In the summer of 2013 House Republicans dropped funding for food stamps and other nutritional programs from the Farm Bill. Historically the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) comprised about 80 percent of the funds allocated in the Farm Bill. Cost savings were claimed as the reason for this split. However, the plan to save money overshadowed a more glaring truth. The desire to ultimately cut food stamps was the bigger agenda, just recently achieved.

In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives passed a measure to Cut Funds Food Stamps. The bill, written under the direction of the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, a Republican from Virginia. The need to save money was touted as the benefit. The claim ignores the CBO projections. Based on historic trends, left unchanged, the number of food stamp recipients would decline by about 14 million people — or 30 percent — over the next 10 years as the economy improves. Were we to adopt an unprecedented pessimistic view, as the Republican House Representatives did, the forty

[$40] billion dollar cut from what would have been the $743 billion dollar food stamp program was necessary.

It was necessary to take food out of people’s mouths of babes, the physically and mentally challenged, the widowed and elderly? Why? What thinking might justify the suffering? Saving money the Republicans Representative say. And so where might that “savings” go? In the pocketbooks of agribusiness, large, lucrative agribusiness firms, many of which are owned by multi-millionaire-members of Congress. The $195 billion per year subsidizes crop insurance and frequently shields large corporate farmers from the repercussions of poor planning. How might this shift be explained? In the 1960s, food stamps were conjoined with the Farm Bill as a way to gain urban Democratic support for agriculture legislation meant to help a declining rural population. However, in June 2013 Legislators rewrote the Farm Bill law. Food Assistance programs were removed from the Bill. Now we are left with a newer question – might the budgetary and corporate “gains” be worth the loss of food, health and human dignity?

Let us weigh the words, the woes, and the worries. First, we might notice that the assessment tends to split on political Party lines. “This bill makes getting Americans back to work a priority again for our nation’s welfare programs,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner. The Speaker cites the more stringent standards to support his contention. – Adults between 18 and 50, without minor children, would be forced to find a job or to enroll in a work-training program in order to receive food benefits nominal assistance.

What the Policymaker does not posit, let alone consider are the raw numbers. Amongst those who currently receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance are the working poor. The Congressional Budgetary Office calculates that in 2010 30 percent of SNAP recipients worked. This total is not only up from fewer than 20 percent in 1990, but it also reflects the reality that behavioral-economists observe. People do not work for the love of money. They toil for the love of meaning!

As evidence of this we might consider one of tens-of-thousands of stories. The death of an adjunct. Faculty and food-fragile, that was my story. [See below.] Could it be yours? The circumstance may differ slightly; nonetheless, the Sad Death Of An Adjunct Professor Sparks A Labor Debate. And more importantly it offers a glimpse into the lives of the thirty-eight million fewer Americans who, with this recent legislation, will not receive nutritional assistance. Employed, under-employed, or unemployed at present, this could be you!

Let us contemplate the current status of more than 47 million people in the United States who now rely on food stamps. For a few short months, long ago, I was one of these. And who knows, tomorrow I might be again. How about you? Are you among the households that, in 2011 had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average? these included…

  • Households with children (20.6 percent), especially households with children headed by single women (36.8 percent)
  • )Single men (24.9 percent), Black non-Hispanic households (25.1 percent) and Hispanic households (26.2 percent) are food insecure.
  • 4.8 million seniors (over age 60),, or 8.4% of all seniors who were food insecure.
  • America’s in every county,, ranging from a low of 2.4 percent in Slope County, ND to a high of 35.2 percent in Holmes County, MS
Realize these statistics are somewhat dated. More than two years is quite a long time when your stomach is empty. Stark economic realities have created a greater gap between rich and poor. Economist Joseph Stiglitz reminds of this.

The decline in median wealth, down almost 40 percent in just three years [2009 to 2012], wiped out two decades of wealth accumulation for most Americans. If the average American had actually shared in the country’s seeming prosperity the past two decades, his wealth, instead of stagnating, would have increased by some three-fourths.

