This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog.
The things that I am going to share with you in this article are definitely very alarming. But if you live in a wealthy neighborhood and are always surrounded by other wealthy individuals that never have to worry about missing a meal, then some of the numbers in this article may not ring true to you.
Today, the gap between the wealthy and the poor in the United States is larger than ever, and many wealthy Americans don’t have too much sympathy for the struggles that other people are going through. But the truth is that most Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck. And when you are living right on the edge financially, there are times when it can be really tough to even afford the basic necessities. If you have never had to miss a meal involuntarily, good for you. Unfortunately, there are millions upon millions of Americans for which hunger is a very real problem.
If you had to guess, what would you say if someone asked you how many Americans struggle with food insecurity each year?
According to a CBS News article that was published a few months ago, “roughly 4o million people” struggle with not having enough food to eat…
The U.S. economy is enjoying nearly a decade of expansion since the Great Recession. Yet food insecurity — a lack of money or resources to secure enough to eat — still grips almost one in eight Americans. That’s roughly 40 million people. While slowly improving, that figure remains stubbornly higher than before the recession, when more than one in 10 U.S. residents had difficulty knowing when and how they might eat next, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Hungry people live in every county in America, according to the latest annual research from nonprofit relief organization Feeding America. It compiled federal and other data for 2017, its ninth year examining the issue, for a report called Map the Meal Gap. Feeding America serves 4 billion meals each year for one in eight Americans through 200 food banks and 60,000 meal programs and pantries.
We should be incredibly thankful for Feeding America and its vast network of food banks and pantries, but what happens when the need for food dramatically escalates and the food banks start running empty?
Just a few days ago I heard from a good friend in the middle of the country, and she told me that her local food bank is really pressing hard for donations right now because things are starting to get really, really right.
And we haven’t even officially entered the next recession yet.
Normally there wouldn’t be too much reason for concern, but this has definitely not been a normal year. Crops have been failing across the globe, and African swine fever is killing millions upon millions of pigs all over the planet.
In fact, thanks to the horrific outbreak of African swine fever in China, pork prices over there are 69.3 percent higher than they were a year ago…
Pork prices in China jumped 69.3% in September from a year ago as the country continued to battle a shortage of the meat that followed an outbreak of African swine fever.
Last month’s surge in pork prices was higher compared to the 46.7% increase seen in August, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics. That pushed up food prices in China by 11.2% in September, accelerating from the previous month’s 10% gain.
If that sounds really bad to you, that is because it is really bad.
And what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning.
One of the big reasons why the Chinese just agreed to buy billions of dollars worth of our agricultural products is because they have a desperate need for them.
Here in the United States, food prices have also been rising steadily and we were already going to be facing one of the worst years for Midwest farmers ever, and now an unprecedented October blizzard is going to cause widespread crop failures.
An absolutely massive storm just dumped very deep snow from Colorado to Minnesota, and it hit just as farmers were getting ready to harvest their corn and soybeans.
As I noted in a different article that I just posted, one lawmaker in North Dakota is telling the press that we should expect “massive crop losses – as devastating as we’ve ever seen”.
Millions of acres of corn and soybeans are going to be “a total loss”, and that means that all of us will soon be facing higher food prices at the supermarket.
If you are independently wealthy and food prices don’t really matter to you, then you are in good shape.
But for the rest of us, these higher prices are going to be quite painful. I would encourage you to stock up ahead of time while you still can.
Earlier this year, I extensively documented the major problems that farmers in the Midwest were having with rain and flooding, and I warned that we were potentially facing a disastrous harvest season.
Well, now that this historic blizzard has wiped out millions of acres of crops, we are potentially facing a scenario that is far worse than anything that I originally warned about.
That means that soon far more than 40 million Americans will be dealing with food insecurity. Much higher prices at the grocery store will make it much more difficult for most of us to afford the basic necessities, and those on the bottom rungs of the economic pyramid will suffer more than anyone else.
