3
More struggling to put food on table
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: There's new report today on hunger in America. Nearly 1 in 5 people told a Gallup survey they have struggled to pay the grocery bill in the last year. Marketplace's Jennifer Collins tells us
the pollsters wanted to answer one question:
Jennifer Collins: Have there been times in the last month when you didn't have the money to buy the food that you and your family needed? In the most recent report, more than 18 percent of Americans answered: Yes.
James Weill: That's just a horrendous number.
James Weill is president of the Food Research and Action Center. He says the numbers are slightly better than a year ago. That's because food is cheaper and the stimulus package boosted food stamps and other programs.
Still, Weill says he expects the nation to feel pangs of hunger throughout the coming years as stimulus money runs out.
Weill: This is not evidence just of a short-term economic problem. This is evidence of a long-term national hunger problem that we have to do something about.
He says the government needs to step up its focus on hungry children. Nearly 1 in 4 households with kids say they're having trouble putting food on the table.
I'm Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.
Linda & Jose--
You both talk about money in the U.S. as though most people are well off ("In a country as wealthy as we are" & "I simply cannot understand how we can afford to ship piles of money (our money) to far away places while it could be equally useful here in the U.S.). I must dispute your implication. I seem to recall reading somewhere that ninety-five percent of the U.S.'s wealth is controlled by ONE PERCENT of the U.S.'s population. Put another way, five percent of the U.S.'s wealth is alloted among NINETY-NINE PERCENT of the U.S.'s population. Is it any wonder that the U.S. economy is so unstable? And the reason is the U.S. tax code. Warren Buffet has commented on the inequity of his secretary paying a higher rate of taxes than he does.
Linda,
I could not agree more with you. Just this morning I was thinking how out of touch many (especially in Washington) seem to be with the current economic realities. I am very fortunate as well to have my job, health and family but many are not so. Your comments about providing help to other nations also struck a particular note with me. While I wholeheartedly believe in helping other counties I feel that our own citizens are being completely left out in the cold (no pun intended). I simply cannot understand how we can afford to ship piles of money (our money) to far away places while it could be equally useful here in the U.S. I have always stuck to the philosophy that you must temper your desire to help others where it begins to negatively affect your ability to take care of yourself. After all, you can't help others if you can't help yourself. Money does not grow on trees but some in Washington clearly think so.
In a country as wealthy as we are (in money, resources and opportunities) it never fails to amaze me that people have to choose between food and medication, children go to bed at night with hunger pains or get their only full meal from a school lunch program and people have to sleep under bridges in the middle of the winter. We have enough money to help other countries with their emergencies (which I also support) but the problem of hunger in the USA is on-going and there doesn't seem to be a realistic solution in sight. I am fortunate to have a job and my family is fed; each week when we shop we purchase extra and leave at our church's food pantry. Last year's donations to community food groups were larger than ever before ... but the problem persists and seems to be getting worse. Washington talks about "billions" like we talk about a few dollars. I think our officials are TOTALLY out of touch ... TOTALLY out of touch.
