Numbers hungry and in poverty in USA increase
November 4th, 2003 | by aobaoill |According to the New York Times
Nearly 3.8 million [American] families were hungry last year to the point that someone in the household skipped meals because the family could not afford them.
34.6 million Americans ‘were living in poverty last year.’ And those figures are above the 2001 rates – sometimes substantially. For instance, the increase in the numbers in poverty was 1.7m, or 4.9%, while the number of families with someone who went hungry increased by 8.6% over 2001, which was in itself an incease of 13% over the figure for 2000.
In class yesterday someone quoted a figure from a high school civics lesson, where they heard that 30% of those born poor in the USA would not die poor, and this showed the room for self-advancement in the US system, and by implication showed the superiority of capitalism. Apart from wondering about comparable figures for other comparable examples, the fact that poverty is still measured in absolute terms in the USA is something I have discussed here previously. These figures provide a shocking – at least it should be shocking – picture of the reality of life for so many people living in the United States today.
6 Responses to “Numbers hungry and in poverty in USA increase”
By tasheyanna on Nov 23, 2003 | Reply
maybe there should be a help center in every state and not just some and maybe we should get buger king to donate food because when they cook breakfast when it turns 12o clock they throw it away that is ashame
By Andrew Ó Baoill on Nov 23, 2003 | Reply
Obviously help centres and the like play a role, but I think more deep-rooted action is needed. When you see, in addition to the numbers encountering hunger, the tens of millions without health insurance and the (almost one million?) out of work for over a year, it becomes obvious that band-aid solutions will not solve the problem. The United States could do worse than look at the social safety-nets put in place in Europe.
By akp on Nov 30, 2003 | Reply
it is problem of management and senseful ness.
By Ben on Jan 15, 2004 | Reply
they have to throw it away. If they let someone poor or hungry eat it, and that person got sick or had some sort of negative experience, then Burger King would be sued for millions of dollars…
By Johny on Jul 4, 2004 | Reply
The solution to that problem is very far away. For the time being, let’s help those people with food, medicine, housing, and so on, but they have to agree to be sterilized.
By Andrew Ó Baoill on Jul 5, 2004 | Reply
Wow.
I was going to post a response, but really don’t know where to start. I’ll have to assume it was a troll and let it go, but wow….