Wednesday, July 20, 2016

14% of Americans -- 48 million people -- are "food insecure," and it's about to get much worse

from http://boingboing.net/2016/07/20/14-of-americans-48-million.html

"People are "food insecure" if they lack access to "enough food for an active, healthy life." There are 48 million Americans who live in food insecurity, thanks to a combination of nearly all the economic benefits of the post-2008 recovery going to the wealthy; and the sustained attacks on America's social safety net, led by state-level Tea Party governments.

It's about to get much worse.

After the economic crisis, many states relaxed their restrictions on EBT ("food stamps"), but right-wing politicians understand that there are easy wins to be scored by attacking "entitlements" and bringing those restrictions back to pre-crisis levels, or making them even more strict (for example, by adding costly, useless drug-testing as a condition of receiving benefits -- tests administered by private companies that win fat government contracts to conduct their witch-hunts).

So nearly 15% of the people in the richest country on earth go to bed hungry and worry about their next meal. Food banks are buckling under the strain, and seeing surges of elderly people, and families with young children.

Of the 29 states that relaxed food-aid restrictions after the crisis, only 8 maintain those relaxations today."


rest http://boingboing.net/2016/07/20/14-of-americans-48-million.html

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