You ever feel that flash of judgment or frustration in the grocery line when someone pays with food stamps or feel like a failure having to use an EBT card yourself? That frustration, anger, exhaustion, envy so many of us feel is real but misplaced. It's not about who's getting help – it's about who's profiting off our struggle.
In this episode of Somebody Pinch Me with Sonia in Cyber, we expose the real enemy behind the struggle. It's not your neighbor trying to feed their family; it's the system that makes basic survival a members-only club. I discuss what it truly means to need help in America, why shame is weaponized to keep people divided, and how empathy might be the most radical form of rebellion left.
About your host:
Sonia in Cyber is a multicultural feminist voice, creative entrepreneur, and unapologetic truth-teller. With roots in education, tech, and product marketing, she blends data with empathy, humor with heartbreak, to expose the cracks in America’s “normal.” Through her podcast Somebody Pinch Me, she gives voice to the disillusioned, the outspoken, the overlooked, and the quietly furious — proving that truth doesn’t just survive in chaos; it thrives in it. Her mission is simple: to use her voice to inspire others to keep fighting, resisting, and moving forward — no matter what.
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Episode Transcript
You ever catch yourself standing in the grocery
store line, staring atsomeone's cart, and something in
you just feels something?
A little envy, a littleresentment, maybe even anger.
Yeah, me too.
Because it's hard out here.
When your own total hits $200for basics, when rent just went
up again, when your job gave youa raise that didn't even cover
(00:22):
inflation, seeing someone swipean EBT card can stir something
in you.
But here's the thing (00:27):
that anger, you're not wrong for
feeling it.
You're just aiming it at thewrong target.
You're mad at the person tryingto survive, not the system
designed to make sure mostpeople never get ahead.
Or, on the contrary, perhapsyou've been or are that person
in line at the grocery storeusing your EBT card, but feel
(00:50):
ashamed, embarrassed, or evenangry that you need the benefits
in the first place.
You're not wrong.
Let's get into it.
Let's rewind.
Food stamps didn't fall out ofthe sky.
They were born in crisis duringthe Great Depression in 1939.
Back then, farmers wereproducing more food than people
(01:11):
could afford.
So the government created thefirst food stamp program to
solve two problems at once (01:15):
help farmers sell surplus crops, and
help struggling families eat.
Recipients could buy orangestamps equal to the cash they
spent and get blue stamps worthhalf that amount for free, which
could be used for specificsurplus foods like milk, beans,
and flour.
It wasn't charity, it was astrategy, a boost to help people
(01:38):
spend more.
It was about keeping theeconomy afloat, feeding families
and farmers alike.
The program ended in 1943 asWorld War II revived the
economy, then came back in the1960s as poverty spiked again.
By 1964, President Lyndon B.
Johnson made it permanent underhis war on poverty, and today
(02:00):
we call it SNAP, theSupplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program.
Let's get something straight.
Food stamps, or SNAP, werenever designed to be charity.
They were designed to be abridge, a stabilizer for
families, farmers, and theeconomy itself.
A reminder that when people caneat, society runs smoother.
(02:21):
SNAP was built on one radicalbelief that hunger helps no one.
Not the worker who can't focusbecause they skip dinner to
stretch a paycheck, not the kidwho can't learn because their
stomach growls through mathclass, not the grocery store
whose customers can't afford tofill a cart, not the farmer
whose harvest goes unsold.
(02:42):
It was made for the momentswhen the cost of living outpaces
the paycheck.
And that's not a poor peopleproblem anymore.
That's an everybody problem.
Here's what Snap really does inplain language.
It keeps the money flowingdownstream instead of getting
stuck at the top.
When a single mom gets $180 inSnap benefits, that money
(03:04):
doesn't sit in a savingsaccount.
It moves fast.
She spends it at a localgrocery store, maybe the one
down the street, not the megachain an hour away.
That store uses her purchase torestock from a distributor.
The distributor places anotherorder from the farmer or
manufacturer.
Truckers move the goods,warehouse workers pack them,
(03:26):
cashiers ring them up, and thewhole time that one EBT card
transaction is quietly creatinga chain reaction of paychecks.
That's how $1 in SNAP generatesabout $1.50 to $1.80 in
economic activity.
Because that dollar doesn'ttrickle down, it circulates.
(03:48):
It keeps the gears turning incommunities where money might
otherwise dry up.
It's not a drain, it's acurrent, a lifeline that runs
through farms, trucks, stores,and homes.
So when politicians frame SNAPas costing taxpayers, they're
missing the point becausetaxpayers benefit from it.
