Report: More Americans going hungry

[BurtWorm]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111601598.html?wpisrc=newsletter


By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 16, 2009; 12:04 PM

The number of Americans who lack dependable access to adequate food shot up last year to 49 million, the largest number since the government has been keeping track, according to a government report released Monday that shows particularly steep increases in food scarcity among families with children.



In 2008, the report found, nearly 17 million children -- more than one in five across the United States -- were living in households in which food at times ran short, up from slightly more than 12 million children the year before. And the number of children who sometimes were outright hungry rose from nearly 700,000 to almost 1.1 million.

Among people of of all ages, nearly 15 percent last year did not consistently have adequate food, compared with about 11 percent in 2007, the greatest deterioration in access to food during a single year in the history of the report.

Taken together, the findings provide the latest glimpse into the toll that the weak economy has taken on the well-being of the nation's residents. The findings are from a snapshot of food in America that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued every year since 1995, based on Census Bureau surveys. It documents both Americans who are scrounging for adequate food -- people living with some amount of "food insecurity" in the lexicon of experts -- and those whose food shortages are so severe that they are hungry.

[closeupready]

1. At Burger King last week, a young guy was actually begging right in the restaurant.

Very sad and worrisome.

[RedRubberBall]

2. Corporate bankers are living well tho n/t

n/t

[Deja Q]

3. "food security". Orwell-wannabe claptrap. Bushit.

[Lorien]

4. Every night Panera Bread (chain bakery/ sandwich shop) packs up all

the baked goods that didn't sell that day and takes them to a homeless shelter or food bank. On the other hand, when I shop at Publix right before closing they are dumping all their baked goods and fruits and veggies into a dumpster. If we could get EVERY food establishment to behave as Panera Bread does we could end hunger in America. What will it take?

[Yuugal]

7. Even Hoover set up soup kitchens.

I guess Obama is firmly in the bubble now and doesn't know what it is like for us proles. He had lots of time for the Chinese to tell them how much he loved free trade last night. He had trillions for the rich. Can the people in my town get some damn food please?

http://www.thedailystar.com/archivesearch/local_story_318040056.html

[Yuugal]

5. Things are bad here....

http://www.thedailystar.com/archivesearch/local_story_318040056.html

[Sisaruus]

6. The USDA numbers are for 2008. I work for a Food Bank and the crisis is escalating rapidly.

I don't even want to imagine what 2009 data will look like.

Feeding America has issued their press release in response to the news:

Staggering Increase in Statistics Confirm Escalating Hunger Crisis
Chicago, Illinois
November 16, 2009

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported today that 49 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, are food insecure. The 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States paints an alarming picture of the pervasiveness of hunger in our nation.

This is an increase of 36 percent over the numbers released one year by the USDA, which found that 36.2 million American were at risk of hunger.“It is tragic that so many people in this nation of plenty don’t have access to adequate amounts of nutritious food,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America. “Although these new numbers are staggering, it should be noted that these numbers reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008. Since then, the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more people struggling with hunger than this report states.

http://feedingamerica.org/newsroom/press-release-archive/49-million-at-risk.aspx