Usa, società Wsws 06-03-09
Fame in America: 25 milioni dipendono da aiuti
alimentari d’emergenza
Alan Whyte
Rapporto di Hunger in America 2006:
-
Negli
USA oltre 25mn. di persone, pari al 9% della popolazione totale, ricevono aiuti
alimentari d’emergenza; -
tra
questi 9 mn. di bambini e 3 di anziani. -
+
8% su 2001; + 18% su 1997. -
66%
dei bisognosi vivono sotto la soglia di povertà ($15 670 annue per
famiglia di 3 componenti); il reddito medio di coloro chiedono assistenza è di $10 320; -
il
10% tra i richiedenti adulti non ha reddito, + 37% su 2001.
I “lavoratori poveri”:
-
36%
di tutte le famiglie richiedenti avevano almeno un famigliare occupato; per ¼ di
tutte le famiglie richiedenti il lavoro era la fonte di reddito principale; per
il 20% lo erano i sussidi sociali. -
Metà
di tute le famiglie richiedenti avevano un reddito inderiore a $10 000. -
13
milioni i bambini sotto la soglia di povertà, pari al 18% di tutti gli
americani. -
Anziani:
3,4 milioni, il 10% della popolazione, ha redditi bassi e fissi; il 46% di
tutti gli adulti intervistati ha dichiarato di avere una cattiva salute. -
39%
di coloro che ricevono aiuti alimentari è bianco; il 38% nero, ma con un 13% di
popolazione totale nera; il 17% ispanico.
I dati del Rapporto del Dipartimento federale dell’Agricoltura,
sul 2004, confermano:
-
38,2
mn., compresi 13,9 mn. bambini hanno fame o cibo insufficiente.
New York City, polarizzazione sociale estrema:
-
1,7
mn. sotto la soglia di povertà; -
1,2
mn., pari al 14,6% dei newyorkesi, fa la fame, contro il 12,59 del 2001. -
disoccupati,
18-64 anni, per oltre un anno: nel 2003-04 erano il 30,6% contro 27,6% del
1999-2000; la disoccupazione ufficiale al 5,9% non tiene conto di chi p
costretto a lavorare meno ore. -
retribuzioni
annuali da $10 693 (1999-200) a $10 133 (03-04); -
salari
orari: $7,71 à$7,22 -
Redditi
reali: a Manhattan + 5,4%; -
negli
altri 4 quartieri della città -2,9% - nel 2002-2004, + 20% persone con reddito oltre $200 000.
Wsws 06-03-09
Hunger in America:
25 million depend on emergency food aid
By Alan Whyte
The
brutal impact of social polarization and the protracted assault on the living standards of broad masses
of working people was reflected in two
recent reports documenting the deepening crisis of hunger in America.
– According to the February 23
report, “Hunger in America 2006,” a study commissioned by America’s
Second Harvest Network, an organization representing some 200 food banks and
food rescue groups,
– more than 25 million
people, or about 9 percent of all Americans, receive food assistance on an
emergency basis. This growing army of poor and hungry
includes nearly 9 million
children and 3 million seniors.
– The overall number of those seeking help at food banks and soup lines has swelled by 8 percent since 2001, and
18 percent since 1997. The study was based on 52,000 interviews with people
requiring emergency food and on a survey of 30,000 local emergency
hunger-relief agencies.
– The report found that about 66 percent of those needing food are living below the official
poverty line—$15,670 per year for a family of three. The average annual household income
of those individuals and families seeking food assistance is only $10,320. However, 10 percent of all adults had no income
at all, which is a 37 percent increase in this category since 2001.
Another
large share of those seeking assistance is drawn
from what is commonly referred to as the
working poor.
– About one third of
the adults between the ages of 18 and 65 needing emergency food aid are
employed. Thirty-six
percent of all families seeking assistance reported that at least one family member was working.
One fourth of all households reported that a job was their primary source of
income, followed by 20 percent who reported that Social Security was their
primary source of income. Half of
all the households reported annual incomes of less than $10,000.
The report examined the lack of
resources for those seeking
emergency food. Twelve percent are homeless, which is a 28 percent increase
over 2001. Almost one half do not have access to a car, and about one
third obtain food stamps, which on average last only 2.5 weeks per month.
Seventy percent of those seeking assistance are classified as food insecure—that
is, not knowing when they will get their next meal—while 30 percent are
experiencing hunger because they have no way of obtaining food.
–
The individuals who seek emergency food are constantly
making choices between buying food or paying for utilities or heat (41
percent), buying food and paying their rent or mortgage (35 percent), or buying
food and paying medical bills (32 percent).
