At food banks across the country, there has been a sizable drop-off. Down by almost half. Food baskets that used to include whole turkeys now provide turkey parts and surplus government commodities. Much of the decline in giving is explained by tighter efficiency in the food industry, which provides a good part of the food-bank inventory. Checkout scanners help retailers keep better track of inventories, which means the nation's millers, bakers and canners overproduce less.
Organizers also sense a grudging mood among private donors.
A large population of the poor, cut off from government help and thrown onto the meager capabilities of private charity - it's not a pretty picture. If people can't get jobs and enough to eat, they feel they have a very little stake in our society. If we think we have trouble now, hold on. At Ford's Theater, not far from Capitol Hill, a stage version of A Christmas Carol is playing this week. On some nights the line, with its obvious echo of the latest ideas from Congress, has been bringing gasps and mutters from the crowd.