46 million Americans go to food banks, and long lines for dwindling food supplies begin at 6:30 AM

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46 million Americans go to food banks, and long lines for dwindling food supplies begin at 6:30 AM (Econommic Collapse, Aug 13, 2015):

Those that run food banks all over America say that demand for their services just continues to explode.  It always amazes me that there are still people out there that insist that an “economic collapse” is not happening.  From their air-conditioned homes in their cushy suburban neighborhoods they mock the idea that the U.S. economy is crumbling.  But if they would just go down and visit the local food banks in their areas, they would see how much people are hurting.  According to Feeding America spokesman Ross Fraser, 46 million Americans got food from a food bank at least one time during 2014.  Because the demand has become so overwhelming, some food banks are cutting back on the number of days they operate and the amount of food that is given to each family.  As you will see below, many impoverished Americans are lining up at food banks as early as 6:30 in the morning just so that they can be sure to get something before the food runs out.  And yet there are still many people out there that have the audacity to say that everything is just fine in America.  Shame on them for ignoring the pain of millions upon millions of their fellow citizens.

Poverty in America is getting worse, not better.  And no amount of spin from Barack Obama or his apologists can change that fact.

This year, it is being projected that food banks in the United States will give away an all-time record 4 billion pounds of food.

Over the past decade, that number has more than doubled.

And that number would be even higher if food banks had more food to give away.  The demand has become so crushing that some food banks have actually reduced the amount of food each family gets

Food banks across the country are seeing a rising demand for free groceries despite the growing economy, leading some charities to reduce the amount of food they offer each family.

Those in need are starting to realize what is going on, so they are getting to the food banks earlier and earlier.  For example, one food bank in New Mexico is now getting long lines of people every single day starting at 6:30 in the morning

We get lines of people every day, starting at 6:30 in the morning,” said Sheila Moore, who oversees food distribution at The Storehouse, the largest pantry in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and one where food distribution has climbed 15 percent in the past year.

Does that sound like an “economic recovery” to you?

Just because your family doesn’t have to stand in line for food does not mean that everything is okay in America.

The same thing that is happening in New Mexico is also happening in Ohio.  Needy people are standing in line at the crack of dawn so that they can be sure to get something “before the food runs out”

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, who has been working in food charities since the 1980s, said that when earlier economic downturns ended, food demand declined, but not this time.

People keep coming earlier and earlier, they’re standing in line, hoping they get there before the food runs out,” Hamler-Fugitt said.

And keep in mind that we are just now entering the next global financial crisis and the next major recession.

So how bad will things be when millions more Americans lose their jobs and millions more Americans lose their homes?

Rising poverty is also reflected in the number of Americans on food stamps.  The following graph was posted by the Economic Policy Journal, and it shows how food stamp use has absolutely exploded in the five most populated states…

 

I don’t see an “economic recovery” in that graph, do you?

Instead, what it shows is that the number of Americans on food stamps continued to rise for years even after the recession ended.

Sadly, things are only going to get worse from here.  Eventually, the kinds of things that we are seeing happen in places such as Venezuela will be coming here as well.  At this point, young mothers in Venezuela are sleeping outside of empty supermarkets at night in a desperate attempt to get something for their families when morning arrives

As dawn breaks over the scorching Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, smugglers, young mothers and a handful of kids stir outside a supermarket where they spent the night, hoping to be first in line for scarce rice, milk or whatever may be available.

Some of the people in line are half-asleep on flattened cardboard boxes, others are drinking coffee.

Most Americans cannot identify with this level of suffering, but it is coming to our country someday too.  Here is more from Reuters

I can’t get milk for my child. What are we going to do?” said Leida Silva, 54, breaking into tears outside the Latino supermarket in northern Maracaibo where she arrived at 3 a.m. on a recent day.

Just a couple of days ago, I wrote about how the number of Americans living in concentrated areas of high poverty has doubled since the year 2000.

In case you are wondering, that is not a sign of progress.

Just because you might live in a comfortable neighborhood that does not give you the right to look down on those that are suffering.

