Nation's Poor Remain Hungry as Wall Street Feasts

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http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/03/nations-poor-remain-hungry-wall-street-feasts

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ALIVE Food Bank Distribution in Alexandria VA

Nation's Poor Remain Hungry as Wall Street Feasts
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Critics and anti-poverty advocates are questioning the so-called economic recovery as a USDA study (PDF) published Wednesday revealed that while the nation's wealthiest enjoyed record gains, nearly 50 million Americans continue to struggled with food insecurity in 2013.

According to the government figures, while a majority of people who were not always able to afford food last year were adults, 16 million children also went hungry at times, with 360,000 households reporting that their kids skipped meals or did not eat for an entire day because there was not enough money.

Joel Berg, executive director of the NYC Coalition Against Hunger, said the country's widespread hunger problem is deeply connected to the government's pro-corporation, anti-worker policies. "A country that combines massive hunger with record Wall Street markets is so derailed we can't even find our tracks anymore," Berg said. "These startling numbers prove there has been no true economic recovery for tens of millions of struggling U.S. families."

Overall, food insecurity is 35 percent higher than in 2007, before the recession began. In 2013, the average food-secure household spent 30 percent more on food than the average food-insecure household of the same size.

"Too many people at the top don't understand the difference between Wall Street and Main Street," Berg told Common Dreams. Corporations resettling overseas to avoid paying higher taxes in the U.S.—as exemplified by Burger King's recent merger with Canadian food chain Tim Horton's—is "supremely unpatriotic," Berg said. Asked whether government officials are willfully ignoring hunger statistics, Berg said, simply and emphatically, "Yes."