EDITORIAL
Heard it on the grapevine
The media has widely reported that as the problem of
computers being unable to read the year 2000 properly
approaches, people are stocking up on food just in case a mass
computer breakdown causes either difficulty getting food or
actual food shortages.
In an ironic twist, a different kind of computer date error
in New Jersey actually put food on poor people's tables--at
least temporarily. It also exposed how despite the current
capitalist boom hunger continues to stalk and plague millions
of people throughout this bountiful land.
What happened? While fixing the systems in the Food Stamp
program, programmers accidentally put another bug into the
system. Most New Jersey recipients use electronic cards--like
debit cards--to purchase food under the program. Some 11 days
early their accounts were credited with the April 1, 1999,
payment; the error had authorized payment by April 1, 1990,
i.e. that the payment was late.
Within hours after the first person discovered the account
again had something in it, groceries were rapidly disappearing
from store shelves throughout the state. Hundreds of thousands
of people who had expected to scrape by the rest of the month
on rice--or to skip some meals entirely--suddenly found they
could buy and eat protein again, among other things.
So they cleaned up, and they cleaned up fast. According to a
March 22 article in the New York Times, the end of the March
20-21 weekend, New Jersey's poor had spent some $5 million.
It was, first of all, a remarkable show of spontaneous
organization and solidarity--and demonstrated once again the
often-subtle power of the community "grapevine." Once there was
a clear benefit in sight, everyone cooperated instinctively.
Everyone was informed, and everyone was in a hungry enough
condition that they dropped whatever they were doing to take
advantage of a situation that might end all too soon. They knew
in their hearts and minds that they deserved the food.
This was not the first time something of this nature
happened. In the 1970s the Symbionese Liberation Army demanded
free food be distributed to the poor in turn for releasing
hostage Patty Hearst. Distributing centers were set up. Some
government and media pundits predicted that a lot of people
wouldn't show up. Then California Gov. Ronald Reagan told the
poor they should refuse the food.
But hungry people came by the tens of thousands to get it,
and they received it gratefully.
In addition, when electric outages suddenly darken a city,
this has often prompted a similar expression of cooperation and
solidarity in order to liberate the warehoused goods held
hostage by prices outside poor and working people's reach. The
beauty of a computer glitch, however, is that there is no
broken glass underfoot and no cops or National Guard firing
their weapons.
New Jersey's officials may still try to "take back" the
money next month. That would be a real crime, and would
probably condemn many of the area's children to hungry days and
nights next month.
The truth of the matter is that given the massive cutbacks
in food stamps and other vital social services in the last 20
years, the March glitch should be considered a small payback
for all the cuts.
But what the computer error really showed is that the Food
Stamp program needs to be extended and increased, so that New
Jersey's poor--or the poor of any area--don't have to depend on
programming errors or other extraordinary developments to
eat.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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