Here, have some. There are plenty more where these came from.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/0510290939... Source: Brandeis University
Posted: October 29, 2005
Hunger In America Rises By 43 Percent Over Last Five Years Hunger in American households has risen by 43 percent over the last five years, according to an analysis of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data released today. The analysis, completed by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University, shows that more than 7 million people have joined the ranks of the hungry since 1999.
The USDA report, Household Food Security in the United States, 2004, says that 38.2 million Americans live in households that suffer directly from hunger and food insecurity, including nearly 14 million children. That figure is up from 31 million Americans in 1999.
"This is an unexpected and even stunning outcome," noted center director Dr. J. Larry Brown, a leading scholarly authority on domestic hunger. "This chronic level of hunger so long after the recession ended means that it is a man-made problem. Congress and the White House urgently need to address growing income inequality and the weakening of the safety net in order to get this epidemic under control." According to the Center on Hunger and Poverty, food insecurity increased by nearly a million households from 2003 to 2004. Rates of hunger increased in almost every single category of household during the same time, with single mothers and those living in or near poverty continuing to suffer from severely high rates of both food insecurity and hunger..." MORE
From:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1005-02.htmPublished on Wednesday, October 5, 2005 by Reuters
US Poverty: Chronic Ill, Little Hope for Cure by Bernd Debusmann
Four decades after a U.S. president declared war on poverty, more than 37 million people in the world's richest country are officially classified as poor and their number has been on the rise for years.
Last year, according to government statistics, 1.1 million Americans fell below the poverty line. That equals the entire population of a major city like Dallas or Prague.
Since 2000, the ranks of the poor have increased year by year by almost 5.5 million in total. Even optimists see little prospect that the number will shrink soon despite a renewed debate on poverty prompted by searing television images which laid bare a fact of American life rarely exposed to global view.... MORE
From:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200509190007Wash. Post editorial's "broad look" at U.S. poverty falsely claimed Bush poverty increases started under Clinton A September 19 Washington Post editorial falsely asserted that the overall poverty rate in the United States has steadily increased "since 1999." In fact, the poverty rate decreased during every year of President Clinton's tenure -- indeed, the rate was even lower in 2000 than it was in 1999 -- and has increased every year since President Bush took office. Further, while the editorial purported to present a "broad look at poverty in America," which it claimed "shows significant, and in some case impressive, progress," the Post never mentioned to readers the reversal of this progress that has occurred under the Bush administration, in some cases providing misleading statistics that hide this fact.
The Post editorial noted that the total poverty rate has "disturbingly" increased in recent years:
The overall poverty rate fell from 19 percent in 1964 to 12.7 percent last year, though most of that decline occurred during the first decade. Since 1999, the rate has been edging steadily, and disturbingly, upward.
But the claim that the poverty rate has continuously increased "since 1999" is patently false. In fact, the rate dropped from 11.9 percent in 1999 to 11.3 percent in 2000, Clinton's final year in the White House. It has since risen every year that Bush has been in office, from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.7 percent in 2004... MORE
From:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104520.htmlPoverty in the United States Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Aug. 2005 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). Web: www.census.gov.
The poverty rate in 2004 rose to 12.7%, up from 12.5% in 2003. About 37.0 million people were poor in 2003, 1.1 million more than in 2002. Both the number and rate have risen for four consecutive years, from 31.6 million and 11.3% in 2000.
For children under 18 years old, the poverty rate and the number in poverty were both unchanged between 2003 and 2004, remaining at 17.8% and 13.0 million, respectively. The poverty rate of people 18 to 64 years old increased from 10.8% to 11.3% in 2004, while and that of seniors aged 65 and over decreased from 10.2% to 9.8%. Children represented 35.2% of the people in poverty, while representing only 25.4% of the total population... MORE
From:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-08-30-census-poverty_x.htm1.1 million Americans joined ranks of the poor in 2004 By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.1 million to 37 million last year, despite a robust economy that created 2.2 million new jobs. It was the fourth consecutive year poverty has risen.
Other studies and reports:
http://www.hungerinamerica.org /
http://www.centeronhunger.org /
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err11 /
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=50... http://www.frac.org/html/hunger_in_the_us/hunger_index.... http://www.anotherperspective.org/advoc209.html http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=50... http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/nutrition/secondharvest.... http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1210-22.htm http://www.soundvision.com/Info/poor/statistics.asphttp://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2513/http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq3.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_Stateshttp://dukenews.duke.edu/2005/08/poverty_print.htmFrom
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/128407/1 /?
