The United States, the world's biggest economy and ostensibly one of the world's richest nations, is now Food Stamp country.
The Wall Street Journal reports that 14% of people in the United States are now dependent on food stamps. According to the US Department of Agriculture, a stunning 42,389,619 Americans received food stamps in August, up 17% from the same time a year ago and up 58.5% from August 2007, before the recession began.
In other words, the recession might be officially over but one in seven Americans are still relying on government assistance to buy food. The total was up 1.3 percent from July.
All this is the result of the increase in total unemployment in the US, now officially running at 9.6%. And with expectations that unemployment will hit double digits next year, there will be more people on food stamps.
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