Earlier this year, it was reported that thirty million Americans were receiving food stamps. That is one out of every ten persons.
Last month, the USDA said 36.2 million Americans or 11 percent of households struggle to get enough food to eat, and one-third of them had to sometimes skip or cut back on meals.
Also this:
The last government statistics said 11.9 million Americans went hungry at some point in 2007, including 700,000 children. That number was a 50 percent rise from 2006 figures.
The percentage of persons on food stamps now, is similar to that seen prior to Clinton's welfare reforms. In other words, we've lost whatever progress we made.
We are now in a situation, such that an increase in economic activity is likely to be met by price shocks: increases in the cost of liquid fuels, and of food.
When
those shocks occur, anyone -- or any company -- close to the edge of
financial ruin, will fall off the cliff. This will lead to
more residential and commercial mortgage defaults, additional
deleveraging, wealth simply evaporating, and further contraction of the
economy. This is not a good situation to be in.
Goblins waiting in the wings.
We could have used the good times to make our communities, our energy system, and our agriculture more resilient. We did not do that; we squandered our third wish.
Instead, we used what little credit we had remaining, to sponsor private jets and golden parachutes for the corporate welfare queens of this golden age.
Personally, I don't care a whole lot if some executive is sitting in a beach house in the Hamptons, sipping 1979 Krug Clos Du Mesnil, paid for by his or her fellow citizens. What bothers me is the number of food stamps that can't be printed for the $5,700 that the champagne cost.
No, it isn't really that. What bothers me is how the collapse of the economic system will lead to unnecessary starvation. Most will occur overseas, but some will occur here. American MDs will have to acquaint themselves with treatment of kwashiorkor.
Yes, economic disparity is inevitable. Economic cycles and crashes may be inevitable. But it was not inevitable that we would waste our last, best chance for sustainability.
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On the way home from work today, I drove past a kickboxing gym. There was a giant inflatable Christmas display in front, showing Santa and a bunch of rotund, jolly elves. Odd juxtaposition, that. Imagine the elves kickboxing.
Whatever the coming year brings, we still can find amusement in things like that.
We could have used the good times to make our communities, our energy system, and our agriculture more resilient. We did not do that; we squandered our third wish.
Instead, we used what little credit we had remaining, to sponsor private jets and golden parachutes for the corporate welfare queens of this golden age.
The bankers of Wall Street now toasting the Fed’s recent largesse from their Hamptons beach houses and yachts are the latest in a long line of American corporate welfare queens who have lobbied for and secured generous federal contracts, subsidies and regulatory forbearance. As noted two weeks ago in Looting the Vaults, more has now been lent to banks by the Fed under opaque new facilities than has been appropriated for the war in Iraq. Both the Fed’s new facilities and the war appropriations arguably benefit corporate welfare queens rather than serve the public interest.
Personally, I don't care a whole lot if some executive is sitting in a beach house in the Hamptons, sipping 1979 Krug Clos Du Mesnil, paid for by his or her fellow citizens. What bothers me is the number of food stamps that can't be printed for the $5,700 that the champagne cost.
No, it isn't really that. What bothers me is how the collapse of the economic system will lead to unnecessary starvation. Most will occur overseas, but some will occur here. American MDs will have to acquaint themselves with treatment of kwashiorkor.
Yes, economic disparity is inevitable. Economic cycles and crashes may be inevitable. But it was not inevitable that we would waste our last, best chance for sustainability.
----------
On the way home from work today, I drove past a kickboxing gym. There was a giant inflatable Christmas display in front, showing Santa and a bunch of rotund, jolly elves. Odd juxtaposition, that. Imagine the elves kickboxing.
Whatever the coming year brings, we still can find amusement in things like that.
Politics
Comments
I've no doubt that things are going to get worse than anything seen by any post war American generation. It's going to take years to achieve a new stable system, and that system will be quite different from the ones that have defined our society for the last sixty or so years. While we go through these hard times, the right will be making every effort to place the blame on the presidencies of Obama, Clinton, LBJ, and even Roosevelt. Republican congresses, business malfeasance, the Bushes, and St. Reagan will all be blameless in their propaganda narrative. The conservative misinformation machine is still quite powerful and well funded. It is only in the last few years that left of center opinions have begun to tilt the playing field back to something resembling level. Blogs and other grassroots efforts via the internet are big part that. We need to use our information networks to make sure they don't succeed in avoiding responsibility. We need to call them repeatedly on every lie.
Posted by: John J. McKay | December 25, 2008 9:21 PM
I hate to sound like Cassandra, but... The sky really is falling. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think that I am. We are besieged on too many fronts. The weather forecast for two days from now, Dec 27, here in Bloomington IN, calls for a high temp of 72 degrees F. In December. In Indiana. I know it's not correct to confuse weather with climate, but, come on. Life on Earth will go on, but life as we know it is going to change drastically for humans, within our lifetimes. Probably within the next few years. So, all those dystopian fantasies? They're not fantasies. We can't sustain. Merry Christmas.
Posted by: stumpy | December 25, 2008 10:24 PM