‘Tis true. Just ask the local Lawyer, the Teacher, the Preacher, the Butler, the Baker, or the Candlestick-maker. Ask most any resident of your city, or just query you!

The Hungriest Cities in America. Is Yours One of These

© copyright 2013 Betsy L. Angert

Could it be; people in your neighborhood are food insecure. Is your city one of the hungriest communities in America? Might you believe that individuals who are considered “food insecure” do not live in your zip code? Or are you as I have been in my life, among the persons who go without fare? Could it be that your “professional salary” does not afford you the creature comforts let alone comfort food? I know how it feels to look at your finances and realize that the food budget will not stock your shelves.

In those tenuous times, shelter was my priority. Actually, it always is. Without a roof over head we are exposed to the elements, but then what of those other elements – illness, injury, political plays or perhaps worse, people who choose not to relate to circumstances that are not theirs.

Oh sure, they say. I have been down and out just like you. “When I was in my twenties…” but you say, “I am not in my twenties. I am thirty, forty; “This is the time in my life when I should be able to relax, settle down, or at least settle in. I should have a safety net and feel secure. To think that I might be food insecure at my age, with my education and ostensible professional status…”

Consider the circumstances of the individual next door. He may be a Lawyer. She may be a Teacher, or perhaps a college Professor. Then there is the Preacher, the graduate student, or the senior down the street. Any and each of these persons might be simultaneously education-rich and food-poor. More than 33,000 food stamp recipients hold accredited PhD or JD degrees in USA!

The presumption that a professional status offers job or food security is untrue. Life for the educated and employed is tenuous. Look at the statistics, or consider the many stories. More than one Mom or Dad tells tales of how it feels to be amongst The New Middle Class.

College-educated and cabinets bare, Lawyers careers lag behind expectations. Not all Attorneys’ do well. Many barely make a living wage. Few would imagine that a Lawyer’s life situation is shaky or that buying groceries could be scary. But today, these are truths. Private and public firms continually lay legal “workers” off.

As a Teacher I discovered life was also quite tentative. Once I entered the world of university Professors I realized enormous perils existed behind the scenes. Preachers too lack job security. The benefit of a regular salary is not guaranteed. G-d grants no favoritism.

There is no way to predict the future. If I fall on hard times again it will not be as it was in the past. Today, the national safety-net is full of holes and the reality is I am more vulnerable. We all are. Just ask the families who did all that society defines as right and yet…it seems everything has gone wrong.

Our young see the signs. Those in their late teens and twenties understand that the good ole days are gone. Before you begin your career you have debt. It is not like when I was among the countless struggling students whose parents could not assist with tuition or books. Then young people were reassured. You’ll get a job. Your education will help you. Looking at who receives nutritional assistance today, we know that is not true.
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A Bureau of Labor Statistics November 2010 Employment Situation report detailed at 43%, almost half of the long-term unemployed were 45-years and older. Often these people had dependant children or perhaps a parent in their care.

As you might imagine, one person’s job insecurity affects not only the food insecurity of that individual, but also that of his or her partner, parent, and sadly, their progeny. Job and food insecurity affects us all.

Two in five female-headed families with children live in poverty Research reveals that Women much more likely to earn poverty-level wages. Unions now being near non-existent have little power to help people of a particular gender, or race. The Economic Policy Institute’s Issue Brief #270 reported at the end of 2009, the unemployment rate for American adults was 9.7%. The unemployment rate for African Americans was 15.5%, and it was 12.4% for Hispanics. It was 23.9% for African Americans in Michigan. State polices may worsen the effect of an economic downturn. Nevertheless, nation-wide inequality rises. Men and the married are not exempt. Nor are children or seniors. We see food-insecurity in every city and in the countryside too.

10 Hungriest Places in America
Hunger In America’s Cities
In 2012, 16 metro areas in the U.S. reported that at least one in five people were struggling with finding enough food to eat. And while many people might assume that hunger in America was most prevalent in the Midwestern and Northeastern urban areas that have been battered by poverty in recent decades, the South and California actually lead the pack. [Click through the slides to see the 10 hungriest cities in America.]

