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Saturday, August 4, 2012

The Hunger Games

I just heard an ad on the radio discussing how one in eight Americans "struggles" with hunger. According to the ad one eighth of all Americans do not know where their next meal is coming from. It then makes a pitch for contributions to a charity that fights hunger.

It makes me wonder. As of today, about sixty million folks in the USA get food stamps. That is one-sixth of the population. There are tens of millions of folks on welfare, unemployment, disability and other government payment programs. Nearly all the elderly get social security. So, who are these forty million hungry people? That is what the number is according to the ad: forty million hungry people. Everyone in America who earns up to thirty percent above the poverty level gets food stamps. That means everyone in poverty and all those who are even close to poverty get food stamps. With all this money flowing out from the government, how can forty million people still be hungry?

The truth is that I just do not believe it. On top of all the government programs, there are countless private groups dealing with hunger as well. There is no way that forty million people do not know where there next meal will come from unless they are including people who are going to pick a restaurant to visit but have yet to decide.

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