As many hungry people as millionaires in the U.S.?

Well actually, there are more people who go hungry on a regular basis in this country than those who have assets (excluding home equity) of $1 millon or over. Let's examine the actual top and bottom of the socio-economic strata.

 According to the US Department of Agriculture in 2002, 3.5% of household suffered from "severe food insecurity with hunger." This stage of food insecurity is considered the most severe, with at least one household member being hungry due to the household's inability to purchase food. (Nord, Jemison & Bickel, 1999)  Contrary to the popular belief that hunger only afflicts inner-city minorities and remote mountain folk, the majority, 81%, of America's hungry lived in metropolitan areas with 42% residing in the suburbs. (Nord, Andrews & Carlson, 2002) The poorest 1.2% of the population was homeless. (Shaft, 2003) On the other end of the strata is the top 1.7% of households with liquid assets, excluding property equity, of $1,000,000 or more. (McCann & Lavayssiere, 2006) At the top of this group were the 146,000 households, the upper 0.1%, who earned more than $1,500,000 annually. Even these incomes, however, faded in comparison to the top 400 taxpayers who made $90,000,000 or more per year. (Johnston, 2005) The US is home to all economic extremes, ranging from being unable to find food and roaming the streets without adequate shelter to earning upwards of seven figures and using Lear-jets to travel from mansion to mansion.

Sources:

• Nord, M., Jemison, K. & Bickel, G. (24 September, 1999). Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report No. (FANRR2) 24. Retrieved from: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/FANRR2/
• McCann, R. & Lavayssiere, B. (2006). World Wealth Report: 10^th anniversary edition, 1997-2006. Retrieved from http://www.us.capgemini.com/DownloadLibrary/files/Capgemini_FSI_WWR06.pdf
• Shaft, J. (30 July, 2003). US Homeless and Poverty Rates Skyrocket. Retrieved from http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4305.htm
• Johnston, D. C. (5 June, 2005). Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/class/HYPER-FINAL.html?ei=5090&en=f1af44c9cec8c79e&ex=1275624000&adxnnl=1

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by Glennsopinions, April 02, 2008

If you know anyone who is going hungry, give me their name. I will get them help if you can't handle it. You cite stats and references, but your lack of real-world experience shows. These people are not numbers in someones book somewhere and writing something like this and hoping someone will do something doesn't get it done. There are plenty of resources out there to help, but a lot of these people are have mental problems and they need people to help them find help. That something real you can do. You can get them a food stamp card in about an hour. If you can't figure out how, then look up the Department of Social Services in the phone book. Look up the VFW in your local phone book. You don't have to be a vet to help.

I do my volunteer work though the VFW where we concentrate on homeless vets who may have mental problems and get them shelter and food, but even though we concentrate on vets, we do coordinate with local organizations and anytime we come across someone who is having problems, we get them help. The VFW does get some government money, but the VFW also gets millions of dollars in private donations from (gasp) the rich. Even anti war celebrities help. Have you ever met Angelina Jolee? There is also a big well known radio personality who gave $10 million of his own money last year to veterans issues. There is a well known Irish TV personality who has raised millions as well. What have you done lately?

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0