Food sustainability in America

In 2014, vote against the John Boehner Congress! 

"...hunger in America appears to be edging up rather than down."

My stark orientation to the cost of food came abruptly when I went to buy a modest sized ham. Just had a hankering for ham, but hello? I didn't buy a ham at $40. Instead, my husband and I purchased a less expensive pork roast, instead. A Christian Science Monitor article is finally reporting on this problem.  Although the cost of food has been on the increase, the US Congress has ignored this trend and cut food stamp assistance for people who most need help.

This is an example of why Americans should vote against the John Boehner led Congress.

Christian Science Monitor reports official statistics, show a US economy in recovery, but 1 in 5 people in a new poll still say that there have been times in the last 12 months when they didn't have enough money to buy food.

That news, delivered by a Gallup poll released Friday, is the latest reminder that America’s revival from a deep recession is a slow one – and that some measures of economic distress can remain high even as other gauges show improvement.

Gallup asked a large sampling of US adults if there have been times in the past 12 months when they did not have enough money to buy food that they or their families needed.

Some 18.9 percent of poll respondents said they had struggled to afford food, a nationwide total that compares with 18.2 percent in 2012 and 17.8 percent in 2008 (the lowest rate recorded since Gallup began asking the question in that year).

By that measure, hunger in America appears to be edging up rather than down.

A caveat about the polling is potentially important, though. The distance between the 2013 Gallup figure and 2012 (or 2008) is basically encompassed in the poll’s margin of error of 1 percentage point.

Gallup’s ongoing survey is large one, with about 500 people being asked the question each day. Still, the “margin of error” estimate means the pollsters estimate that imperfect sampling could mean that actual numbers are about 1 percentage point higher or lower than what the poll found.

At the very least, though, the poll can be viewed as evidence that hunger in America is persisting, despite an improving job market.

Nevertheless, with food sustainability becoming more challenging and unemployment benefits cut, both of these draconian policies supported by the John Boehner Congress, food stamps assistance is also reduced.  Hunger in American should be illegal. 

It's time for America to respond by voting the John Boehner Congress out of office in the 2014 mid term elections.