Why is Hunger Growing When There’s Plenty of Food?
Food is a human right. Yet over 34 million Americans — and those numbers are growing every day — are hungry, including 1 in 8 children. Why is anyone, let alone children, going hungry when there’s plenty of food in supermarkets across the country?
And now, the new debt ceiling legislation Congress just passed will not only cut urgently needed social programs by 1%, but require some recipients who were already on the paltry SNAP program (that never provided enough to eat) to work for their food benefits. Suppose there’s no jobs, or no jobs paying enough for rent, utilities, and to feed the kids? It’s inexcusable too that food banks are allowed to run dry, and that groups sharing healthy meals with unhoused people are fined and dragged into court for doing so.
Meanwhile the corporate conglomerates who own most of the world’s food are thriving. Between 2021 and 2022, the food and beverage industry in the U.S. made more than $155 billion in profits, according to Forbes. Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, increased its gross profits last year by almost 3 percent to $46 billion. Something has to give. We can easily feed everyone—why don’t we?
