Friday, December 16, 2011

New Census Figures: 1 in 2 Americans Poor Or Low-Income

Nearly half of Americans (From the graph: 16.1% + 31.8% = 47.9%) are living at or close to poverty levels. Many of them are children and the elderly, groups with little ability to change their situation:

Reading Between the Poverty Lines New York Times, 19 November, 2011



How do you grow an economy when half the population struggles to put food on the table? And what is that food? How can we advance diets that feature expensive organic non-industrially-farmed vegetable and animal products when they are out-of-reach for so many?

I see with ever more clarity that what people eat is more a question of economics and politics than of health. I'm understanding why Michelle Obama may be deemphasizing the food aspect of her Obesity Campaign in favor of the move aspect:

Let’s Move Campaign Gives Up On Healthy Diets For Kids?, Marion Nestle's Food Politics blog, 5 December, 2011

How can she be "ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food" while the price and access to that food each day becomes more out-of-reach for millions of Americans?
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Related: Census Shows 1 In 2 People Are Poor Or Low-Income: Nearly half of Americans are low-income as rising expenses, unemployment shrink middle class, Yahoo Finance, 16 December, 2011

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