Who ever thought that in this the twenty first century millions of our citizens in the United States of America are facing each day wondering whether their are going to be able to put food on the table. With the current rate of staggering numbers of individuals who face acute hunger and starvation increasing daily all over this country is not only putting this countries health in serious jeopardy, but the economic implications have also become very dire. To put this nation’s health in jeopardy is in effect undermining the economic stability and growth of our nation as well. When a nation that has more of their citizens facing hunger and starvation goes hand in hand with that nations ability to remain ineffective in securing economic growth and stability. Whether it is because they can’t afford, unable to shop, or whatever assistance there is it still isn’t enough.
Today the majority of citizens when they shop any readily available food sources their are the prices are so inflated they probably can’t afford them anyway. This is not the United States that I remember when I was younger. We have succumbed to third world status in that the majority of citizens have lost their financial security. Governmental policies of the past 40 years have encouraged businesses in denying millions of citizens the opportunities that would enable them to secure living wage jobs so that they would have the availability and the capital to procure enough food to be healthy and productive. This produces a vibrant and stable economy. Something that is so evidently lacking in our country today.
How we degenerated to this level is so frustrating for the United States citizen because, through no fault of their own they have been thrust into an economic deterioration on the same parallel as the Great Depression of the 1930’s. In every major city and in most rural areas the growing magnitude of despondent and depressed populace is so evident. With no relief coming anytime soon these citizens are now faced with an ever increasing plight on where to find affordable sufficient food. When there is more than enough sources of readily available food in this country to ensure that no person or child will ever go hungry is not available or attainable is a formula for disaster.
There are a lot of factors that have contributed to this increasing crisis. From the fraudulent and greedy practices of our financial institutions, the miss guided attempts by our legislatures, a business culture ripe with contempt for the average worker all of which continues to stop the deluge of living wage jobs from disappearing. It is no wonder that today the American Public is so outraged. With more citizens still being faced with foreclosure each day, middle class wage earners being forced to succumbed to lower wages, or worse have incomes eliminated altogether the plight of the majority of United States citizens continues to be one of despair and despondency. When you have to have armed security officers guarding food delivery personnel in cities like Detroit we are definitely in deep trouble as a free society.
In every sector of America hunger, lack of fresh drinking water, and proper sanitation have been increasing become more apparent. When the economy of the United States has receded into this economic catastrophe with out the proper safeguards to keep the citizens from further suffering what we have ended up creating is a society that has lost it’s ability to be stable and healthy. This crisis has been escalating for years now. Every school district in the United States has been trying to make up the lack of proper nutrition and the growing need to feed our children that attend school. This is primarily because parents can’t or haven’t been able to provide the necessary nutritional food that is so important for the development of children, to keep them healthy, and be able to perform in school. If our children continue to be denied the proper nutrition and education on the necessary steps they must learn to ensure healthy and productive lives the future of the United States is seriously in doubt. The sad irony is that especially children as well as adults can actually be starving their bodies even though they are feed. Within the past 25 years the nutritional value in the food that is consumed in the United States is almost void of all the nutrients that are essential for proper growth, nutrition, and health. The mere fact that there is such an epidemic of childhood and adult obesity in this country is testament to this fact. From the way food is grown, harvested, and prepared for distribution has all undermined the vitality and nutritional value of our food. So that now whatever food is on the shelves of stores, the produce in stock, or the meat and fish on display all are almost completely void of the proper nutrition and vitamins.
What is needed today to stem the rising tide of hunger in America is going to involve not only government intervention but all of us. We have to change the current way our agricultural industry plants crops so that the food harvested is guaranteed to have all the nutrients that they are supposed to have for maintaining health. There must be increasing allotments to our food banks to where there will be plentiful amounts of food available to all in need. There must be a unilateral approach to reducing the cost of available water that cities and towns now charge for homeowners. This cost must be reduced and if people can’t afford their water bill then alternative means must be put in place to safeguard these homeowners so that their water will not be shut off for lack of payment. A type of water assistance program similar to the fuel assistance program already in place will prevent citizens from having to struggle with the ever increasing water and sewer rates. This country is still only one of a few countries in the world that does not recognize that clean abundant fresh water as a basic right. This must change! The Food Stamp program has to be restructured so that it will be able to accommodate the ever increasing numbers of citizens that need help with the rising cost of food. Now, the distribution costs to transport food from areas that have abundance to ones that are in need must be reduced. One way to help ease this cost is to have each trucking company be given tax incentives to help with the rising cost of transport.
With all these measures in place this will help ease the crisis of hunger among the rising amounts of people who are in dire need of food. They now will be able to receive the assistance they need. To ensure and to stop the escalation of hunger in America a massive job creation program must be implemented to ensure that every United States citizen can find employment with living wages to support themselves and their families. Only in this way will the United States be able to secure the future prosperity for all and finally eradicate hunger in America.