Children and seniors are the two most vulnerable groups among those
facing hunger. Many studies have demonstrated that
children suffering from malnutrition experience stunted physical growth and
brain development.
– There are 13 million
children, or almost 18 percent of all Americans, who are poor. The elderly, who are less mobile, are also vulnerable to serious
health problems stemming from hunger.
– With fixed and low
incomes, 3.4 million seniors, or about 10 percent of that population, are poor. In addition, 46 percent of all the adults interviewed described
their health as fair to poor.
Those forced to turn to emergency food
assistance are drawn from all ethnic groups, according to the report,
which said that 39 percent
of the recipients are white, 38 percent black, and 17 percent Hispanic.
However, the number of
black people seeking assistance is highly disproportionate in relation to their
total percentage of the American population (13 percent).
The study’s findings are consistent
with those of the federal government’s own research. For example, the US
Department of Agriculture has estimated that in 2004, 38.2 million
Americans, including 13.9 million children, faced hunger or a lack of sufficient
food. According to the department’s findings, the number of people needing
emergency food aid has steadily increased each year for the last five years.
–
The growth of hunger at one pole of society goes
hand-in-hand with the unprecedented accumulation of personal wealth at the
other. Nowhere is this truer than in New York City, the capital of US and world finance capital, which is the
focus of the second recent report. While the city boasts of perhaps the greatest concentration of
multi-millionaires and billionaires on the planet, currently, more than 1.7
million people in New York
live below the federal poverty line.
These conditions are reflected in the
annual report on hunger in the city released by the New York City Coalition
against Hunger late last year. It found that more than 1.2 million New Yorkers, or 14.6 percent of the city’s
population, faced hunger—up from
12.59 percent five years ago. One statistic confirming that there was a
significant increase in food insecurity over last year is that in the first
eight months of 2005, the City’s Human Resource Administration (HRA) helped
fund 6,988,218 emergency meals, which is 19,695 more than during the same
period in 2004.
In the Coalition’s survey of nearly
1,100 agencies that provide emergency food, 73 percent of them said that need
for emergency food had increased in the last 12 months, with 39 percent having
reported that need had increased greatly.
These food pantries and soup kitchens
reported that their need had increased about 40 percent in the last four years
alone Sixty-one percent of the respondents reported an increased number of
families with children, while 57 percent indicated a growth in the number of
seniors seeking food. Due to limited resources, 47 percent of the respondents
reported having to turn away hungry people in 2005, an increase from 44 percent
in the same time period in 2004.
Joel Berg, the Coalition’s executive
director, cited a number of factors that
explain the growth of hunger in New
York City.
– First, there is mounting
unemployment. According to a report issued by the Community Service Society
(CSS), the share of workers aged 18 to
64 who have been unemployed for more
than a year has increased from 27.6
percent in 1999-2000 to 30.6 percent in 2003-2004—a huge share of the population
that finds no reflection in the official
5.9 percent unemployment rate. Also, this
official statistic does not take into account workers who are compelled to work
less hours.
– Secondly, the CSS report showed that the lowest paid third of New Yorkers experienced a reduction in annual
wages from $10,693 in 1999-2000 to $10,133 in 2003-2004, with hourly wages declining in the same period
from $7.71 to $7.22.
– Thirdly, the cost of housing
has increased dramatically. For example, Manhattan
apartment prices have increased 175
percent since 1995.
– Fourthly, there are bureaucratic
roadblocks created by the city that makes it unnecessarily hard for people
to obtain Food Stamps. There are 379,866 New Yorkers who receive food stamps,
26 less than the number of people who received the benefit in 1995.
According to a recent report issued by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the real income of New Yorkers has
declined in four out the five boroughs. While real income increased 5.4 percent in the borough of Manhattan,
it has declined by 2.9 percent
in the rest of the city. The consumer price index grew 27.6 percent in
the city of New York
from 1996 to 2005, significantly higher than the nationwide rate of 24 percent
for the same period.
The difference between Manhattan and the rest is a geographical expression
of the immense social polarization in
the city. The borough is home to the luxury multi-million-dollar apartments
of the rich. According to the BLS study, the number of people earning more than $200,000 a year in
Manhattan rose
almost 20 percent from 2002 to 2004.
Meanwhile, the administration of billionaire
Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg has boasted that “the number of New Yorkers
receiving public assistance fell by over 80,000 from Fiscal 2001 to fiscal
2005, a drop of 16 percent.” However, according to Joel Berg, of the New York Coalition Against
Hunger, the number of welfare recipients who were able to get jobs actually
declined by more than a third in those same four years.
This raises the obvious question of what
happens to those individuals who are forced off of public assistance yet unable
to find a job. The answer is to be found on the lengthening lines outside the
city’s soup kitchens and food pantries.