What does it mean if more than 50 million Americans couldn't afford to buy food last year?
By CNN's Jack Cafferty:
More than 50 million Americans couldn't afford to buy food at some point last year.
Stunning - and very sad.
Government data shows that children in nearly 4 million households didn't have enough to eat at some point last year.
And almost 17 million Americans were at the borderline of not having enough to eat.
This means they had to eat less because the food they bought didn't last and they didn't have money to buy more.
People suffering from this condition said they found themselves in this situation for a few days a month for seven months of the year. That's a long time to be hungry.
The number of Americans in this category shot up by more than 800,000 from 2010.
Those finding it hardest to buy the food they needed include women living alone, blacks and the poor.
With numbers like these it should come as no surprise that food stamp use is at record levels.
According to the government, 46.7 million people used food stamps in June. That's up more than 3% from a year ago.
In fact, food stamp use has stayed above 46 million all year long just as unemployment has stayed above 8%. That's some economic recovery.
And it's costing all of us... federal food stamp spending neared a record $76 billion last year.
Nonetheless, President Obama has pushed to grow the program - with the Department of Agriculture running radio ads encouraging more eligible people to enroll for food stamps.
Republicans want to cut back on food stamp spending.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean if more than 50 million Americans couldn't afford to buy food last year?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 4pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
What does it mean when one in seven people in the U.S. gets food stamps?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Forty-five million people – that's one in seven living in the United States – received food stamps last year.
That's a 70% increase from 2007, according to a shocking new report by the Congressional Budget Office.
It shows that in 2010, about three out of four food stamp households included a child, a person older than 60 or someone who is disabled.
Most households getting food stamps were very low income, only about $8,800 per year.
The average food stamp benefit per household was about $290 a month, which comes out to $4.30 per person per day.
The worst part is food stamp use is only expected to grow.
The CBO projects the number of people getting food stamps will rise slightly for the next two years, at which point it will start to drop, as long as the economy improves.
But we're still talking historic highs here. In 2022, it's estimated spending on food stamps will be among the highest of all nonhealth related federal programs for the poor.
Speaking of spending, it follows that the cost of the food stamp program has skyrocketed along with the growing number of participants.
The cost rose from $30 billion in 2007 to $72 billion last year.
The CBO says about two-thirds of the cost increase is due to more people getting food stamps. But spending is also going up due to temporarily higher benefits from the stimulus law.
Tune in to the Situation Room at 4pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
How long can we go on with almost half of Americans living in households that get government assistance?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Yet another sign of our very troubled times:
Almost half of Americans - 48.5% - live in a household that gets some kind of government aid.
That's a record high according to census data for the first quarter of 2010. It's up from about 44% of the population in 2008... and from less than 30% in 1983.
Here's how it breaks down:
More than 34% of Americans live in a household that gets either food stamps, subsidized housing, cash welfare or Medicaid. Applications for these programs are up nearly 50% in the past decade.
More than 14% live in homes where someone is on Medicare.
16% live in homes getting Social Security.
But that's only half the story.
As unemployment hovers above 9%, more than 46 million Americans live below the poverty line. And as more people turn to government assistance, there are fewer people actually paying taxes to support all these programs.
It's estimated that more than 46% of households will pay no federal income tax this year. In 2010, 45% of households paid no federal income tax.
It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that this is unsustainable.
With fewer than half of Americans paying federal taxes - and just about half living in a family that gets government aid - this country is headed down the drain. And fast.
It's no wonder the crowds protesting around the country keep growing with every passing day.
Here’s my question to you: How long can we go on with almost half of Americans living in households that get government assistance?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
How confident are you that the food you eat is safe?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Hungry? You won't be after you hear this.
The massive, nationwide egg recall is only one reason to question the safety of our food supply.
550 million eggs have been recalled in 22 states... and the government says the related salmonella outbreak has made about 1,300 people sick.
Still hungry? There's also a nationwide meat recall.
Zemco industries in Buffalo, New York has recalled about 380,000 pounds of deli meat - which was distributed to Walmarts across the country. The meat may be contaminated with listeria - which can potentially kill you.
Next up: Fish. Officials in Louisiana say that as many as 15,000 dead fish and other marine animals were found at the mouth of the Mississippi River outlet into the Gulf of Mexico.
They say the fish kill doesn't appear to be directly related to the BP oil leak. But there are lingering questions about the effect of those millions of barrels of oil on all sorts of seafood, including shrimp, in the Gulf.
When it comes to farming, there are ongoing concerns about the use of use of fertilizers, pesticides, and growth hormones.
This is an area where the government is supposed to protect us. The United States Senate has been sitting on a food safety bill that was passed by the House for more than a year.
The present food safety law is 70 years old and is so weak that the food and drug administration can't even authorize recalls... instead the government has to wait on companies to do it themselves.
The pending law would give the FDA recall authority; and would create stricter rules for mandatory inspections. Both are sorely needed… but senate majority leader Harry Reid apparently doesn't agree.
Here’s my question to you: How confident are you that the food you eat is safe?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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