SNAP vs. OpenAI

The Battle That Explains Our Time

Americans line up at a food pantry in New York, November 1st, 2025.

Two stories are converging in the news this weekend as comments of a plutocratic, sociopathic billionaire, Sam Altman, competes with tens of millions of Americans facing food shortages, a massive hike in health care premiums, and a Federal government on an extended leave.

Open (Wallet) AI

In yet another on-stage interview, Altman stated:

 “When something gets sufficiently huge ... the federal government is kind of the insurer of last resort, as we’ve seen in various financial crises ... given the magnitude of what I expect AI’s economic impact to look like, I do think the government ends up as the insurer of last resort.”

This statement came on the heels of OpenAI’s CFO, Sarah Friar’s, comments at the Wall Street Journal Technology Conference:

“This is where we’re looking for an ecosystem of banks, private equity, maybe even governmental, the ways governments can come to bear,” Ms. Friar said at the conference in Napa, Calif., adding that it would be “the backstop, the guarantee that allows the financing to happen.”

Author’s Note: How many more of these people need public forums to spread their hokum? Yes, ChatGPT is an interesting, even useful, tool. While it will increase speed and efficiency in research, as a techy-friend of mine told me this week: “Right now, it’s really cool calculator.”

Do you trust this man?

To reset, however, Altman is the same person, like so many other AI televangelists, who discuss the potential power of their technology with its capacity to reduce entire categories of human employment. Futurism reported Altman telling the Federal Reserve, “Some areas” in the job market will be “just like totally, totally, gone.”

Dario Amodei, the CEO of another AI company, Anthropic, predicted, “that half of all entry-level jobs could disappear within five years, potentially pushing U.S. unemployment to 20%.”

To Recap:

These companies are hoovering up investment capital, electricity, and water. They are predicting their technology will destroy employment as we’ve known it. Now, though, at least one of them, expects that should their bubble burst, it will be the taxpayers, the same people Altman’s toys would put out of work, to bail him out.

He’s right to expect a backstop, of course. The Savings and Loan industry went belly up and we bailed them out. The sub-prime mortgage caused the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression; the banks got bailouts; Americans got eviction notices.

Hunger Strike

Meanwhile, 42 million Americans (roughly 12% of the country) are headed toward Thanksgiving without SNAP benefits. Despite a federal court order to utilize contingency funds to immediately fund, the Trump Administration has refused to do so, and is appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court. The Department of Agriculture sent a notice to supermarket chains instructing them not to lower prices for those unable to afford food.

California, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Pennsylvania, among others, have already stepped into fill the void. Across the country, communities and organizations are pitching in to ensure their neighbors don’t go hungry as the pantry grows bare and the mercury drops. Food banks, pantries, and religious organizations have ramped up their efforts as well.

Beyond the individuals and families looking for help, retailers like Walmart rely on EBT sales for a significant amount of their revenue. Numerator estimates Walton’s Five and Dime could suffer a $2 billion loss this month. They’ll be fine, of course, but given their reach and size, a nudge from the executives in Bentonville could go a long way toward getting southern Republicans to do their jobs.

Speaking of southern Republicans (and imbeciles,) Alabama Senator Tommy Tubberville (R-CTE) declared that most SNAP recipients reside in ‘urban areas’ (who could be he talking about!??!?) He’s too stupid, and willfully ignorant to know that 15% of his home state’s residents utilize the benefit.

Cost Basis

The Treasury spends $100 billion a year on SNAP benefits, representing 1.2% of federal expenditures. To put that in context, as I wrote about earlier this year, the Defense Department is spending $100 billion a year for the next decade to upgrade America’s nuclear arsenal.

Confluence of Crises

America is in an unstable political state. Our social and cultural ties are fraying as well. Several recent analyses indicate the economy is now in as fragile state as its been in years; propped up by massive investment in artificial intelligence on the one hand and spending by wealthier Americans on the other. The job market has shed more than a million jobs this year with more layoffs, and more people in need of assistance, on the way.

If Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Epstein Island) ever grows a spine enough to bring the US House back to work, he and his colleagues, along with their Senate counterparts, must begin addressing the fundamental, and foundational issues now facing American life. More than four decades of neoliberalism have reached their terminal point. Trump’s governing incompetence (read: payoffs and home renovations) will deepen and widen the impact of any economic crisis.

While Tuesday night was good for Democratic candidates, it was too small a sample size to indicate a major shift, and most of those moving from “R” to “D” are punishing the party in power more than placing any real trust or faith in the donkeys. As the midterm campaign kicks off, it won’t be enough for Democrats to say, “Trump is bad” or “at least we’re not them.” They must utilize the puff of wind at their back to explore, explain, and illustrate an updated, hopeful political program that speaks to the issues of 1/4 of the way through the 21st century and devoid of any nostalgia for 1997.

Miles Apart

There is no bridging the lunacy of AI executives and the hardship of real Americans. I leave you with this gem, from OpenAI’s CFO, Friar:

“I don’t think there’s enough exuberance about A.I., when I think about the actual practical implications and what it can do for individuals,” Ms. Friar said at Wednesday’s tech conference.”

In Case You Missed It

I had several great conversations this week, I hope you’ll check them out.