Think things are getting better? Think again. Food stamp usage is actually up from the latest data. As of June 2012, 46,670,373 people are on food stamps in the United States. That's 14.9% or less than 1 in 7 people are on food assistance. The United States population in June 2012 was 314,067,000 and this figure includes everyone, including people overseas. Food stamp usage increased 3.3% from June 2011 and 0.4% from May 2012.
Since October 2007, food stamp usage has increased 72.8%. Population has increased 3.7% during the same time period. That is how badly America is hurting.
Below is the yearly percent change in food stamp usage per state. As we can see with the recession claimed to be over in July 2009, we still are seeing more people going on food stamps. Population increased only 0.7% from June 2011 to June 2012.
There are over 6 million whose only income is food stamps. That means they are living on the streets with absolutely nothing else.
This is an update to our popular post overviewing food stamp usage from last year and was also updated with June's statistics when the May data was originally published.
Comments
And yet our politicians couldn't care less about our misery
Make those parasites sitting in our government(at all levels, local through DC, the Fed, IMF, World Bank) that are getting rich off banksterism and our tax money move out here in the real world. Let them struggle to to feed themselves with food stamps in 2012 for a few months and skip the lobbyist dinners and jets. Let them look 24/7 for jobs that pay so little that you need foodstamps to get by and be rejected 2,000 times because they have no real world experience that their families or cronies didn't hook them up with. 2012 and this isn't leading to mass protests and outrage at every single official? These politicians will keep getting fatter (literally and figuratively) and wealthier while we starve. Sure hope we can send more money and aid through the IMF to other countries and help feed them, let's ignore our own citizens, their starvation, and their unemployment. Hey, where are Hillary and Bill making friends overseas today?
Meanwhile, in Florida, sure hope Romney doesn't talk about fending for yourself and Ayn Rand when things like hurricanes bear down on the USA - 'cause things like the National Weather Service, NASA satellites, Coast Guard, National Guard, FEMA, US Army Corps of Engineers, Einsenhower's interstate highway system, military technology like rescue boats and helicopters and stormchasing airplanes, etc. all pretty important federal items, along with federal aid, when natural disasters (like hurricanes, floods, forest fires, tornadoes, etc.) come calling as they do every single year.
National conventions - pretty sure no one there is going to be working two jobs so they can still rely on food stamps to feed themselves and loved ones. Lobbyists are covering everyone's bill - but remember, nothing's free in life, and they want more payout from that hated government whoever wins.
"Job creators" making serfs of us all
Just think how fantastic it must be to have a degree or two, 1-20 years of experience, and then work for some boss who's got you working as an intern for free. And what's your reward? You need to use foodstamps (brought to you by the fine folks at JPMorgan, including Jamie "It's easier to name the laws I haven't broken" Dimon. Middle class, see ya. We've got bosses making people work for free and citizens depending entirely on the govt. to survive.
I look at China and I see the same thing. The whole Revolution came about because of exploitation (in that case, foreign powers). But what do we have now? The PRC government is now so desperate to keep foreign companies happy (until they can steal all the IP) and keep people employed that Foxconn was using interns forced to work for free. So now the PRC and the US aren't so different after all, as long as the oligarchs here are happy and the Party elite are happy over there, who cares about the rest of us?
That.'s The GOP Hostage Strategy
GOP needed a Hostage to get back into office. There is no other way considering that they squandered a budget surplus. What other way can they get back on the saddle to continue wringing the peasants? Answer is obvious. Wanna get out of a tight situation... take a hostage from the other side. Is this number startling? Not really. Wait and see what happens if we don't re-elect Obama. Wall Street knows that money is neither gained nor lost... it just exchanges hands.All the money you lost from your 401K.... whos got it? For those who lost their homes... guess who's scooping it up for 20 cents on a dollar you paid for it. All these a fluke?....heck NO some persons had it going for the past 12 years and about to step in again to set us up for the next flip.. Give it 10 years and they do it over again. No regs, No restriction..... because they wanna have a free hand to pull the dirt again. Yes we are pretty dumb and they know it. They are telling it to our faces but they also know what they know. That we are dumb. They are watching. What we do, confirms what they think. Are we just about to do it to ourselves again? They are asking.
Obama operative?
We know both campaigns have hired legions to control the social message. This statistic is a result of both Dem and Republican policies. Dems want more illegal immigration, basically open border, unlimited. Republicans want more offshore outsourcing. Both of these things labor arbitrage the U.S. citizen worker. Dems want to import more foreign workers, so do Republicans, both bailed out the Banksters, DOJ won't prosecute white collar, financial crime and regulations lax as they are, are not implemented. Sure we can and do blame the Bush tax cuts as well as Afghanistan and Iraq wars for causing most of the current fiscal crisis. But the fiscal crisis has little to do with people having no work and only can get food stamps to survive on the streets. But acting like Dems are better, beyond funding food stamps? That's a laugh, neither party will act in the U.S. citizen worker's best interest or even the national interest. They are both bought and paid for by MNCs and other big money interests.
Romney claims he will confront China meanwhile both parties are working on another bad trade deal, TPP. It's a joke. Obama administration has done nothing about China trade or currency manipulation.