welfare and programs than it does on the social end of it.. fat cats stay fat while stray cats pick at the garbage .. The same goes for humans, where big companies can achieve greatness with the held of a long arm of Uncle Sam, while social programs seem to simply keep people in the darkness of a permanent lower class ..
But all of that aside, the prospects of the food stamp program going down ...right now.. are interesting.
That comment, 'was it a dry run,' keeps sticking in my mind like glue.
I don't propose any form of conspiracy theory that the government would use some sort of weird experiment to see how people would react (now they'd never do such things, right?), but it's surely interesting timing. The week coming up when the system may actually halt, and this weekend a little 17-state issue for people trying to use their cards..
Corporations that rely on government have their safety net already. They bought it--often with money from the government.. but those relying on a weekly check or a pittance of money to live? They don't have a safety net.. Their net is tattered and filled with holes.. filled with pitfalls. What would happen if the social security checks stopped? The EBT cards? The rest of it that 49% of Americans rely on? Some others have speculated on what would happen.. I will let them do the speculation. I am just asking questions--questions based on what we saw yesterday with the system crash.
And if you don't believe me, or other non-experts in the field of anything, rely a little on the good word of CNBC. They know their money. And they also wrote about 7 doomsday default scenarios that the United States could experience should the house of cards fall down..
So was it a dry run?
Probably not.
But I sure bet the powers that be, whomever they be, are studying the outcome of just a few hours of a system crash to see what would happen if one of those seven disasters played out in a post October 17 world...