Incomes Fall, Hunger Worsens as Bush Says 'We're Doing Fine' Abid Aslam
OneWorld US
Tue., Feb. 28, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 27 (OneWorld) - The average American family has taken a financial tumble and millions in the country go hungry despite President George W. Bush's sunny assessment of the U.S. economy, say federal data and economists.
Bush talked up the nation's wealth last week during a speech in Milwaukee. ''We're doing fine,'' he said and described the economy as ''strong and gaining steam.''
Economic growth had clocked a respectable 3.5 percent, unemployment had been held down to 4.7 percent with more than four million new jobs created in the past 30 months, and after-tax income had risen eight percent since 2001, he said.
Within days, however, the Federal Reserve reported that average incomes after adjusting for inflation actually had fallen between 2001 and 2004.
At the same time, the number of Americans who need emergency food aid to survive had swollen to more than 25 million even before hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, the nation's largest network of food banks said in a separate report....
From
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/2231/1/132 Labor Researchers: Bush Policies Perpetuate Black Poverty By AFL-CIO
Nov. 17—Bush administration policies that cut education and basic anti-poverty programs in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy have exacerbated sharp differences in job opportunities for white and black workers, according to a new report by the Labor Research Association (LRA), a New York-based research and advocacy group....
(snipping))
Republican leaders in the U.S. House on Nov. 10 postponed action on a budget bill that would cut more than $50 billion from vital working family programs because they failed to find the votes to win. But House leaders and the Bush administration are expected to continue pressuring lawmakers to pass the budget cuts before the Thanksgiving recess.
The House bill includes $10 billion in cuts for Medicaid health services for poor children and long-term care patients and would raise the costs of prescription drugs for beneficiaries. It also would take some $5 billion from child support enforcement, $1.3 billion from foster care and Social Security disability payments and $844 million from food stamps.
Earlier that day, the Senate Finance Committee refused to move a $70 billion package of tax cuts for the wealthy promoted by congressional leaders and the Bush administration. Republican leaders, unable to secure enough votes on the 11-Republican, nine-Democrat panel to move the bill to the full Senate, postponed the vote on the tax cuts.... MORE
From:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7983.html July 20, 2006
Bush's half-hearted interest in poverty faded fast The list of examples is exceedingly long, but for every Bush commitment to a reasonably progressive goal, there's overwhelming evidence that the president's rhetoric is hollow and meaningless. Kevin Drum had a terrific post about this last month, highlighting the president's alleged concerns about a series of issues (counterproliferation, deficits, democracy promotion) that completely contradict the administration's actions. As Kevin concluded, "It's this simple: these guys say a lot of stuff they don't believe. Their words are largely meaningless."
Let's be sure to add poverty to the list.
Poverty forced its way to the top of President Bush's agenda in the confusing days after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and flooded New Orleans. Confronted with one of the most pressing political crises of his presidency, Bush, who in the past had faced withering criticism for speaking little about the poor, said the nation has a solemn duty to help them.
(snipping)
Of course, that was nearly a year ago. "Bold action" turned into "timid indifference." The president not only didn't follow through on his rhetorical commitments; he doesn't even offer any more rhetoric. As the WaPo noted, Bush doesn't even mention poverty anymore. There's been plenty of talk about tax cuts for people who don't need them, but discussions of poverty were used just long enough to stop the political bleeding after he and his administration dramatically bungled the Katrina crisis... MORE
From:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0209-26.htm Published on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
Bush's Budget Transforms the War on Poverty Into a War on the Poor by Eric Garcetti
President Bush refers to himself as a wartime president, and he has shown resolve not to back down on the battlefield. But the budget he released this week waves a flag of surrender in another war, the 40-year "war on poverty."
The budget announces cuts of 28% — or $1.4 billion — from our arsenal of critical social programs. The largest and most vital to Los Angeles is the Community Development Block Grant. As more cities draw on poverty-fighting grants each year, Los Angeles' allocation has steadily decreased, from $88.6 million in 2003 to $82.7 million this year. Under the proposed cuts, our allocation would plummet by at least $15 million.