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Sorry, I don’t believe this story; that’s not to say it won’t happen in the future. The only people I know that are going hungry are men who were abused in divorce court and forced to pay exorbitant amounts of child support, alimony (I thought women wanted to be treated exactly like men), house payments (for a house they may no longer live in), health insurance for the ex-wife and any kids, and lots of other miscellaneous expenses, even if the ex has a job, leaving the man to figure out how is he going to live. Thankfully this BS didn’t happen to me but I know men it has happened to. A co-worker of mine once had to frequently depend on the kindness of other co-workers to eat. How is this justice, especially since he actually did not do anything wrong (his ex-wife has decided to use her newfound freedom to go on f*cking sprees).
Large crop disruptions likely would still not cause famine in the US, but could certainly cause food prices to rise to almost unaffordable levels. A more likely scenario of wide-spread hunger would be when gov’t debt is of such magnitude it wrecks the finances and markets of the country. You would see lots of unemployment, scaled back public pensions and social security, and welfare being cut. Then you will see hunger and with it massive civil chaos.
I agree: any man these days who does not get legal protection before breeding with a woman is a fool. You must have it in writing that the child care is 50/50 and that under no circumstances will you provide living costs to her in the event of a divorce.
My father raised 3 kids, was top of his profession, supported my mother who only ever did vanity work, and his reward for that? To be whined out by her and to be told “if you cheat, I am out of here!!!” I think he earned the right to cheat. She clearly doesn’t put out like she may once have, and he is still a fit dude with energy. Let him bang his grad students for Christ sake!!
(I thought women wanted to be treated exactly like men)
No no no. Women want to be treated exactly like the worst villainous stereotype of evil powerful men that can get away with anything. That = “men”. If you don’t believe that = “men” to them look who they sleep with. YUP! Those! If women were treated like most men, a ton (most?) of them would hang, be in prison for life, be homeless on the street corner, have zero prospects for partnership… I could go on and on… My opinion may be biased, I live in the People’s Republic of California, just to give you some context.
Agree with everything you said brother! As far as the divorce thing, you are spot on!!! Had one that was bad? Had to fight like hell for the right to see my children!!!! When you go to court, you better have a pocket full off money? And a slick lawyer!! Took me years, and a lot of money to get it straight!!!! I can understand why some men give up? But I couldn’t do that, because of my children?!!! And it all turned out great in the end! And I know it’s rough and hard on men that have children with a witch like I had?!! But the children didn’t ask to be brought in this world? So never give up fighting for them? NEVER!!! They are find today, and their witch mother is living in a whiskey bottle? You reap what you sow!! And if it was not for the way she did me and the children, I would feel sorry for her? But I don’t have much sympathy? LOL !!! As far as this story, I have been hungry, but if you will get off your ass and work, you can make it? Children is a different story! And no matter how much money you have in this life? What are you going to leave in this world that, matters? If you can leave them with good morals and principles, and the love of God? I believe you have tried to be a real parent? Sorry for the rant? I get worked up!!! LOL? But yea this story is bull! To all the divorced men out there, with children HANG TOUGH!!! They are worth it?!!!!! GOD BLESS ALL!!!!!
Fook having kids! What a pain in the ass and never ending expense from hell. They have no future (can’t argue that) and then you got the ex beech to deal with too. Be like me lol… NO kids, married for the first time at age 52! DEBT FREE, DUAL PROPERTY OWNER, CASH FOR EVERYTHING! All I hear at work is dumbasses beech about having to pay for all this crap about kids and child support etc. Wanna be a slave? Have some kids in these times and have a broke assed shitty life lol….
I agree! this story is basically bs and just more hype from the hype master of the ECB.
Shady companies really started downsizing products during the last recession. They downsized instead of raising prices.
Yeah they have, I’ve noticed this. It’s still very possible to cook for cheap. Microwave food though… it’s going up in price and shrinking in size simultaneously. They’ve just made the packaging look all upscale to attempt to compensate.
40 Million Americans Already Don’t Have Enough Food To Eat?
Really? Then why are Americans so fat?
b/c these ppl are eating all the wrong foods–foods that satisfy (chips and other junk foods that are cheap & deeply satisfying and long lasting) instead of the foods that are good-for-you.
they can’t afford the food that is good for you and satisfies.
And because 90% of the population don’t EXERCISE,unless you count using their fingers to operate their cellphone, and play tech games all day.