It's food security and jobsecurity.
(04:11):
It's local business support andpublic health protection.
It's the difference betweendesperation and dignity.
Here's the thing nobody wants tosay out loud.
SNAP doesn't just fight hunger,it keeps the American economy
from collapsing in on itself.
Think about it.
If low-income and working classpeople suddenly stopped
(04:32):
spending at grocery stores,small towns would dry up
overnight.
That's not speculation, that'smath.
Let's walk through a realscenario.
Meet Angela.
She's a single mom workingfull-time at a nursing home.
She earns $17 an hour, justabove the threshold for help in
some states, but somehow stillbarely scraping by.
(04:53):
Her rent just hit $1,400.
Gas and groceries keepclimbing.
Without Snap, she's constantlychoosing between food and
electricity.
With Snap, she gets $200 amonth, enough to make sure her
kids eat three meals a day.
She spends that at herneighborhood grocery store.
That $200 doesn't vanish, itmoves.
The store uses that money toreorder from its wholesaler.
(05:16):
The wholesaler pays thetrucking company that delivers
milk and bread.
The trucking company pays itsdrivers who spend their
paychecks at local diners andauto shops.
The farmer whose produce fillsthe shelves gets another order
and hires more seasonal workersto meet the demand.
Those workers buy groceriestoo, and the cycle continues.
That's what an economy issupposed to look like: money
(05:39):
circulating, not hoarded.
SNAP is also an automaticeconomic stabilizer, meaning
when the economy dips, itcatches people before they fall
too far.
During recessions, Snap expandsas needs grow and then
contracts as things stabilize.
It's responsive, efficient,smart.
When people lose jobs or hours,Snap keeps food on tables and
(06:01):
businesses open.
That's not dependency, that'sresilience.
Here's another truth bomb foranyone who still thinks Snap is
a handout for the lazy.
Most adults on Snap work.
Many full-time.
They're teachers, CNAs, retailworkers, delivery drivers, even
our military, working classpeople that make up the backbone
(06:22):
of this country.
They're the ones stockingshelves, cleaning hospitals,
caring for seniors, or peoplethat plugged away working in
jobs for years before falling onmisfortune or some kind of
illness.
They're not gaming the system.
They're surviving one.
The majority of SNAP recipientsare children, the elderly, or
disabled adults.
(06:42):
In fact, over two-thirds ofSNAP households include someone
who's working.
So the problem isn't laziness,it's wages.
You can't budget better yourway out of a system that
underpays and overcharges youfor everything you need to live.
When the government hands outcorporate tax breaks, no one
calls that a handout.
When billionaires pay less intaxes than their secretaries, no
(07:06):
one says they're abusing thesystem.
But when a family uses SNAP tobuy milk, suddenly it's an
outrage.
That's not economics.
That's class warfare disguisedas morality.
Because if the same people whocall SNAP welfare actually cared
about fraud or freeloading,they'd start at the top, not the
checkout line.
(07:27):
So let's call it what it is.
Snap isn't a burden.
It's an investment in workers,in kids, in local economies, and
in the belief that no one in acountry as rich as this should
go hungry.
And if that belief makes somepeople uncomfortable, maybe that
says more about their comfortthan about anyone's needs.
(07:48):
And then there's those thatcan't get past the envy they
feel for others qualifying forfood stamps while they're unable
to.
That feeling when you'reworking full-time, paying taxes,
doing everything right, andsomehow you're still drowning,
but you don't qualify for help.
That frustration is real.
That exhaustion is real, andyour anger is valid.
(08:10):
But the system wants you topoint it downward, not upward.
They want you mad at the motherbuying groceries with an EBT
card, not the CEO whose companydoesn't pay her enough to feed
her kids without one.
They want you mad at yourneighbor getting $250 in
benefits, not at the billionairelobbying to keep your wages
(08:31):
flat and your rent high.
They've convinced a nation thatpoverty is a personal failure,
not a policy choice.
And that's how the system wins.
Because while we're busyblaming each other, they're
cashing checks off both ends,underpaying workers and
overcharging for essentials, andthen pointing at the poor like,
see, they're the problem.
(08:53):
Here's the cruel irony.
Millions of people who qualifyfor food stamps are the very
people keeping the economyrunning.
Retail workers, truck drivers,caregivers, teachers, people
working full-time, sometimes twojobs, still can't afford
groceries.
Not because they're lazy,because the math doesn't math
anymore.
Wages haven't kept up withrent, gas, healthcare, or food.
