Article

2024-08-03 Economy

Food insecurity hits seniors hardest as inflation squeezes families

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Posted by Skidmark 2024-08-03 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top

#1
They can quote single digit inflation all they want. But We seniors living the Fixed Income Real Life know far better.

ACTUAL CITY EXAMPLES OF INFLATED PRICES

BTW:
OH! Great news... the SSA 2025 COLA will 2.8%.
While we sent $300+ Billion to Ukraine & certain DC Swamp Pockets and more to other countries

Posted by NN2N1 2024-08-03 06:02|| 2024-08-03 06:02|| Front Page Top

#2 My COLA this year was $4.69. Not enough to buy a pound of ground beef.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2024-08-03 09:40|| 2024-08-03 09:40|| Front Page Top

#3 I buy bulk/fresh meat/poultry at Costco. Saving a bunch. Just must watch freezer space and just get produce at grocery stores.

Posted by crazyhorse 2024-08-03 11:36|| 2024-08-03 11:36|| Front Page Top

#4 "Food Insecurity" sounds so academic and thought-provoking, but lacks an emotional undertone, as intended.

HUNGER is a more accurate, and deeply troubling term when describing American citizens! The former describes an unimaginable concept a few years ago, and the latter reflects a signpost of decline.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2024-08-03 14:58|| 2024-08-03 14:58|| Front Page Top

#5 "Food Insecurity" sounds so academic and thought-provoking, but lacks an emotional undertone, as intended.

HUNGER is a more accurate,

That’s what you are supposed to think, NoMoreBS, and to react emotionally to it. But it’s actually the other way round.

From the USDA:

Ranges of Food Security and Food Insecurity

In 2006, USDA introduced new language to describe ranges of severity of food insecurity. USDA made these changes in response to recommendations of an expert panel convened at USDA's request by the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) of the National Academies. Although new labels were introduced, the methods used to assess households' food security remained unchanged, so statistics for 2005 to now are directly comparable with those for earlier years. The following labels define ranges of food security:

Food Security

High food security (old label = Food security): no reported indications of food-access problems or limitations.

Marginal food security (old label = Food security): one or two reported indications—typically of anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food in the house. Little or no indication of changes in diets or food intake.

Food Insecurity

Low food security (old label = Food insecurity without hunger): reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake.

Very low food security (old label = Food insecurity with hunger): reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.

Reading further at the link, it is revealed most households labelled food insecure are much more worried about the possibility of food running out in the future than actually going hungry. Less than 20% of those experiencing low food security had actually cut the size of a meal or skipped a meal in the past 3+ months.

Posted by trailing wife 2024-08-03 16:28|| 2024-08-03 16:28|| Front Page Top

#6 I love it when you delve into a topic, but would add a cautionary contra-indication TW. The below exemplars are from a cursory google search on people skipping meals to save money. My own personal experience suggests the food issue is a component of overall financial crisis for a large swath of the American public. The Wiki cite makes the point: "37% of Americans can't afford an emergency expense over $400, according to Empower research.Jul 2, 2024"

"39% of Americans say they’ve skipped meals to make housing payments: report"
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/39-of-americans-say-theyve-skipped-meals-to-make-housing-payments-report-e4769c9f
"
Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults sometimes don't get enough to eat"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-in-four-americans-food-insecure/

Posted by NoMoreBS 2024-08-03 16:58|| 2024-08-03 16:58|| Front Page Top

#7 Fair enough and thank you, NoMoreBS — your good opinion is well worth having.

I agree that Americans in general are considerably more financially insecure than before Joe Biden was sworn in. And that people are having to make choices that they mostly did not have to before Covid, and even more so since Donald Trump left office — I cannot speak to the details, since Mr. Wife took over the grocery shopping during Covid, but he has mentioned that even with his mad money managing skills (he is much, much better at such things than I, though not close to what his little sister do with a dollar), he spends about double what we used to before.

On the other hand, as a society Americans have long been terrible about saving, so inevitably too many get into financial difficulties when the economy goes south — and then many aren’t willing to downsize until they are in serious trouble. I watched this same discussion following the 2008 housing bubble crisis, the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000, and Reagan recession in 1981. Arguably it’s worse this time because the economy was doing so well on Donald Trump’s watch, which seduced more into trusting that the future would be just as secure…

Posted by trailing wife 2024-08-03 17:47|| 2024-08-03 17:47|| Front Page Top

#8 Did they end home economics in schools when they shut down the industrial arts?

Posted by Procopius2k 2024-08-03 18:17|| 2024-08-03 18:17|| Front Page Top

#9 State of Obesity 2023: Better Policies for a Healthier America

Posted by Skidmark 2024-08-03 18:37|| 2024-08-03 18:37|| Front Page Top

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