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Apparently, they cannot afford meat in Ohio.

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  • Apparently, they cannot afford meat in Ohio.

    For Some Ohioans, Even Meat Is Out Of Reach

    by Yuki Noguchi

    All Things Considered, July 17, 2008 · A generation ago, the livelihood of Gloria Nunez's family was built on cars.

    Her father worked at General Motors for 45 years before retiring. Her mother taught driver's education. Nunez and her six siblings grew up middle class.

    Things have changed considerably for this Ohio family.

    Angelica Hernandez (left) and her mother, Gloria Nunez, struggle to make ends meet on a very limited budget.

    Nunez's van broke down last fall. Now, her 19-year-old daughter has no reliable transportation out of their subsidized housing complex in Fostoria, 40 miles south of Toledo, to look for a job.

    Nunez and most of her siblings and their spouses are unemployed and rely on government assistance and food stamps. Some have part-time jobs, but working is made more difficult with no car or public transportation.

    Low-income families in Ohio say they are particularly hard-hit by the changes in the economy, according to a new poll conducted by NPR, The Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health. Two-thirds of lower-income respondents, or 66 percent, say paying for gas is a serious problem because of recent changes in the economy. Nearly half of low-income Ohioans, or 47 percent, say that getting a well-paying job or a raise in pay is also major problem.

    Angelica Hernandez (left) and her mother, Gloria Nunez, struggle to make ends meet on a very limited budget.'I Just Can't Get A Job'

    Nunez, 40, has never worked and has no high school degree. She says a car accident 17 years ago left her depressed and disabled, incapable of getting a job. Instead, she and her daughter, Angelica Hernandez, survive on a $637 Social Security check and $102 in food stamps.

    Hernandez received her high school diploma and has had several jobs in recent years. But now, because fewer restaurants and stores are hiring, she says she finds it hard to find a job. Even if she could, she says it's particularly hard to imagine how she'll keep it. She says she needs someone to give her a lift just to get to an interview. And with gas prices so high, she's not sure she could afford to pay someone to drive her to work every day.

    People tell Nunez her daughter could get more money in public assistance if she had a child.

    "A lot of people have told me, 'Why don't your daughter have a kid?'"

    They both reject that as a plan.

    "I'm trying to get a job," Hernandez says. "I just can't get a job."

    Hernandez says she's trying to get training to be a nurse's assistant, but without her own set of wheels or enough money to pay others for gas, it hasn't been easy.

    'What's Going To Happen To Us?'

    Most of their extended family lives in the same townhouse complex. The only employer within walking distance is a ThyssenKrupp factory that makes diesel engine parts. That facility, which employs 400 people, is shutting down and moving to Illinois next year.

    The only one with a car is Irma Hernandez, Nunez's mother. Hernandez says that with a teenage son still at home, the cost of feeding him and sending him to school is rising, and she can no longer pay for the car.

    She's now two car payments behind.

    "I'm about to lose my car," she says on her way to pick up one of her daughters to take her to Toledo. "So then what's going to happen to us?"

    So Nunez and her daughter are mostly stuck at home.

    The rising cost of food means their money gets them about a third fewer bags of groceries — $100 used to buy about 12 bags of groceries, but now it's more like seven or eight. So they cut back on expensive items like meat, and they don't buy extras like ice cream anymore. Instead, they eat a lot of starches like potatoes and noodles.
    Gloria Nunez grew up in a middle-class family, but at 40, she's struggling to keep herself and her 19-year-old daughter afloat. She's not alone. In a recent poll, nearly one-third of low-income respondents in Ohio say paying for food is a serious problem.


    Thank God for pasta.
    No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

  • #2
    Well what are they eating instead? Whale blubber?
    Speaking of Erith:

    "It's not twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham" - Linda Smith

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    • #3
      People tell Nunez her daughter could get more money in public assistance if she had a child.

      "A lot of people have told me, 'Why don't your daughter have a kid?'"
      This will be the downfall of our society, ladies and gentlemen.
      -rmsharpe

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Provost Harrison
        Well what are they eating instead? Whale blubber?
        What are they not eating?

        edit: Why would the reporter take a picture of these two women for an article concerning food shortages? Are they oblivious or just an ass?

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        • #5
          Yeah, if that's water retention, they're retaining 3 of the Great Lakes between them...

          Let us be honest, the youngest one is saying that she is being coerced to have a kid for the benefits but is refusing. But be honest, she'd need some serious rohypnol supplies
          Speaking of Erith:

          "It's not twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham" - Linda Smith

          Comment


          • #6
            I think the idea is that without meat they've been forced to subsist on a carb-heavy diet which is making them fat. Either that or the photographer hates the writer of the story, or there was a mixup, or something.
            1011 1100
            Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Elok
              I think the idea is that without meat they've been forced to subsist on a carb-heavy diet which is making them fat. Either that or the photographer hates the writer of the story, or there was a mixup, or something.
              There are a lot of people that eat carb heavy diets. Diet alone will not make you that fat. They obviously overeat, regardless of what it is they are eating.

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              • #8
                They could still eat less of whatever sh*t they are eating and cut down on costs!
                Speaking of Erith:

                "It's not twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham" - Linda Smith

                Comment


                • #9
                  Also, why make gas prices a primary portion of your article when the showcase household you have doesn't have a car?

                  Honestly, being that heavy is probably what is keeping them from getting a job as well. A legitimate reason given the industry they work in and their extreme obesity.

                  The article may be accurate for Ohio residents as a whole, but this reporter is ****** for picking this family as the example.
                  "The DPRK is still in a state of war with the U.S. It's called a black out." - Che explaining why orbital nightime pictures of NK show few lights. Seriously.

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                  • #10
                    She says she needs someone to give her a lift just to get to an interview. And with gas prices so high, she's not sure she could afford to pay someone to drive her to work every day.
                    She could use a walk....

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Sirotnikov

                      She could use a walk....
                      "An archaeologist is the best husband a women can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her." - Agatha Christie
                      "Non mortem timemus, sed cogitationem mortis." - Seneca

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                      • #12
                        I can't open the link. Where in Ohio do they live?

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                        • #13
                          A wild Snorlax appears!
                          -rmsharpe

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                          • #14
                            Tuttle? Is that you?
                            I'm consitently stupid- Japher
                            I think that opinion in the United States is decidedly different from the rest of the world because we have a free press -- by free, I mean a virgorously presented right wing point of view on the air and available to all.- Ned

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Theben
                              Tuttle? Is that you?
                              Uh yeah, still here.

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