Conservatives: Hungry People Are Faking It

[marmar]

from the Working Life blog:



Conservatives: Hungry People Are Faking It

by Jonathan Tasini
Tuesday 17 of November, 2009


It is not surprising, given an astonishing level of underemployment, that we learn this:

The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.

The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession's punishing effect on jobs and wages.

About a third of these struggling households had what the researchers called “very low food security,” meaning lack of money forced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food at some point in the year.

The other two-thirds typically had enough to eat, but only by eating cheaper or less varied foods, relying on government aid like food stamps, or visiting food pantries and soup kitchens.

But, some conservatives think hungry people aren't, well, really hungry:

“Very few of these people are hungry,” said Robert Rector, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “When they lose jobs, they constrain the kind of food they buy. That is regrettable, but it’s a far cry from a hunger crisis.”

I see. When people "constrain" the kind of food they buy, I'm assuming that Mr. Rector is adopting the Ronald Reagan method of defining proper eating habits which promotes ketchup as a vegetable.

And what remains unsaid is this question: what exactly is the number of hungry people Rector thinks is a crisis? 60 million? 100 million? Or another way of asking the question--is it OK by conservatives if the number of hungry people, many of them children, would "only" be 20 million? 10 million?


http://www.workinglife.org/blogs/view_post.php?content_id=14584

[Nikki Stone1]

1. Typical

K & R.....Sadly

[babylonsister]

2. I gasped out loud when I read that headline. No words. nt

[anonymous171]

3. Eat the rich. nt

[JuniperLea]

6. Well played!

Now they're smokin' up their junk bonds
And then they go get stiff
And they're dancin' in the yacht club
With Muff and uncle Biff
But there's one good thing that happens
When you toss your pearls to swine
Their attitudes may taste like shit
But go real good with wine

Believe in all the good things
That money just can't buy
Then you won't get no bellyache
From eatin' humble pie
I believe in rags to riches
Your inheritance won't last
So take your Gray poupon my friend
And shove it up your ass

Eat The Rich
There's only one thing that they are good for
Eat The Rich
Take one bite now - come back for more
Eat The Rich
Don't stop me now, I'm goin' crazy
Eat The Rich
That's my idea of a good time baby

[Bobbie Jo]

13. +2

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. +1

[malaise]

4. Heritage Foundation

Fuck them! I wonder how many conservatives are hungry but the Heritage Foundation only counts RW votes.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. With a few rare exceptions, a rich, well-nourished person will never understand hunger

At least Rector didn't say that they should eat cake.

[Johonny]

8. it's been argued part of the obestity problem is the food available

to the very poor tends to be not the best for maintaining a healthy diet. Filling your belly with the dollar menu from McDonalds isn't exactly what people consider access to adequate food.

[dana_b]

9. no, idiot, they have NO food!

they are not constraining the type of food they buy - they have little to NONE!
This compassionate genius needs to spend time at a food bank and ask them how it's going lately.

[baldguy]

10. And the unemployed are just lazy freeloaders & the poor deserve their plight.

[tonysam]

14. You should see some of the posts following the NYT article on extending unemployment benefits

and how Congress left a glitch in the coverage. There were too many posts following the article complaining about the unemployed as if they were all sitting around doing nothing and collecting these huge checks.

These people make my ass ache.

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. Dear Lord in heaven.

What depths will these people sink to?

There are simply no words.

:wtf:

[NightWatcher]

12. I'm waiting for them to tell us to eat 99 cent Twinkees. The guillotine is out and sharpened

[muntrv]

15. Can we skewer Robert Rector? Does he taste like chicken?

[FirstLight]

16. ...and food stamps don't cover the whole month's needs either

I often end up useing cahs for the first week of the month because i get my cash aid on the 3d but food stamps don;t kick in till the 8th...gotta do some 'creative' cooking to stretch it. But without food stamps we would be so screwn...

it just hit me that by the end of Dec it will be a year of being back on welfare and being unemployed... I may pick up a few freelancing gigs here & ther but we have no real security at all. Got section 8 housing, welfare & food stamps and my 40th bday is coming next month, too. I thought I would be so much "further along" by now. Feeling like a failure on a regular basis doesn't help with eating well, either ...

People who have never "been there" don't know the daily stress of being dependent on something for assistance with basic needs. I am grateful and glad that I have the help that i do...but it still feels scary that i can't provide it myself...

[Odin2005]

17. Torches. Pitchforks.

[Angry Dragon]

18. The thing that a lot of people forget

is that a lot of these hungry people are conservatives.

[Better Today]

19. defining proper eating habits which promotes ketchup as a vegetable. . .

uhm, catsup, or ketchup, has more tomato per tsp than a tomato. Ever reduce tomatoes to paste (like that used for ketchup)? It takes about 3-4 tomatoes depending on size to end up with just under a tablespoon of paste equal to the consistency of ketchup.

Just saying, anyone I know whose done any amount of cooking with tomatoes recognizes a tablespoon of ketchup as a vegetable.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

20. A local pea patch is being robbed of it's fruits

and vegetables...that's hunger.

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Thief-stealing-from-Whidbey-Island-community-garden-67827122.html

[sofa king]

21. Conclusion: Conservatives have never been hungry.

[Confusious]

22. I'll tell you exactly when he'll think it's a crisis

When he doesn't get enough in his belly.

But who knows when that time will come, because he would probably steal food from children and the elderly. Ahh, my opinion of these people has fallen so low.

[Chomsky_Fan]

23. Typical

It's something you'd hear on Fox news every day. Such blabber is very typical and predicted as things get worse.

[Thickasabrick]

24. LOL...Seriously, ketchup as a vegetable?? nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. You see, hunger is flies buzzing around the wide eyes of children with

distended bellies and pencil thin limbs.

Nobody else need apply.