Alongside previously proposed cuts to Section 8 housing assistance, these reductions send a stark message to the country's poor, its elderly and its urban youth: You're no longer our problem.
In Los Angeles, these grants pay for after-school programs, home repairs for the elderly in blighted neighborhoods and intervention programs for youth on the brink of joining or already in gangs. They spur economic development projects and fund outreach to the homeless.
Now the president wants to cut these groups off from the prospects of economic recovery. That represents a radical departure from a nation's commitment to its most vulnerable citizens.... MORE
From:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030818/lieberman article | posted July 31, 2003 (August 18, 2003 issue)
Hungry in America Trudy Lieberman
I have no heart for somebody who starves his folks. --George W. Bush discussing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and US food donations on CNN (January 2, 2003)
Ellen Spearman lives in a trailer at the edge of Morrill, Nebraska, a tiny dusty town near the Wyoming state line. A few years ago she was a member of the working poor, earning $9.10 an hour at a local energy company. Then she got sick and had four surgeries for what turned out to be a benign facial tumor. New owners took over the company and told her she was a medical liability and could not work full time with benefits. For a while she worked part time without benefits until the company eliminated her position. So the 49-year-old single mother of five, with two teenage boys still at home, now lives on $21,300 a year from Social Security disability, child support and payments from the company's long-term disability policy she got as a benefit when she was first hired. That's about $6,000 above the federal poverty level, and too high to qualify for food stamps. But it is not enough to feed her family.
Food is the expendable item in a poor person's budget. With the need to pay for gasoline, car insurance, trailer rent, clothes, medicine and utilities, and to make payments on a car loan and $10,000 in medical bills, Spearman says three meals a day "take a back seat." She says she and her family eat a lot of rice with biscuits and gravy. Their diet is more interesting only when a local supermarket sells eight pieces of chicken for $3.99 or chuck roast for $1.49 a pound. "This country doesn't want to admit there's poverty," she says. "We can feed the world but not our own." MORE
From
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spend... U.S. Military Spending
The United States, being the most formidable military power, it is worth looking at their spending. The U.S. military budget request by the Bush Administration for Fiscal Year 2007 is $462.7 billion. (This includes the Defense Department budget, funding for the Department of Energy (which includes nuclear weapons) and “other” which the source does not define. It does not include other items such as money for the Afghan and Iraq wars—$50 billion for Fiscal Year 2007 and an extra $70 billion for FY 2006, on top of the $50 billion approved by Congress.)
For Fiscal Year 2006 it was $441.6 billion
For Fiscal Year 2005 it was $420.7 billion
For Fiscal Year 2004 it was $399.1 billion .
For Fiscal Year 2003 it was $396.1 billion.
For Fiscal Year 2002 it was $343.2 billion.
For Fiscal Year 2001 it was $305 billion. And Congress had increased that budget request to $310 billion.
This was up from approximately $288.8 billion, in 2000.
From
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2... Deep cuts sought for social programs $2.77 trillion plan boosts military
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | February 7, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday unveiled a $2.77 trillion spending plan for the next fiscal year that would slash healthcare and education spending, and that would enact deep cuts to scores of other federal programs, while boosting the military budget and making permanent a series of tax cuts that Congress has passed in recent years.
The budget would shave $35.9 billion over five years from Medicare, the politically sensitive healthcare program for the elderly. The Medicare cuts, along with a $4.5 billion reduction in the Medicaid budget, are part of $65.2 billion in savings culled from entitlement programs, the fastest-growing part of the federal budget. By law, the government is required to spend money on those programs, like Medicare, to cover those who are eligible.
Bush also has proposed saving $14.7 billion by eliminating or significantly scaling back 141 government programs, including antidrug efforts in schools, food stamps, vocational education, and housing benefits for the elderly and the disabled.
(snipping)
The Department of Education's spending on basic programs would fall by $2.1 billion, or 3.8 percent, and the president would save about $3.5 billion by cutting a range of programs designed to promote the arts, technology, and after-school programs. Meanwhile, federally based programs to help pay for higher education would take significant hits: The Perkins Loan program would be eliminated, and Pell grant funding for college students would drop by $4.6 billion.
