Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: a food stamp nation

You don’t have to dig deep to see the results of the financial crisis
of '07. With the aftermath still evident as the US skirts the brims of
recession, here is yet another example of economic collapse: 15
percent of Americans are using food stamps.
More than 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, use
government-subsidized food stamps to feed their family today,
signaling an increase of 74 percent since 2007. A recent report by
Reuters reveals that in 2010, $68 billion went towards the program,
which is leaving lawmakers looking towards benefits like these as a
way to save pennies and cents from coast-to-coast.
It’s not just the hungry that are in need of a hand-out, however.
Social Security benefit claims have climbed to a high too, showing a
surge of 50 percent since ten years earlier.
Combined with mass unemployment, aging baby boomers reaching
retirement age and a tremendous tally of those that just can’t work,
Americans are looking for assistance more than ever; but how long can
the country continue to help?
The Associated Press reveals that estimates from Congress suggest that
the funds for Social Security disability benefits will be dried up by
2017. By 2040 the money that pays for Social Security retirement
checks will be gone, as well. At this rate, Americans don’t stand to
achieve assistance in a generation down the road, but Republican
lawmakers looking to eliminate entitlement programs as a way of
combating the disastrous debt the country has accumulated may bring
that end to a time much sooner than Americans anticipate.
Under today’s regulations, Social Security benefits for retirees come
into play at age 66, though those younger can reap in revenue for
qualifying for disability at a much earlier age. Social Security
Commissioner Michael Astrue says that many too young for retirement
reach out for those disability rewards due to dire times when
employment seems out of the question.
"It's primarily economic desperation," Astrue says to AP. "People on
the margins who get bad news in terms of a layoff and have no other
place to go and they take a shot at disability.”
Of those that can find work, it is often not enough to raise a family.
More than 70 million Americans received minimum wage or lower as
workplace compensation in 2010, tallying up to 6 percent of the US
population. A few years before the recession, that figure was only at
3 percent of America. Tashawana Green from Queens Village, New York
tells Reuters that she was working for barely $8/hour to support her
six-year-old daughter, and though food stamps helped her through
hardships, the country shouldn’t be expected to foot the bill when
employers can’t.
"It's a good thing that the government helps, but if employers paid
enough and gave enough hours, then we wouldn't need to be on food
stamps," says Green, who told Reuters she worked an average of 25
hours a week at a Target retail store.
Another user of government assistance tells Reuters that she had to
swallow her pride to go on food stamps, saying that she had to do what
was best for her daughter. "I felt the way our national debt was going
I didn't want to be part of the problem," says Jessica King of
Portland, “but I didn't know what else to do.”
More and more Americans are being faced with the same problem, but as
the country’s collection plate is emptying out, many might have
nowhere to turn in a few years’ time.

 government-subsidized food stamps to feed their family today,
http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/02/25/as-end-nears-gaddafi-offers-400-per-family-to-stop-the-uprising-libya-feb15/

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