Thursday, November 16, 2006

Low Food Security?

After you get over being incensed and disgusted with our government’s cavalier dismissal of the fact that 35 million of your fellow Americans are starving to death with deigning to refer to it as having "very low food security" think about what we are spending a day($177M) in Iraq for nothing. Think about the current proposal to spend 30 BILLION dollars for a damn useless fence that won’t do anything for illegal immigration. Think about the fact that the top 1% of the wealthiest Americans now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, which is up from 8% in 1980. That's double people. Think about the fact that the federal minimum wage of $5.15 is currently at its lowest real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) value in over 50 years. Think about the fact that:

  • If the minimum wage were increased nationally to $7.25:
    o 14.9 million workers would receive a raise,
    o 80% of those affected are adults age 20 or over, and
    o 7.3 million children would see their parents income rise.
  • Families with affected workers rely on those workers for over half of their earnings.
  • 46% of all families with affected workers rely solely on the earnings from those workers.

According to yesterday's Washington Post:

The USDA said that 12 percent of Americans -- 35 million people -- could not put food on the table at least part of last year. Eleven million of them reported going hungry at times. Beginning this year, the USDA has determined "very low food security" to be a more scientifically palatable description for that group....

Maybe the election wasn’t about Iraq after all but merely the current Republican establishment overlooking Juvenal's dictate about effectively controlling the masses with a steady provision of bread and circuses.

(bolding mine)

H/T to Georgia10

No comments: