Stuff isn’t getting better.
Sure, that’s not going to take any prizes as a campaign slogan or bumper sticker sentiment, but the evidence is clear.
Stuff isn’t getting better.
As local food bank volunteers could undoubtedly attest, people are in serious trouble out there, at least people who are part of the working class are.
The Associated Press reported this week:
“A report released Wednesday by Feeding America, a hunger-relief organization, finds that food banks that were originally created to serve as stop-gap emergency food providers are now taking a long-term, chronic role for Americans turning to them routinely to get enough to eat.
“The organization’s Hunger in America 2010 report, the ‘Food Banks: Hunger’s New Staple,’ found through data compiled in 2009 that 18 percent of those surveyed said they used food pantries six to 11 months of the previous year, while 36 percent they used them every month.
“The survey also found that among those 65 years and older, 56 percent went to a food pantry every month. And even those receiving aid in the form of supplemental nutrition money still needed more help, with 58 percent of them being frequent or monthly users.”
What the regular food bank recipients report is that food prices have become so inflated in the past couple of years that what they make, combined with other help, just does not keep up.
We can argue about what to do about it.
We can debate the philosophies of providing more help or establishing an improved economy in which more people can help themselves, but those alternatives don’t matter a lot to someone who is trying to feed a family on a stagnant income while food prices continue to rise.
This has been a serious issue for some time now, but both political parties would rather discuss massive bail-outs and buy-ups and invest-ins.
Meanwhile the working class who used to be the bedrock of our society, are losing hope.
They don’t need platitudes.
They don’t need programs.
They need government to get out of their way and our of their pockets and they need a chance to support their families.
We once believed this was the American way, the Kansas way, the Barton County way.
Is it? Or isn’t it?
— Chuck Smith