1 of 8 Americans on Food Stamps
June 3, 2010 · 18 Comments
Good grief.
Today’s (June 3) Bloomberg news reports that more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps. The total U.S. population is 309.416 million. This means 13% of Americans – 1 out of every 8 Americans – are on food stamps!
The number of Americans receiving food stamps in March topped 40 million for the first time as the jobless rate hovered near a 26-year high.
Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases totaled 40.2 million, up 21% from a year earlier and 1.2% more than in February, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday in a statement on its website. The number of recipients has set records for 16 straight months. [Let's see... That's how long Obama's been president! -Ed.]
Food aid climbed as the unemployment rate stayed at 9.7% in March for a third straight month, near levels last seen in 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate rose to 9.9% in April. Jobless numbers for May will be released tomorrow.
An average of 40.5 million people, more than an eighth of the population, will get food stamps each month in the year that began Oct. 1, according to White House estimates. The figure is projected to rise to 43.3 million in 2011.
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