Or consider the raw stats. Do something! Run your mouth. Run a food drive. Call Congress. See your neighbor with newer eyes! Reach out and touch a reality that one-day may be yours. Before it is or if it is behold the current facts.

  • 1 in 6 people in America face hunger.
  • Households with children reported a significantly higher food insecurity rate than households without children in 2011. 20.6 percent vs. 12.2 percent.
  • Food insecurity exists in every county in America. In 2011, 17.9 million households were food insecure.
  • 50.1 million Americans struggle to put food on the table.
  • In the US, hunger isn’t caused by a lack of food, but rather the continued prevalence of poverty.
  • More than 1 in 5 children is at risk of hunger. Among African-Americans and Latinos, it’s 1 in 3.
  • Over 20 million children receive free or reduced-price lunch each school day. Less than half of them get breakfast and only 10 percent have access to summer feeding sites.
  • For every 100 school lunch programs, there are only 87 breakfast sites and just 36 summer food programs.
  • 1 in 7 people are enrolled in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Nearly half of them are children.
  • 40 percent of food is thrown out in the US every year, or about $165 billion worth. All of this uneaten food could feed 25 million Americans.
  • These seven states have statistically higher food insecurity rates than the US national average (14.7%):
    Mississippi (19.2%), Texas (18.5%), Arkansas (19.2%), Alabama (17.4%), Georgia (17.4%), Florida (16.2%), North Carolina (17.1%)
No one is safe. Close to retirement or far from it, a pension is not a likely prospect. City workers loose pensions. In the wink of an eye pensions are lost, and or stipulations are altered. Consider the tearful letters of person who feel the pinch. American Airlines retirees’ poignant letters to court on their benefits post-merger. Remember, there are more. Without dollars there are infinite dilemmas. Job, or income insecurity, invites food-fragility.

More than 8.4 percent [2.5 million] senior citizens are currently without adequate food.

For American families food insecurity means that daily Moms, Dads, and children work to avoid substantially disrupting their eating pattern. That does not sound bad unless you are the one who has to reduce his or her food intake, and eat a less varied diet of high calorie, low nutritional value foods. Participation in a Federal food assistance program in fiscal year 2012 may yield a whole $133.41 a month (or about $4.45 a day. Imagine what you could buy with such a bundle, a single Starbucks coffee. Well no; you cannot buy hot food or drink from a restaurant. How about chips or candy? Sure, splurge. Stuff your face with salty and sweet fare. Eat junk to your delight.

Will such delicacies satisfy your appetite? For a time, maybe minutes, but what about the time you need to complete a complex task? That is the dilemma too many millions of Americans face, 22 million of these are children. You might think that these children are the offspring of the those in urban regions, the Blacks and Browns who are not you or your neighbors. Possibly you believe that being poor is a choice as is the decision to live in the inner city.

If you dare, drive down inner city streets and look at the people who see a food mirage or a desert. If there is food sold is it pre-packaged, prepared in grease, filled with sugar, or actually fresh from the farm or a local garden? In respect to locales; what do you consider your city? Do you identify “your” municipality as only the suburb in which you live or does it include the gentrified blocks that serve the societal elite, the intellectuals, and up-and-comers? Let us say that you do live in a prosperous neighborhood; might it be that even on your street a professional person is in hunger? He or she does not have the financial wherewithal to buy food.

What does it mean to be food insecure? It depends on how fragile your station and situation is. If you are among the millions fortunate enough to pass for prosperous, deprivation rather than starvation may be your norm. It is hard to know what might be real. We may look good, feel fine, dieters they say hide food. Perhaps what is truer today is the struggle just to find food! After all, most of us live in one of hungriest cities in America.

References and Resources…

© copyright 2013 Betsy L. Angert. Betsy L. Angert is an Educator and Author. She actively advocates for Peace and Social Justice. Currently, she serves as Communication Coordinator for EmpathyEducates.