Maybe the most significant story on the wires right now, from Reuters:

Midnight in the food-stamp economy

At 11 p.m. on the last day of the month, shoppers flock to the nearest Walmart. They load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. That’s when food stamp credits are loaded on their electronic benefits transfer cards.
U.S.

“Once the clock strikes midnight and EBT cards are charged, you can see our results start to tick up,” says Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s chief financial officer.

As food stamps become an increasingly common currency in a struggling U.S. economy, they are dictating changes in how even the biggest retailers do business. […]

As of September, a record of more than 37 million people were enrolled for the government benefit, federal officials told Reuters, an increase of nearly 35 percent since the U.S. slid into recession at the end of 2007.

An estimated one in eight Americans depends on the benefit to buy food. With the nation’s unemployment in double digits, more people are expected to enroll. By some government estimates, up to 16 million people who are not receiving food stamps today could qualify. […]

Nearly $55 billion in food stamps may be redeemed this year, up from about $37 billion in 2008 and $31 billion in 2007, according to The Nilson Report.

The USDA expects to have more than $64 billion to spend on food stamp benefits in fiscal 2010, including nearly $6 billion in anticipated stimulus money, up 14 percent from fiscal 2009. […]

Like Contraeras, other food-stamp beneficiaries appear to waste little time cashing in their benefits. According to J.P. Morgan which administers EBT programs for more than 20 states, 85 percent of food stamps are depleted within the first three days they are available. […]

Expecting the worst this time around, retailers are trying to reposition their business for what they call a “new normal,” where jobs are scarcer, and more and more Americans depend on the government to make ends meet. […]