Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

[Camtender]

Food has long been an issue in this city without a major supermarket. Now demand for assistance is rising, affecting a whole new set of people.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/06/news...ion=2009080610

[jwonks]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

I find it hard to believe that a middle-class America living in a country that sells $1 whoppers and that has $1 stores that also sell foods for a $1 and that has Nissin foods' packs everywhere selling for mere cents can ever go hungry.

One thing that caught my eye in this article was that the local food stamp office was concerned because people had "no idea where their office was located." Wow. Are people that dumb and lazy that they cannot figure out how to use a phone book, a map, a telephone's 411 service or an internet computer even in supposed harsh and starving times?

I guess Detroit really is doomed. If people there have this much of a problem finding and locating a nearby social service office just imagine how much more of a problem and hassle it will be to get these people to re-educate and retrain for a new career.

[jimmygu3]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

I find it hard to believe that a middle-class America living in a country that sells $1 whoppers and that has $1 stores that also sell foods for a $1 and that has Nissin foods' packs everywhere selling for mere cents can ever go hungry.

Yes, it's pretty easy to eat at a fast food restaurant for $2 or to cook cheap, relatively healthy staples like beans, rice & pasta for under $1/person. I have sympathy for the people of Detroit, but I have been pretty broke before and managed to eat well. No sodas, no name brands, buy what's on sale, etc.

No major supermarket? Looks to me like you're never more than 3 miles from a Kroger store in Detroit.

Jimmy

[Master Shake]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

Food has long been an issue in this city without a major supermarket. Now demand for assistance is rising, affecting a whole new set of people.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/06/news...ion=2009080610

The US has the fattest poor people in the world. Some photos of these "hungry" people would have been nice.

[touchring]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

The US has the fattest poor people in the world. Some photos of these "hungry" people would have been nice.

healthy food that is cheap taste bad. try eating oats and peas for dinner and lunch, ugghh!

cakes and chips are cheap, but makes u fat.

[pescamaaan]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

I find it hard to believe that a middle-class America living in a country that sells $1 whoppers and that has $1 stores that also sell foods for a $1 and that has Nissin foods' packs everywhere selling for mere cents can ever go hungry.

i can't fully describe it but it feels as though the "masses" now have this sense of entitlement - that they can't and shouldn't do anything for themselves any more...that someone else should take care of them because it's not their fault that they are in their situation.

i feel this sense of entitlement growing by the day and it's hugely discouraging

[ratfink]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

One thing that caught my eye in this article was that the local food stamp office was concerned because people had "no idea where their office was located." Wow. Are people that dumb and lazy that they cannot figure out how to use a phone book, a map, a telephone's 411 service or an internet computer even in supposed harsh and starving times?

Well, not really exactly. What they said was:

Now it's middle class folks who lost their $60,000-a-year auto job, or home owners who got caught on the wrong side of the real estate bubble.
Many of these people have never navigated the public assistance bureaucracy before, and that makes getting aid to them a challenge.
"They have no idea where the DHS office is," said DeWayne Wells, president of Gleaners, the food distributor.

As in, they never had to do this before, since they were always part of the "working middle class" and

Many people feel so bad about having to ask for help that they just don't, or they have issues with it once they do.
"They'll say things like 'I've never had to do this before' and they feel a little uncomfortable," said Hagopian, the retired school teacher. But she says times have changed, the good union jobs are disappearing and it's harder and harder to find work.
"I just tell them society is not what it used to be," she said.

Neither is the future.

[Master Shake]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

i can't fully describe it but it feels as though the "masses" now have this sense of entitlement - that they can't and shouldn't do anything for themselves any more...that someone else should take care of them because it's not their fault that they are in their situation.

i feel this sense of entitlement growing by the day and it's hugely discouraging

The entitlement mentality took off with the Great Society. I think the first welfare "rights" group was formed in the 70's.

With our continuing influx of third world peasants, whose work ethic diminishes once they realize what they can get from the guvmint for not working and they get inculcated into the ethnic grievance mindset by the acolytes of Gramsci and Alinsky, it's only going to get worse.

[ratfink]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

healthy food that is cheap taste bad. try eating oats and peas for dinner

Pretty funny commentary; more from the article, though:

Detroiters are also helping themselves in smaller ways. Thanks to the dearth of big supermarkets in Detroit proper - a phenomenon largely attributed to lack of people - and plenty of vacant land, community gardening has caught on big.
It's not so much that these gardens are going to feed the city, although they certainly help. It's more that they can be used to teach people, especially children, the value of eating right.
"I use vegetables every day," said one child at an after school gardening program run by Earthworks Urban Farm, near the heart of the city. "Last night, an onion I picked from here, I had in my potatoes."

Sounds different from "can't and shouldn't do anything for themselves" to me.

[cjppjc]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

Well, not really exactly. What they said was:




As in, they never had to do this before, since they were always part of the "working middle class" and






Neither is the future.

The people who are comming to get free food, have a look a failure stamped on their face. They can't imagine what has happened. I hope it's better by winter. Hot meals are harder to come by.

Btw: For all the church haters out there. Who runs the kitchens by you?

[touchring]

Re: Hunger hits Detroit's middle class

Pretty funny commentary; more from the article, though:

Sounds different from "can't and shouldn't do anything for themselves" to me.

Detriot has reached a different level of poverty from the rest of the US. When you got to grow vegetables to survive, it's called subsistence farming.