Ninety-eight turns out to be too great

Last week I became aware of a wonderfully devised infographic by The New York Times showing the increasing number of food stamps recipients across the US. The Times found that over the past two years, program participation has ballooned to now encompass almost one in eight Americans, and twice as many children.

Missouri was highlighted in the related article as having signed up 98 percent of eligible Missourians, and having five counties (Pemiscot, Dunklin, Ripley, Mississippi and New Madrid) among the 25 counties in the U.S. with highest participation. An additional 16 counties in Missouri, ranging from St. Louis City to McDonald County, have half their children receiving food stamps.

Now, it turns out the high participation numbers reported to the US Department of Agriculture wasn't entirely because of a successful push to get qualified families on the dole, but instead a computer glitch that has kept figures inflated since September 2002. The most common miscalculation came when a qualified resident would leave a household but not be deducted from the count.

A recalculation is underway, which could bring Missouri's count down by as much as one-fourth. The big hit, however, could come from Missouri repaying $4.4 million in bonus benefits granted to the state for its high participation rates.