At this point several readers made Whole Foods jokes … :The percentage of Americans “struggling to afford food” has hit a 7-year low — 15.8% — according to Gallup. That’s relatively good news. On the other hand, the same survey reports that almost 4% of Americans with incomes over $90,000 “struggled to afford food” in the past year, suggesting … I dunno … that there are things about this survey that aren’t as clear as they seem (and probably that the survey overstates the hunger problem). …
Mickey Kaus
Kausfiles
Attention people: the new hot survey about how Americans can’t afford food is hot garbage. http://t.co/E9JyGxbdnv
I have no trouble believing 3.6% of households with incomes over $90,000 said “Yes” to the question: “Have there been times in the last 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”
Unemployment does not begin to cover the bills for this group. This is also the group with lots of women who don’t work, work parttime or work at jobs that pay much, much less than their male partner. If these women leave their relationships, their financial situation can take a huge nosedive.
So if Harris asks “on what income did you pay income taxes on in 2014” to get household income and you say “$120,000” but in June 2015 you are only making $500 a week in unemployment or without the higher earning wage earner, well, that’s explains “food insecurity” for this group. There’s a lot of people who don’t know that about 35 states no longer have an asset test for Food Stamps — that you do not have to spend down to get them.
I would encourage people to go the Gallup article. I found it very interesting.
For example, it seems to me that Food Stamps is not offering enough help to the people who need it most. 37.9% of the lowest income group of those making $24,000 or less said “Yes” to the question about food insecurity. Most people who get Food Stamps do not get the maximum; they are expected to use their wages to cover part of their food costs. I suspect with wages stagnating and things like housing going up that many people can’t afford the requirement Food Stamps “co-payments.” 8.9% of middle income households making $48,000-$59,999 said “Yes” to food insecurity. That’s pretty bad. I bet a lot of those people have seen their available cash after paying bills go way down vs. what it was 10-20 years ago.