Celebrating Hunger in America

While a lot of things this year seem to be going down, we Americans can pride ourselves on one number: 40 million. For the first time in our nation's history, we have 40 million people (my wife and I included) who rely on food stamps to help us meet our monthly nutritiounal needs.

Not wanting to rest on our laurels, it is predicted that we will set another all-time high next year as an additional 3 million people will join the food stamps roles. Since government forecasters keep overestimating predictions of economic recovery and underestimating key financial data, I'm feeling very confident that the final tally for next year may reach as high as 45 million or more.

Breakout the Spam and Kool-Aid. It's celebration time!

Well, before the festivities get underway, there is a bit of bad news. I'll let the editors of the Houston Chronicle fill you in.

The bad news is that $12 billion of that $26 billion [from the federal relief package to states passed about 10 days ago] will come from a future reduction in funding for the federal food stamp program. (About $10 billion will come from raising taxes on multinational corporations based in the U.S.)

So we're penalizing the hungry poor to help the poor who need medical services, and we're providing adequate teaching staff who will then need to deal with the potential learning and behavioral problems of those hungry children.

The problem is not with the beneficiaries of this desperately needed measure: The problem is with funding it at the expense of a program that is not only vital to so many Americans (what more basic need is there than food?) but is also an economic stimulus in itself.

Food stamps are a great deal: The federal government pays 100 percent of the program's costs, with the state sharing administrative costs fifty-fifty, and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, each dollar in benefits produces $1.84 in economic activity.

Almost 3.7 million Texans receive food stamps, nearly 15 percent of the population. In Harris County that's about 524,000 individuals.

The cuts to the food stamp program, due to go into effect in 2014, will cost Houston about $174.3 million in federal funds, reported the Chronicle's Renee Lee; the average family of four will receive $60 less in benefits per month, and the local economy will lose about $321 million, mostly in retail food sales.

Beyond all that, the Senate passed a $4.5 billion Child Nutrition Act earlier this month, $2 billion of which would come from — yes, from the federal food stamp program. Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul...

What a plan! As more people continue to be added to the food stamp rolls as the result of our faltering economy, our elected representatives and the president are taking money away from the program.

Pass me some more Spam and a piece or two of that moldy bread, please.