Washington Post- Nov. 17, 2009:
The nation’s economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people — including almost one child in four — struggled last year to get enough to eat.
At a time when rising poverty, widespread unemployment and other effects of the recession have been well documented, the report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides the government’s first detailed portrait of the toll that the faltering economy has taken on Americans’ access to food.
The magnitude of the increase in food shortages — and, in some cases, outright hunger — identified in the report startled even the nation’s leading anti-poverty advocates, who have grown accustomed to longer lines lately at food banks and soup kitchens.
These people never heard of the dollar menu?
I RTFA, and some of the ways used to define “going hungry” seem a little suspect.
If there aren’t enough Twinkie’s in the house – does that mean food is scarce?
“Among the questions were whether, in the past year, their food sometimes ran out before they had money to buy more, whether they could not afford to eat nutritionally balanced meals, and whether adults in the family sometimes cut the size of their meals — or skipped them — because they lacked money for food”
– Did they ask the people who ran out of food before they had money if they had spent the money on beer or cigarettes instead? How many of these starving families eat at McDonald’s more than once a week?
GOOGLE CHROME OS ARRIVING NEXT WEEK
http://islandcrisis.net/2009/11/google-chrome-os/
The numbers seem fishy. 50 million hungry out of 350 million is 14%. But 25% of children are hungry. What, the parents sit and eat a big mac in front of their kids and don’t give them anything? I don’t believe it.
Twisted Sister has written a song to them.
I call BS, “U.S. Department of Agriculture” sounds like they need more subsidies. So they put out a BS report.
A documentary (I think it is available online at http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/greatfoodrevolution/ but I lack the time to go over that site) touched on the topic of food as it applies to health. If two parents are working full-time jobs to provide for three children, and those jobs pay minimum or barely above minimum wage, who has time to provide 3 square meals a day that are also healthy?
The reality is that mom and dad buy McRaunchy to keep the children’s stomach full so they can run to the next job to keep a roof over everyone’s head. It works in the short-term, but over the long-term the stress breaks the family down. Idiots think it is simply a matter of starting up this program or investing some money that will fix the problem. Once damage has occurred, you are looking at a situation that takes generations to repair.
So like, how does the fact that the poor and minorities suffer higher rates of obesity fit into this?
#7 – brm
They eat cheap fatty fast food.
here in California if you have the welfare gig you can eat at Jack ‘n The box and dominos pizza with your EBT.
Just disgusting, I hope the state bankrupts and forces most of these losers out of the state.
9. People on welfare should be force-fed Sheriff Joe’s gruel, and nothing else. Want a tasty pizza for dinner?: Get a job. And if you bums can’t get a job because the economy is lousy, serves you right for electing the lousy B. Hussein Obama.
#11. That whole, 20th Century was just a calendar event, wasn’t it.
Analysis: How can one of the fattest nations in the world also be suffering from widespread hunger?
Apparently 50 million don’t have enough to eat.. 50 million of 300 million = 16.7% o the population. But according to Forbes, 74% of Americans are considered overweight based on their body mass index..
So 16.7% of Americans are starving to death, 74% are overweight, and just under 10% are considered “normal”? … Go America!
I know the problem is real. One in four is a lie. I just don’t know how big the lie is.
Lazy Republican extremists, go out and get a job!
…And the obesity rates continue to rise.
Something just isn’t adding up. Maybe it’s that “fuzzy math” the libs like to use when there’s some OTHER agenda they have in the works.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
“Never eat more than you can lift.”
/Miss Piggy
there are a few things that need to be known about LOOKING FAT..
1. read whats in peanut butter then ASK WHY?? Why they use soybean oil insted of peanut oil.
2. look at Mayo and wonder the same thing.
3. ask WHY we are using canola, WHAT is canola?
4. WHAt is vegetable oil? what vegetables MAKE OIL??
5. find an OLDER person and see if they remember HOW to make HOME MADE…look at the ingredients, compare with whats at the store.
6. ACTIVITY…duh.
7. as to #6, how many jobs Actually LET YOU MOVE AROUND?? DO SOMETHING besides STAND??
8. WHY should my days OFF, be devoted to keeping my health??
9. why are my days off dedicated to CLEANING my house, washing my cloths.. and 1 DAY to MAYBE, enjoy myself..
10, 1 day of Physical activity ISNT GOOD ACTIVITY..
11, average WORK WEEK equals…
9 hour work
8 hours sleep
1-2 hours BEFORE and after to do SOMETHING..
21 hours with 3 hours to do what?? PER DAY.
12. 2 people need to WORK, to make the bills. WHO is at home in the last 15-20 years to TEACH THE KIDS?? GUESS WHAT! NOW you know, why NO ONE CARES for the kids.
Let’s do an inhumane thought experiment. Let’s take a dog and starve
it a few days a couple of times while it is a puppy. I bet it has a hard time dealing with eating for the rest of it’s life.
I wonder if humans are the same way?
Dollar menu bitches. Get fat like the rest of America.
As usual, the right wing nuts again display their ignorance. The same attitude was shown 220 years ago when a Queen is attributed as telling the hungry commoners that had no bread to eat cake.
Cheap food might be filling, however it is also much more fattening. Cheap, processed foods such as most pastas, breads, breakfast cereals, and crackers have the nutrients refined out of them or destroyed during processing. Additions of High Fructose Corn Syrup, salt, and other flavorings mask the taste so these foods “seem” to taste good.
The biggest problem is that although people get the calories to sustain life, they are not getting the nutrition to sustain health. Besides obesity, processed foods are also causing many other health issues.
