Senior Chow: Not just for grandpa any more
We have reported here before that elderly workers have been observed in the grocery checkout line, at the end of the month, with nothing but a 25lb bag of Senior Chow in their shopping cart (these are not dog owners). Now we get the news, from the report on “food security” released today by the USDA, that hunger in the US has increased by 30% over the past year.
President Barack Obama, who in the past has evidently been prevented by a speech impediment from articulating the word “poor,” has been quoted as saying in response, "The first task is to restore job growth, which will help relieve the economic pressures that make it difficult for parents to put a square meal on the table each day." This statement was not, however, followed by the creation of any actual jobs. The phrase “put a square meal on the table each day," could perhaps use some clarification as it is used here. A quote from a “USDA staffer” says "well it's not necessarily chronic hunger," then explains further that hunger that lasts only 7 of 12 months is not “chronic.” So, from this government, “meal on the table each day” means no food 7 days out of 12, and one meal 5 days of 12 for at least one person in that household.
In the US, this citadel of Low Wage Capitalism, even a job is not enough to keep a family fed. The principle author of the USDA report, Mark Nord, points to research in other reports that shows "that most families in which food is scarce contain at least one adult with a full-time job."
We have reported here before that elderly workers have been observed in the grocery checkout line, at the end of the month, with nothing but a 25lb bag of Senior Chow in their shopping cart (these are not dog owners). Now we get the news, from the report on “food security” released today by the USDA, that hunger in the US has increased by 30% over the past year.
President Barack Obama, who in the past has evidently been prevented by a speech impediment from articulating the word “poor,” has been quoted as saying in response, "The first task is to restore job growth, which will help relieve the economic pressures that make it difficult for parents to put a square meal on the table each day." This statement was not, however, followed by the creation of any actual jobs. The phrase “put a square meal on the table each day," could perhaps use some clarification as it is used here. A quote from a “USDA staffer” says "well it's not necessarily chronic hunger," then explains further that hunger that lasts only 7 of 12 months is not “chronic.” So, from this government, “meal on the table each day” means no food 7 days out of 12, and one meal 5 days of 12 for at least one person in that household.
In the US, this citadel of Low Wage Capitalism, even a job is not enough to keep a family fed. The principle author of the USDA report, Mark Nord, points to research in other reports that shows "that most families in which food is scarce contain at least one adult with a full-time job."
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Товарищ Х is a political activist and composer who lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
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