Whew! I don't know the answers to a lot of this...

The Food Stamp program is a federal program, totally divorced from unemployment, which is handled by each state individually (each is different). I'll have to use Washington State as an example, it's the only one I know, and I will be making some assumptions and estimates just to give you an idea of how it works.

A WA claim is good for one year, but the total amount is decided by how much you made, approx. 40% of your gross annual income. Using the job you mentioned ($28,800/yr), the total amount available would be about $11,500 for the year, or $960/mo, which wouldn't even pay his rent.

If he found a part-time job, 15 hrs/wk at min. wage of $8.67/hr (T= $520/mo), about 75% of that ($386) would be deducted from his unemployment. His gross income would be $1,094 (reduced unemployment payment of $574 + $520 from his P/T job), but after deductions, that would be about $990 cash in hand, if he deferred the deductions from his unemployment until the following tax year. Still not enough to keep his apartment.

WA has an online calculator for food stamps. With or without the $6000 in the bank, he could receive $149/mo.

But, using your figures, he cannot make his rent or his electricity payments, so he would probably be evicted very soon. If he moved in with a friend or relative and paid them $300/mo, his food stamps would decrease to $123/mo. If he had no friends or relatives and had to live under a bridge, his food stamp amount would drop to $33/mo.

Since he has no children, he would not be eligible for any housing.

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

No, not really. The WWII rationing applied to everyone, even if they could afford to buy as much meat or gas as they wanted. The majority of the food was being sent overseas to feed the troops. The rationing was to ensure that everyone got a bit of everything (meat, butter, eggs, etc). Joe Smith who lost a leg in WWII and sold pencils on a street corner got the same number/kinds of ration tickets that the local bank president got.

The bit about govt inspection of personal savings appears to be a very tangled web, and I don't know enough about it to say. I believe most of it involves long-term Welfare and disabled Social Security recipients. I do know that investigators will confiscate funds in excess of allowable limits, any bank accounts belonging even to the family's children, etc.

"How robust would the system of food stamps be if the Federal Government defaults on its National debt?"

Our National Debt is over $14 trillon -- it will never be paid. If you are referring to the token payments currently being made suddenly coming to an abrupt stop, the economies in every single country in the world will crash into the worst Grand Depression ever seen, and the starvation will be incredible. IMO.

The growing number of people "with potentially no food resources, no income, no housing, no medical insurance and no hope" aren't called Zombies, they are the "Invisible Poor", and their ranks are growing daily.

I hope this has answered at least a few of your questions. It's a complicated subject. If there are others who want to correct me, go right ahead.

Sue