42 million on food stamps = 14% (up 17% from last year)

[Hannah Bell]

A huge number of American households are still relying on government assistance to buy food as the recession continues to batter families.

More Americans are using government assistance to buy food.Food stamp recipients ticked up in August, children consumed millions of free lunches and nearly five million low-income mothers tapped into a government nutrition program for women and young children.

Some 42,389,619 Americans received food stamps in August, a 17% rise from the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which tracks the data. That number is up 58.5% from August 2007, before the recession began.

By population, Washington, D.C. had the largest share of residents receiving food stamps: More than a fifth, 21.1%, of its residents collected assistance in August. Washington was followed by Mississippi, where 20.1% of residents received food stamps, and Tennessee, where 20% tapped into the government nutrition program.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/11/04/some-14-of-us-uses-food-stamps/


"We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people — whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth — is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure."

http://www.worldpolicy.org/globalrights/econrights/fdr-econbill.html.

[Starry Messenger]

1. recommend.

[Catherina]

2. But we have plenty of money for war, totrure and banks!

It's getting harder and harder to sleep at night. I can not accept this. Politicians for whom this isn'y an immediate concern, as well as the wars, can forget about any support from me. The I-got-mine crowd is on its own.

No more.

Rec'd

Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?

[madrchsod]

3. food stamps are part of the vast and diverse underground economy.

we pay cash for food stamps at 50-65% on the dollar.

[WVRICK13]

4. Ahhh, But We Will

see a dramatic reduction in food stamp use very soon. As soon as the Republicans take away the budget for DHHR. Let the idiots who voted for Republicans explain how they helped themselves y starving. The eastern panhandle of WV voted 54% for John Raese for Senator. This is the candidate who wanted to abolish the minimum wage and said he made his money the old fashioned way, he inherited it. Talk about voting against your own interests.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Yeap, I wonder how many of the 42 million voted for the Teapublicans to slash food stamps.

[blindpig]

6. That's what ya get with capitalism.

But not to worry, those numbers will be reduced, by 'responsible austerity'. It will be a bipartisan effort.

[arbusto_baboso]

7. And about twice that number of people qualify for food stamps and don't know it.

I work in the public social services biz.

Many of our own clerical employees receive food stamps because their pay is so meager. So much for "spoiled, lazy, fat civil servants", eh?

[Bucky]

8. When the Republicans cut back that number to 10%, they'll call it progress