Agree: I have never seen a hungry American. I have seen plenty of fat ones, especially grossly obese black women wobbling around major cities. If all the food is gone then maybe you need to go to the black ghettos to look for it ‘cause that seems to be where all the calories be at!!!
Because corn is subsidized, so high fructose corn syrup is in bloody everything. It makes you fat, makes you store fat more readily, and actually makes you hungrier, all at the same time. It’s like the perfect “fat pill”.
High fructose corn syrup combined with inactivity.
Americans are so fat because they stuff their faces with quick-n-easy processed convenience “food” instead of prying their lazy butt off the couch, waddling into the kitchen, and actually cooking a meal from scratch.
Not Me, agreed the article is BS. I used to see blimps in the city I just recently moved from every day and they’re all freeloaders. mooching off working peoples’ tax money with the EBT cards, etc.
Why am I not able to see anybody’s comments?
Snapdragon, my comments aren’t being posted for the last two days. Moderation then nothing. This site is now too disfunctional.
From my own understanding, a desktop computer is really nothing more than a folder in the Windows Operating System, it is supposed to auto refresh when the contents change, sometimes it does not. It’s possible you may need to refresh the page. Go to techwalla.com, there is simple directions what to do there.
And yet we throw away food at an unbelievable pace, because it is not picture perfect. Yet those of us that garden, or buy from farmers markets have no problem with imperfect food. No one should be starving in the USA.
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/10/14/ugly-but-nutritious-veggie-movement-looks-to-curb-food-waste/
That pickiness led to 10 million tons of cosmetically imperfect or unharvested food lost each year.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/us-food-waste-ugly-fruit-vegetables-perfect
The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry
https://www.medicaldaily.com/food-waste-america-fruits-and-vegetables-among-top-foods-thrown-away-annually-337526
Food Waste In America: Fruits and Vegetables Among Top Foods Thrown Away Annually
bingo !! you are correct.
Bullshit! It’s because there are WAYYYYY to many people on earth. Do your kids a HUGE favor and get them sterilized…. or be a dumbass….
Always get seconds at the fall festival, usually have very little to cut out its mostly blemishes. Very cheap, thanks to very picky consumers. Works for me.
Where the immature trees have made tiny fruit, if it was green and fallen, I have made sure to keep it out of the sidewalks. Some people, walking by, try to scrounge for some food off the ground. Where the neighbor’s walnuts have fallen in the streets, they will all be gone, in half a day.
There seems to be one level of poverty, where welfare allows you to buy junkfood, cigarettes, and electronics, and another level of poverty, where you have just fallen through the cracks.
There is no social construct or bargain, in which you need a live body at your labor post. It breaths and has a pulse. So, you cover life support. Yet, you have a formal planner, who supposed to decide what is the maximum occupancy, or what is the least amount you can be paid.
Carrying capacity is always enough for this useless person.
Too many people unprepared,don’t stock up and many would rather buy a new I phone instead of food for the family.
There’s a difference between eating the proper portions and overindulging.
Too many people don’t know when to put the fork down.
OBESITY and DRUG ADDICTION rates have skyrocketed since the 90’s and have reached EPIC proportions.
Huxley’s book “Brave New World” written in 1932 was spot on predicting a future where the citizens would become totally distracted by guilty pleasures and so hopelessly addicted to drugs that they would stop caring.
OBESITY and DRUG ADDICTION are the real SHTF, not some Hollywood “Terminator/Purge/Rambo” fantasy BS..
Too many people have mistaken Hollywood “entertainment” for REALITY..
Turn of the 20th century immigrants not having two cents to rub together ate and they were poor. I can only speak for the Italians who prepared “pasta fazool” a nutritious bean and pasta stew. They could make a huge pot of it for almost nothing. It’s now $10.00 a bowl in restaurants. These people also grew as much as they could and had gardens in the back yard of row homes in the cities. They in todays time could feed a family of 4 for dinner for less than $5 and have leftovers. If you want prepared food it will cost ya.
I know someone that is forced to eat on $20 a week. If you can call that eating. I have tried, there is no way I can hit that number or I would. It rings true to me. Slums are as slummy as I remember, and I had to deal with one for a very long time.