This is a chart that all Americans should be ashamed of. It shows the percentage of Americans that at some time in the last year did not have the money to provide food for themselves or their families. The percentage for all people is about 15% -- roughly equal to the percentage of the population living below the poverty level. That 15% translates into more than 48 million people.
How can the richest nation in the world have over 48 million people who cannot always afford to buy food? It's because the Republicans who control Congress don't care. They think it's more important to give tax breaks to the rich and unneeded subsidies to corporations than to feed hungry people in this country (or to mandate a wage that would bring them out of poverty).
The Republicans would like to write those living in poverty off as being "lazy". But that's just not true. Most of them work hard at a full-time job. They just aren't paid enough to live above the poverty level. This could be fixed by raising the minimum wage to between $12 and $15 an hour. In addition, food assistance could be raised for those unable to work. But the Republicans will do neither. They want to cut food assistance further, and leave the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour (or eliminate it altogether).
Seniors (those 65 and over) are doing a little better than other age groups. They have 7.9% who sometimes can afford to buy food -- the only age group with below a double-digit percentage. But the Republicans are trying to fix that. They want to raise the retirement age and cut Social Security benefits -- both of which are guaranteed to raise the percentage of seniors without food security.
Just on the level of common decency, it is imperative that the Republicans be voted out of power this November.
The chart above reflects the results of a new Gallup Poll -- done between January 2nd and December 30th of 2015 of a random national sample of 177,281 adults, with a margin of error of only 0.1 points.
