An example to work through would probably be useful

If you become unemployed from a job and are single which pays say twice the minimum wage i.e. $15 an hour and you work 40 hrs per week to get an gross income of $600 per week or $2400 per month and your New York rental property is costing $1000 per month. How quickly do you end up on food stamps if you have say savings of $6000 if you cannot find a suitable job to cover rental/mortgage expenses etc.

How much is unemployment benefit?

How long does unemployment benefit last? (Does eligibility for food stamps kick in after unemployment benefit runs out i.e. long term unemployment, or can the food stamp program be accessed even to those on minimum wage incomes as a government mandated supplementary income i.e. it is telling folks how to spend the cash for food)

How long is the rent paid for by Government assistance? i.e. is there are form of housing benefits paid to stabilise the housing market and reduce the considerable stress of having to think about moving whilst looking for employment. (millions on food stamps and considerable numbers homeless whilst there are approx 30 million unoccupied homes quickly falling into disrepair)

Is the level of government assistance dependent of the level of personal savings etc i.e. means tested?

The food stamps system appears to be a government form of food rationing much like the 1940s in the UK during and after WW2.

How robust would the system of food stamps be if the Federal Government defaults on its National debt. Would these folks hanging on by their fingernails be the first to feel acute hunger (25% of all children reliant on food stamps for nutrition) where as the rest of the population would at least have some devalued (inflation) income such as experienced in Argentina in the late 90s.

It would appear that even free board and lodging with 3 square meals a day at the Governments pleasure is starting to become restricted as more prison places are being reduced as local and state government are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Or does everyone simply call the 50 Million Americans with potentially no food resources, no income, no housing, no medical insurance and no hope, after a Government debt default, the 'Zombies' and be glad of the ammunition stock pile for those that have prepared. I hope not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiK_RF3ioRw

The last section of the video might be of interest to gather some actionable intelligence on how to proceed if the Government Debt default become reality. Try not to be too offended at Max Keiser's outrage.