And when you add increasing racial tensions to the mix, it becomes easier to understand why there is so much anger and frustration in our urban areas.  According to Business Insider, the percentage of Americans that consider race relations to be in good shape in this nation has dropped precipitously…

Over the last two years there has been a 23% drop in the number of Americans who see relations between blacks and whites as “very good” or “somewhat good.”

Today, only 47% of Americans see black-white relations positively, according to a Gallup poll, the lowest it has been in the last 14 years.

The poll also showed that blacks see the relations more positively (51%) than whites (45%), but both percentages experienced sharp declines in the last two years.

All of the ingredients are there for civil unrest to erupt in cities all over the United States.

When the next major economic downturn happens, anger and frustration are going to flare to extremely dangerous levels.  At this point, it will not take much to set things off.

Desperate people do desperate things, and desperation is rising even now in this country.

So how did things get so bad?

Stupid decisions lead to stupid results, and very soon we will start to pay a very great price for decades of incredibly stupid decisions.

2 thoughts on “46 million Americans go to food banks, and long lines for dwindling food supplies begin at 6:30 AM”

  1. Some time ago, I did a research project for a nonprofit, and found that “food insecurity” affected over 20-24% of Americans in every state of the US. This chart on food stamp recipients showing 1.4 million households renders my numbers obsolete. We currently have a population of 325 million people. The chart shows the real number of homes suffering food insecurity has risen to over 33%, and could be as high as 40%.

    2.58 people is the average of every US household according to US census……Many of the hungry are elderly who often live alone, so I don’t know how we figure the number of hungry with any accuracy except to see the number in households they surveyed.

    SNAP dollars given each recipient about half a month’s worth of food if they are careful…..Food prices are going through the roof because the value of the dollar is falling like a stone, regardless of the lies told by talking heads of the “strong dollar.” Meat is becoming a rare luxury, instead of a staple, in many US diets.

    In a desperate spin, for the first time, Kerry referred to the danger of losing US status of world reserve currency if the Iran treaty was not passed by congress. Doesn’t he realize most Americans don’t know what the world reserve currency entailed? But, it was the first statement allowed on the subject on US media obfuscation.

    Truth is quite different, as less nations use the dollar any longer. Started by the South American Trade Alliance in Spring of 2010 with the first electronic currency, the Sucre, it was quickly followed by Russia and China. Electronic currencies translate the value of each nation’s currency at the time of transaction, making the need to convert to any other currency obsolete.

    China went on to recruit many of the world economies including India,Turkey, & most emerging African economies including South Africa. Brazil, and much of South and central America. Australia, and Canada also joined. All of these nations, plus others I cannot readily recall, have dumped the dollar.

    All of this has weakened the already heavily diluted dollar regardless of the lies told on US media. As a result, more families suffer from hunger each month, as the dollar loses relevance in world trade markets. Too much of our food is now imported, and it affects the most vulnerable in the US economy…..those on fixed income & the working poor.

    From the dollar dumping movement came the development of BRICS, the eastern financial alliance in response to the FED, IMF and ECB. BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (as the leading nations putting funds into this financial alliance), but many others also belong. They are loaning money using Chinese Yuen, not the dollar.

    Electronic currencies have make conversion to any world reserve currency obsolete. This has thrown a huge monkey wrench to US dollar world domination. After the Wall Street caused crash in 2008 that caused entire nations to go bankrupt, the world looked to see what the US would do about it. When they saw corruption now dominated, and nothing would be done, they started moving away from the US, and now, we are reaping what we have sown.

    From the statistics in this article, at least 33-40% of Americans now suffer from hunger each month. Hunger can breed the worst of uprising and revolution……The US is in for some grim times.

    As for the upcoming financial downturn? It is ongoing, it is just getting worse. There has been no recovery since 2009, except on paper, and endless US propaganda. The only products sold on the markets (besides mergers and acquisitions) are comprised of debt.

    There are millions more, who are going to suffer at the next downward twist of this endless global depression that has been going on since 2008. They are the ones riding the coats of the greedy guts believing the markets will stay as they are forever……..

    Reply

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