I find it hard to believe that people are starving in the United States. If you don’t have money for food, you can always use food stamps. I have seen big obese people in line paying for food with food stamps. There is always a canned food drive for the hungry somewhere. (I am not sure how the canned food gets to the hungry, but it is there.)
If the reason you don’t have enough food for your children is because you traded your food stamp card to the local drug dealer, then you should have your kids taken from you. That might sound harsh, but if you cared more about your children than drugs, you would give u the drugs to buy your children food.
The only people starving in this country are the children of irresponsible parents, the people that take drugs, and the people with wrong priorities who make more money than allowable to qualify for food stamps.
Or maybe I am starving in America because they asked, “whether adults in the family sometimes cut the size of their meals.” I once bought a medium pizza instead of a large because I didn’t have enough money because I forgot to visit the ATM machine. Does that mean I am starving to death?
#20 – Fusion
“As usual, the right wing nuts again display their ignorance.”
Speaking of ignorance, have you ever actually tried to really eat on the cheap? Processed foods and fast foods are NOT cheap compared to cooking a real meal with vegetables, beans, rice, or pasta. I used to eat an entire meal for just over $1. It is easy and can be done. There are lots of websites devoted to making inexpensive meals. Obviously fast food places are still making a profit which means they are buying there ingredients for less than they sell the end product.
I am still pretty frugal when it comes to food, but when I was really trying to be cheap in college, eating fast food was a treat which I could rarely afford. Even eating off the dollar menu takes about $3.50 with tax to be filled up.
I understand that eating fast food or processed food is easier, but people are not eating it to save money. Unless of course they only other thing they know how to do is eat out at an even more expensive restaurant.
Have people here ever eaten a hamburger from McDonald’s?
I eat there all the time. Shitty food *is* filling. You can get over 700 calories for two bucks. And you’re not hungry after you eat it.
That’s why I find this all hard to believe.
20, No one is forced to eat junk food. People can make a conscious effort to read labels and eat right. People tend to favor convenience and price over nutrition. To each his own.
That being said, we do give subsidies to the food industry that allow for making junk foods cheaper which encourage people to make bad choices. But each consumer knows what they’re getting and they’re under no illusion thinking they’re eating “right”.
BTW, Kashi is now owned by Kellogs. Odwalla Juice and Vitamin Water are both owned by Coca-Cola. Naked Juice is owned by Pepsi. Stonyfield Farm Yogurt is owned by Dannon.
#22 Even today we shoot for around $3 per person for meals. That’s way less than 15 for a family of 4. I think that they counted all the college students who are living off of top ramen.
It’s an interesting dichotomy that they say we have an obesity problem and a hunger problem. Now if the left could just figure out how to turn healthy people in to a problem group. But why would they want to make it look like we’re all unhealthy?
#22, slightlycranky,
Processed foods and fast foods are NOT cheap compared to cooking a real meal with vegetables, beans, rice, or pasta.
At my local store, you can buy their “Mac & Cheese”, 3/$1. Add 1 lb of cheap ground beef, ($1.73 lb) and you can feed a family of four to six quite well. You can also apply the dinner directly to your waist as far as nutrition is concerned. And for under $3.00
I understand that eating fast food or processed food is easier, but people are not eating it to save money.
True. A strong part of the marketing is to tell people (or lie, depending on your take) that their product is nutritious, “It Is Fortified” or “Part of A Nutritious Breakfast”. But because they also have a shelf life measured in decades, they do sell for less. If consumers are buying something they are told is good for them, AND is convenient, AND is inexpensive, why wouldn’t they buy it?
I remember last year trying to buy some real oatmeal. All I could find was the stuff that takes 5 minutes or 1 minute. When I asked, the store told me no one buys it anymore so they quit selling it.
Another example is to bake your own bread. Try it and then tell me how expensive store bread is. I figured it out about 1 1/2 years ago as $1.25 per loaf of home made vs $1.19 in the store as of Monday.
HOWEVER,
I accept your point that one can make decent meals on a budget.
I disagree that the poor in America spend a large amount of money in restaurants. That is a common refrain, without substance, that often includes “they use their food stamps on beer”, “they trade their food stamps for drugs”, and “they spend their food stamps steaks”.
Obviously fast food places are still making a profit …
No doubt. Even though we have 10% unemployment, we still have 90% employed. There is still some economy out there.
While we occasionally do buy something at a “burger joint” when we are in a hurry, a family of three still spends close to $20.00. I much prefer a Sub sandwich where I pick the ingredients.
#20,
you got it..
#21,
Ummm,
Cardboard is food, add the proper flavoring, and you can sell it.
#22,
and in the last 20 years, who was HOME to teach the kids to COOK??
#24,
then find me a Mayo, that is MAYO, and doesnt have 1/3 soy oil.
Find a peanut butter, in the CAN/BOTTLE that has peanut oil in it..Even ADAMS.
The body has a couple things happening..
the main one is..
IT NEEDS something, and it cant find it, so it has you EAT everything, until it gets it.
Another point is our FOOD, even in the store, has been processed to the point that we are at a Loss to find nutrition.. There are changes in food, WHEN they ripen on the vine.
Point. How many kids are RAISED with proper FEEDING? SHOWN how and what to eat?? very few.
#20 Fusion:
“The biggest problem is that although people get the calories to sustain life, they are not getting the nutrition to sustain health.”
That’s not what this was about. The report said “hungry.” That doesn’t sound right.
“The same attitude was shown 220 years ago when a Queen is attributed as telling the hungry commoners that had no bread to eat cake.”
No, it’s not.
#28, you are correct and it’s a good try, but be warned… he is notoriously impervious to reason.