Not soon enough. Paul
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:40:47 -0400
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[log in to unmask]Subject: Food for thought
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In April 2011, 45 million Americans, around 1 in 7, were recieving Food Stamps. Predictable, perhaps,in a country with a more threadbare (sorry, 'incentivising') social security system than Europeans are accustomed to. What's more suprising is what you find if you go back in time. In 2003, 22 million were on this programme. Three years before that, 2000, there were just 17 million Food Stamp recipients (source, the Guardian, 3 November 2003,pp.1-2, 'Long queue at drive-in soup kitchen'). So we've had the Credit Crunch since ca. 2007, but the biggest economy on the planet has been busy producing Food Stamp recipients since 2000, at an impressive rate of one extra recipient per 12 seconds. Even over the 'good times', pre 2007. How long before everyone, except perhaps Bill Gates, is getting them?
Dr Hillary Shaw
Food and Supply Chain Management Department
Harper Adams University College
Newport
Shropshire
TF10 8NB
www.fooddeserts.org