(09:17):
You can make $45,000 a year andstill be food insecure in 2025.
That's not a personal problem.
That's a political design.
Snap is supposed to fill thegap, but the real question is,
why is there a gap in the firstplace?
Why do we accept an economywhere millions of hardworking
(09:38):
Americans make too much forhelp, but too little to live?
Because someone profits when westay divided and desperate.
Here's what most people don'tsee.
When one person eats, the wholecommunity benefits.
Kids who grow up food secure dobetter in school.
Adults who aren't starving aremore productive and less likely
(09:59):
to get sick.
Seniors with steady nutritionlive longer, healthier lives.
That's less strain onhospitals, schools, and
emergency services, all thingswe pay for as taxpayers.
SNAP doesn't take from society,it supports it.
It's one of the few governmentprograms that touches every part
of the economy (10:18):
healthcare, education, agriculture, and
employment.
When we help people meet basicneeds, we all gain in safety,
productivity, and peace.
But still, there's this deepshame attached to using food
stamps.
People hide their cards, theylower their voice, they look
(10:38):
down instead of up.
And that shame isn't anaccident, it's engineered.
Because if people startbelieving they deserve to eat,
they might start believing theydeserve housing, health care,
and dignity too.
And that's bad for business.
So the shame stays, recycledthrough political speeches and
media talking points, keepingthe struggling population
(11:01):
divided between those barelymaking it and those barely
surviving.
And then there's the judgment.
You know the kind I mean.
The, oh, look what they'rebuying with my tax dollars
crowd.
The if you can afford soda andsnacks, you don't need help,
people.
Yeah, those.
Let's get something straight.
Food stamps were designed sopeople can eat, not perform
(11:23):
poverty to make otherscomfortable.
You don't lose your right tomake choices just because you
need help.
You don't have to build agrocery cart that pleases
strangers who've never had tochoose between gas and
groceries.
And here's the part those foodpolice never talk about.
Unhealthy food is cheaperbecause it's meant to be.
Processed food is subsidized,marketed, and mass-produced by
(11:46):
billion-dollar corporations thatmake it easy to fill a cart and
hard to afford anything else.
Fresh produce, lean protein,whole grains, the things we're
told to eat, cost more, spoilfaster, and are harder to find
in low-income neighborhoods.
So when you see someone buyingfrozen dinners or snacks with
their EBT card, don't assumethey're irresponsible.
(12:06):
Assume they live in a systemthat's rigged to make unhealthy
food the most accessible option.
Food deserts didn't appear byaccident.
Corporate lobbying, urbanplanning, and decades of neglect
created them.
And now we blame the peopletrapped in them for surviving
the only way the system allows.
And here's another truth.
Even if healthier options wereright down the street, not
(12:30):
everyone has the time to preparethem.
When you're working two jobs,juggling childcare, or living
with a disability or chronicfatigue, you're not meal
prepping quinoa bowls after a12-hour shift.
You're trying to get something,anything, on the table before
the next day starts all overagain and fast.
That's not laziness.
That's exhaustion.
(12:51):
That's survival in a systemthat demands everything from you
and gives almost nothing back.
So if you're mad that poorfolks are eating cheap,
processed food, don't look atthe checkout line or their cart.
Look at the corporateboardrooms that profit off
hunger, addiction, andconvenience.
Look at the billion-dollar adbudgets that target low-income
(13:13):
communities with junk instead ofnourishment.
Look at a system where soda ischeaper than milk, chips last
longer than fruit, and a dollarmenu is easier to find than a
grocery store.
People don't need morejudgment.
They need more options.
They need time, access, anddignity.
They need support and empathy.
(13:34):
And until they have thosethings, nobody has the moral
high ground to judge what's insomeone else's cart.
And here's the harshest truth ofall.
America doesn't have a foodshortage.
We have a compassion shortage.
We have a wage shortage.
We have a justice shortage.
We waste 80 billion pounds offood every year, enough to feed
(14:00):
every hungry person twice over.
We have people and corporationswith enough wealth that the
equivalent of mere pennies oftheir fortune could feed our
whole country.
So hunger here isn'tinevitable.
It's intentional.
It's the byproduct of greed,policy, and moral disconnection.
(14:21):
Because the truth is, foodstamps aren't the problem.
They're the evidence that theproblem exists.
So if you've ever screamed intothe void wondering how we live
in the richest nation on earthand still can't make sure
everyone eats, your feelings arevalid and you're definitely not
(14:42):
alone.
No one should have to beg toeat in a country this rich.
Snap isn't broken.
The system that made itnecessary is.
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