Half of US children on Food Stamps

[Shawnee123]

Sam, for the same reason someone not on food stamps doesn't eat healthy food. I don't think receiving food stamps obligates you to not eat Cheetos. Yeah, it's a dumb choice, but it's a choice not limited to the food stamp population. People luvz 'em some junk food.

[ZenGum]

... and I thought that voice was just Lucifer on speed and acid at once.

[tw]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

... and I thought that voice was just Lucifer on speed and acid at once.

BTW, that's the other guy inside your head yelling, "Jump. Jump. Jump."

That's me saying, "Don't look up at her eyes."

[ZenGum]

...and then, if allowed to harden for more than 5 seconds, become completely impossible to remove by anything short of diamond-powder sandblasting.

[monster]

as I understand it, incoming teeth are really only affected by sugar that stays in the mouth next to the gum for a long time -like if you give the poor bairn a lollipop or a long sugary drink through a bottle. But it's definitely somehting to be aware of.

[ZenGum]

How did Dannon increase sales by 30%? Advertised 'Digitaliss Rectilitis' or whatever that mysterious substance is. What does it do? Nobody can say.

Digitaliss Rectilitis? Surely that is the medical term for having your thumb up your arse, isn't it?

[TheMercenary]

The BS meter should be going off the wall on that article.

[skysidhe]

I know mine did.

[DanaC]

Cheap food (white bread, macaroni and cheese etc) is usually high in starch and therefore makes you feel fuller. If you have limited funds for food a bunch of high starch potato or pasta is more appealing than green leafy veg.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Poverty levels, state by state.

I agree that the figure of half of US children on food stamps at some point during their childhood appears highly questionable, but the fact remains that millions of kids in the US every day (nearly 1 out of 5) are living with some level of food deprivation...at the very least, not knowing when or where they might get their next meal.

At any given time, somewhere between 15-20% of the children in the US are living in what is characterized as "food insecurity"....that doesnt mean facing severe hunger or starvation, but facing disruptions in regular meals every day.

Household Food Security in the US, 2007

Many are short term (several months) and return to normal eating patterns and are replaced with other children facing those same short term circumstances....so that over a 18 year period (childhood years), much more than 15-20% of children are facing "food insecurity" at some point for some period (generally small) of time.

[SamIam]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 49 million Americans -- one in seven -- struggled to get enough to eat in 2008, the highest total in 14 years of a federal survey on "food insecurity," the U.S. government said Monday.
While Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said programs such as food stamps softened the impact of an economic recession, anti-hunger groups pointed to the huge increase from the preceding year when 36.2 million people had trouble getting enough food and a third of them occasionally went hungry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091116/ts_nm/us_hunger_usa

I am stunned by this information. No one, but no one should ever go hungry in the US. I have a handicapped friend who is the mother of two children. Last week she joked about fixing them all leaf soup. But the problem she has is very real. Not everyone qualifies for food stamps, and those who do receive them often get a miniscule amount. Example: people in my county who have a total income of $700.00/month qualify for a whopping $10.00 in food stamps. The spendthrifts who go through their $10.00 before the end of the month can go get commodities from the Good Samaritans. They will give you a box or so of canned food each month – no milk, no fresh fruit or veggies, no fish or meat. You do get plenty of pasta and rice. If they’re feeling generous that day, you may luck out and get 8oz of dried pinto beans. Its certainly not great nutritionally, but it is food. I find it an outrage that 49 MILLION Americans apparently do not get even that much to eat. The government keeps on talking about ramping up the fool stamp program, but out here in the real world, I see little evidence of this supposed increase in government largesse.

[ZenGum]

I'm too lazy to look for recent facts, but a while back the Agricultural industry was destroying large amounts of oranges and lemons etc to keep prices up. Are they still doing that?

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I'm too lazy to look for recent facts, but a while back the Agricultural industry was destroying large amounts of oranges and lemons etc to keep prices up. Are they still doing that?

Well, Mr. Lazy, I did a quick google on citrus dumping and discovered that Brazilian growers have been dumping their fruit into the US market at below levels of cost of production. The Brazilians were forced to drop this practice and as a consequence, citrus prices in the US climbed higher.

I don't know what that has to do with anything unless Brazil wants to give their crop to poverty stricken US citizens. Brazil has an appalling level of poverty all of its own. I imagine that if the Brazilian industry decided to be so charitable, it would look to Recife and Sao Paulo brfore taking on Denver or Kansas City.

[jinx]

Food stamps should go hand-in-hand with gardening lessons. Teach a man to fish and all...