A federal report on hunger in America raises many questions. Questions that many of us already know the answer to. In the report, as presented by CNN, we learn the number of American households fighting off hunger stayed level last year at 14.7%, that’s roughly 45 million people. It’s the old ‘good news, bad news’ report. The bad news is that the hunger rate is high, the good news is that it didn’t get any worse.
It’s no surprise that there is hunger here in America. Anyone who pays attention (and it is easier to not pay attention when you have an abundance of everything), especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas has heard the increase in requests for donations. We have also seen the signs.
The various grocery stores I visit have begun placing a large donation barrel just inside the front door so everyone walks past it as they enter and leave. The barrel is clearly marked as a receptacle for donated food destined for the food bank. Those barrels remain pretty empty. I don’t need to tell you this, you already know.
It’s a sign of the times that those barrels remain so empty so that makes it easier for us to walk past them without dropping anything into them. If everyone drops one can in (preferably stuff that you yourself would serve to your family) then hunger could be cut down at least a little bit for a little while. But I don’t need to tell you that. You already know.
The report really does nothing more than tell us that government programs, supported by our tax dollars are footing the bill for feeding the poor. But I don’t need to tell you that. You already know.
Many of these people are in their situation as a result of decisions they have made. Is this a good enough reason to turn our backs on them? Do we really believe they don’t deserve our help because they alone are responsible for where they are? Is that the reason food donations are so pitifully inadequate?
The causes for hunger are many and run deep. In September 2009, the US Census Bureau reported rising poverty, falling incomes, and growing numbers of uninsured US households. Even by the Bureau's conservative estimates, 39.8 million Americans were impoverished, the highest level since 1960, and 17.1 million lived in extreme poverty at below one-half the official threshold.
A revised October 2009 Census analysis showed 47.4 million (15.8% of the population, including one-fifth of the elderly) below the poverty line, much higher than the above figure and rising.
Despite a growing national crisis, Obama proposed less spending for the poor saying "our fiscal situation remains unacceptable," not growing poverty, homelessness, hunger and despair at levels not seen since the 1930s.
On February 1, he sent Congress a budget freezing social spending for three years, a de facto cut in real terms. At the same time, he lets Wall Street keep pillaging, plans more wealth transfers to the rich, and proposed the largest ever defense and homeland security budgets, leaving little for cash-strapped states and growing millions of desperate people out of luck and on their own.
It's morally reprehensible that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world where so many of our fellow citizens are struggling to make choices between food and other basic services. But I don’t need to tell you that, you already know.
Despite the fact that we decide who gets into office to supposedly represent us, once they get there they turn their backs on us while they sit at tables over-flowing with food. But, you already knew that too.
Since we already know these things why do we allow our fellow citizens to go hungry? Why is there still so much hunger in the wealthiest nation on earth? I wish we knew the answers to these questions and was more willing to do something about it.
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