America Losing Its Global Dominance In Science

[MikeH]

Can you explain why many if not most of the patrons of soup kitchens are overweight, then? Have you ever worked in a soup kitchen in the US? (I have. also note, this is not just anecdotal. Look at the obesity statistics.)

Of course I can, it's obvious isn't it? It's why it's called food insecurity.

Circumstances can change. Lose a job, get an unexpected bill, get sick suddenly you've gone from having plenty of money for food to not being able to afford food.

[regexcellent]

Well then social services whisks you away.

[MikeH]

Because they have endless deep pockets and can cover all children in that situation.

[The Mad Monk]

If I'm the person alleged to have this problem, then I deny it exists- I heartily recommend to you Richard M. Nixon's legislation on the environment- and the first Roosevelt's too. Hard to believe that secret bomber of Cambodia could be fan of clean air- but he was!

Any other strawmen knocking around to throw out ?

So you're saying Nixon and Teddy were lefties?

[Hauldren Collider]

What about if you are a child whose parents spend all your food stamps on drugs?

News to me that you can spend food stamps on drugs. That said, kids are another story entirely. It's completely possible for KIDS to go hungry because of abusive parents. THIS is a very serious problem that needs to be dealt with, but it also needs to be understood that the cause is NOT poverty.

[Hauldren Collider]

Of course I can, it's obvious isn't it? It's why it's called food insecurity.

Circumstances can change. Lose a job, get an unexpected bill, get sick suddenly you've gone from having plenty of money for food to not being able to afford food.

Food insecurity would imply that there is actually a serious risk that someone would go hungry. If such a serious risk actually existed, there would be some number of people actually going hungry. In the absence of such people, I have to conclude that no one is really at risk of going hungry. Simple stuff.

[kentonio]

Food insecurity would imply that there is actually a serious risk that someone would go hungry. If such a serious risk actually existed, there would be some number of people actually going hungry. In the absence of such people, I have to conclude that no one is really at risk of going hungry. Simple stuff.

WHY ARE YOU SO RIDICULOUSLY STUPID?!!?!

[regexcellent]

You can spend food stamps on anything by selling them 75 cents on the dollar.

WHY ARE YOU SO RIDICULOUSLY STUPID?!!?!

No u

Seriously HC's logic is sound here. If nobody is actually starving then nobody is actually "food insecure."

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Because Poly thrives on him and Ben (and KH when he decides to appear), if they left - what little activity there is, would die down.

[pchang]

http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-...acts/quiz.aspx

And from their stats :


I'm sorry but suggesting that having to rely on soup kitchens means you aren't "hungry" is absurd.

I am objecting to Ken's figure of 1/7 or >14%. This is a gross overstatement of the problem. 5.1% is a much more reasonable number. Don't exaggerate if you want real help. Boy who cried wolf and all.

[MRT144]

No, that kind of means you aren't hungry by definition, since you actually acquired food.

I don't think you've ever skipped a meal because you couldnt afford it in the moment. I have. I don't know why this idea is hard for you to comprehend other than it being another shining example of how your affluence growing up made you unempathetic and ignorant.

[kentonio]

I am objecting to Ken's figure of 1/7 or >14%. This is a gross overstatement of the problem. 5.1% is a much more reasonable number. Don't exaggerate if you want real help. Boy who cried wolf and all.

It's not exaggerating to describe the Low Food Security category as a problem that needs help. That in no way means that the Very Low Food Security bracket is not far worse of course. This seems pretty obvious and self explanatory. What is sad however is that many people just brush off the idea of Low Food Security as if it means nothing.

[pchang]

Do you think a GINI coefficient of 0 is a good thing? Should poverty be measured in absolute terms or relative terms?

[MikeH]

Exactly, you can sell food stamps for less than face value.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hunger_at_home/hunger-home-american-children-malnourished/story?id=14367230

Every day, children in every county in the United States wake up hungry. They go to school hungry. They turn out the lights at night hungry.

As many as 17 million children nationwide are struggling with what is known as food insecurity. To put it another way, one in four children in the country is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life, according to the study, "Map the Meal Child Food Insecurity 2011."

In the richest country in the world 49% of babies are born to families who can't afford to feed them without government help.

In fact, a shocking 49 percent of all babies born in the U.S. are born to families receiving food supplements from the WIC program, according to Jean Daniel, spokesperson for the USDA.

[Kidlicious]

The same Bill Clinton who used the bombing of a factory in Sudan as a distraction from his domestic political problems ? What a strange definition you must have of the word 'liberal'.

And don't get me started on the Peanut- he may have become a born again liberal, but didn't act that way in office. Of course, I forget- by your standards and those of some USAers they may be seen as centrists or liberals, but it's not a general definition of those two ex-Presidents by people not conditioned by your country's politics.

Never said we are Sweden.