Grits Ain't Groceries, Redux

When rich speculators prosper
While farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money
on weapons instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn-
all this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao
--Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell

There's nothing to hope for in politics,
I don't think
--Nick Hornby
_________________

Some spam mail brought my entry from two years ago to my attention (Grits Ain't Groceries). Predictably since then, the situation of "food insecurity" (= "hunger") in the U.S. has degenerated (even though I read the economy's going fairly swell, with a Dow over 10,000 again.)

"[T]he number of Americans who lack enough food [is at] the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people -- including almost one child in four -- struggled last year to get enough to eat" (America's economic pain brings hunger pangs ). The Guardian UK notes that the statistics are probably more dire this year as the economy has degenerated (Number of Americans Going Hungry Increases.) Statistics like those make the Superpower sound like a Banana Republic.

Unless you're Al Gore or Rudolf Guiliani, you have probably noticed your grocery tab rising sharply over the past couple of years. Though the press attributes the steep rise in hunger to the unemployment rate, there is the concomitant problem of skyrocketing food costs.

In "Grits," milk was $3.50/gallon; it is now over $3.50 per half gallon -- double the cost. Other staples like eggs, coffee and meat have also risen precipitously. I remember grandma telling me 30 years ago, "Mark my words: You will see the price of a loaf of bread hit one dollar in your lifetime!" Now, it is at over 400% of her prognostication, and rising.

While an article on food stamp usage notes they help feed 36,000,000 Americans -- one in eight adults, one in four children, the personal allotment has not risen from an average of $110/month (Food Stamp Use Soars.) Can you imagine eating on $110 per month?

The NYT's Bob Herbert is one of the few columnist who routinely exposes how the sorry state of our economy affects its least fortunate members. From his Stacking the Deck Against Kids:

"We still have a hideously dysfunctional public education system, one that has mastered the art of manufacturing dropouts and functional illiterates. We have not even begun to turn that around.

"We still keep fighting tragic, futile, stupid wars, squandering lives and resources and creative energies that could be put to use right here at home, where the need for nation-building is beyond critical.

"The U.S. should be a paradise for young people. We need big changes in this country, approaches that are constructive, creative and fundamentally new, if we’re going to give those smiling kids I saw on Thanksgiving Day the kind of society they deserve"

There's not much else to say.

It's Filling

File this under "social studies":

This is the back page of a recent ad for Publix grocery stores. Tagline: Everyday economizing. Publix is working hard to help you save on the staples. Here are some more great deals on groceries you've got to get."

[1] When did Frosted Flakes, Tombstone frozen pizza and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese become "The Staples"?

[2] There are about 15 Publix's in our town, which is not very large. All of the other grocers are disappearing. We lost two of three Albertsons this Fall. While Publix does offer higher tier selections, one will pay dearly for them.

In Publix's expanding organic Greenwise section, for instance, tofu sausages (4-pack) run about $6. For many such items it is now cheaper to buy from the local health food store. Everyone spoke of how Walmart would put the smaller sellers out of business, but that trend is happening within the niche markets themselves. As the others are muscled out of the market, the one left standing enjoys a hefty markup.

And may beneficently toss out an occasional crumb to their less well-heeled patrons.

Grits Ain't Groceries

No sugar tonight in my coffee
No sugar tonight in my tea
--No Sugar Tonight, The Guess Who

Keep behind me.
There's no sense in getting killed by a plant
--The Day of the Triffids (1962)

Dr. Harold Medford: We may be witnessing a Biblical prophecy
come true -- "And there shall be destruction and darkness
come upon creation and the beasts will reign over the earth."
--Them! (1954)
__________

This post is not directly about war, but the repercussions of war. The results of a recent grocery shopping trip assumed the proportions of science fiction. It was like entering a time warp, ca. early 2007.

Recent grocery bills have averaged $80. Shopping for one, and not varying the gatherings much week to week, a few months ago an average day's tab was $40. So the cost of an average grocery trip has effectively doubled in that period of time. The cost rises consistently every trip. Not a one-shot deal, not a comfort food blowout experience.

Eating well, but simply, no prepared foods and only staples are purchased. Milk has gone from $2.50 to $3.50 a half gallon. Butter, eggs and honey have seen similar rises. $80 for one day, and with more than one trip to the grocer per week, that tops out at over $100 weekly. To put this in perspective, $80 is almost an entire month's allotment of food stamps for a single individual household (In Florida, that figure is $104/month.)

To head the mean-spirited off at the pass, who will argue that those collecting food stamps should be working: what if you are working, but are still too poor to provide for all the barest essentials of a life? What if you are disabled, someone who once paid taxes, but can not do so at the moment.

This must be apparent to others. The following via email is from a legitimate website:

"Did you know that about 25,000 people die each day from hunger? And sadly, most are children.

"It is our duty to help those in need. But it can be difficult knowing where to start. Well, I have a fun way for you to help fight hunger.

"At FreeRice, you can play a vocabulary game. For each correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to the World Food Program. The rice is then distributed to those in need."

Should one laugh or cry after reading this tripe. This is a do-gooder website, which occasionally calls for sending goody bags to the troops, but it all amounts to feel-good gestures. I cannot feel good about sending a goody bag to a troop who may get his head shot off the next day. The only genuine act is to work to stop the madness.

"I support the troops, but not the war" makes no sense. The troops are the war. How does one support the agents of an action that is reprehensible? Playing little word games to send 10 grains of rice to a starving person is an obscenity.

Other must be noticing this. We are not all trust fund babies. There are those of us who do not have stock options. Wages do not accelerate at such a pace. Subsidies like food stamps see no such commensurate increase.

When rapper Jay-Z notices the problem, and features euros, rather than greenbacks in a video, and a model requests to be paid in denominations other than the USD, things are not good for the homeland.

An acquaintance noted a while back how overweight many of those who must use food stamps often are, suggesting that they must be living high off the hog to gain such girth. Actually, no.

It costs money to stay lean and healthy. The cheapest foods are processed carbohydrates and cheap fats and oils. These people are fat because eating those foods are the cheapest way to buy calories.

Many states, including Florida, laud the decreasing food stamp roles as an indicator of a more robust economy. Actually not -- it is an indicator that the qualification process has become more draconian, so less folks bother to try for them, out of frustration or inability.

Dr. Harold Medford in the classic Them! echoes the call of many of my Christian conservative contacts. [ Religions, like good sci-fi, create mythologies, so the connection seems relevant.] They see the showdown in the Holy land as being prophesied in their Bible, and therefore, necessary. What they fail to realize is that we create and manifest our expectations.

Christians feel fairly confident that they shall be in the number when the saints go marching in. But they might have missed the possibility that the beasts who shall reign triumphant over the earth might just be us.

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[Addendum: From 11/30/07 New York Times, "Food Banks, In a Squeeze, Tighten Belts."]