(snipping)
The Department of Defense would get the biggest funding increase; Bush has asked for a record $439.3 billion budget -- 7 percent more than this year, and 48 percent above the level of spending in 2001. In addition, Bush is seeking $50 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007, along with nearly $2 billion more in assistance programs for the two nations.
On taxes, the president wants Congress to make permanent a series of reductions to taxes on income, capital gains, dividends, and estates of the deceased that were passed in 2001 and 2003. Those cuts are scheduled to expire between now and 2010.... MORE
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Republicans plan to cut 40,000 kids from school lunch program to pay for ANOTHER tax cut in the next month by Chris in Paris - 11/03/2005 01:27:00 PM
They're asking the poor to suck it up and do without because of those critical tax cuts for the wealthy, corporate welfare and a failing war of convenience are more important than food for the poor. How long before they change the child labor laws so the kids can go out and work for their food? Nice compassion and isn't it great to see that we're all in this together?
Don't believe me, read the article. The Republicans are planning on ANOTHER TAX cut in the next few weeks that will cost even MORE than the cuts to the poor and elderly that they're making today: But some Republicans worry that social service cuts, though relatively small, might have outsized political ramifications, especially when Republicans move in the coming weeks to cut taxes for the fifth time in as many years. Those tax cuts, totaling $70 billion over five years, would more than offset the deficit reduction that would result from the budget cuts.
More details on the planned Republican attack on the poor, the elderly and children... (long article)
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/republicans-pla...From:
http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Nutrition-Vitamins/6-... Staggering Reality of Senior Hunger Cited by Meals On Wheels One-Fourth of U.S. adults don't think hunger is a very big problem for seniors
March 1, 2006 - Today, more than three quarters of a million American senior citizens over 65 and living alone have difficulty providing themselves with a steady supply of food and experience some degree of hunger, according to the Meals On Wheels Association. Hunger can strike at any age, but many people are not aware of the devastating effects it has on our senior citizens, says MOWAA in kicking off March For Meals, the fifth annual nationwide public awareness and fundraising campaign...
(snipping)
"The United States is the only developed country with such a serious hunger problem," states Dr. J. Larry Brown, director of the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University. "Ensuring adequate food and nutrition is essential to the prevention of chronic disease and disease-related disabilities among seniors. As the number of elderly Americans grows, this problem will continue to plague our country unless we take corrective action now."
Common Misconceptions about Senior Hunger in the U.S.
Meals On Wheels programs across the U.S. deliver more than 1 million meals each day to senior citizens and other homebound individuals. However, MOWAA estimates that 2 million additional meals are required to meet the growing demand for nutrition services.
A recent national survey shows that 58 percent of U.S. adults wrongly assume that most senior citizens who request food from senior nutrition programs receive it. The fact is: four out of 10 nutrition programs that feed the elderly, such as Meals On Wheels, have waiting lists for nutrition services due to lack of awareness, funding, and/or volunteers. As grim as that statistic is, it clearly shows the current unmet need amongst the senior population, the association says.
The survey also demonstrates that 24 percent of U.S. adults do not think hunger is a very big problem for seniors and four in five U.S. adults (80 percent) believe that hunger among senior citizens is most often caused by poverty.
(snipping)
Senior Hunger: A Life-Threatening Disease
Seniors who experience hunger are at risk for serious health problems. Hunger can be life-threatening by increasing the risk for stroke, prolonging recovery from illness, extending hospital stays, limiting the effects of prescription drugs, decreasing resistance to infection, and even increasing the occurrence of depression and isolation.
The majority of U.S. adults (71 percent) do not believe that they or their loved ones will ever experience some degree of hunger that will affect their health. However, with the first wave of baby boomers turning 65 in the next decade, there is certainly a chance that many older Americans could be affected by hunger in the future unless steps are taken to end this significant societal problem...
MORE
Other links:
Urban Institute: Hunger and Food Insecurity Among the Elderly
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/republicans-pla... America's Second Harvest: Senior Hunger
http://www.secondharvest.org/learn_about_hunger/senior_... A helpful link:
http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Nutrition-Vitamins/5-... And some more links
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/20726 /
http://mmondlin.home.mindspring.com/No-Child-Hungry-MM.... http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/2005/06/workin... http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0603-03.htm Additional links:
http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm (how the federal budget is allocated)
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
