The social crisis in the U
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/pers-n24.shtml
24 November 2012
Thanksgiving Day 2012.
As President Barack Obama and Congress prepare to slash trillions of dollars from social programs that keep vast numbers of people out of destitution, the prevalence of hunger and poverty in the United States has reached rates unseen in decades.
The figures are staggering.
The number of Americans receiving food stamps reached a new record in August this year, at 47.1 million people, according to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture. This is up by one million from last year, and up by more than half since October 2008, when the figure was 30 million. In Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, and the state of Mississippi, more than one-fifth of residents now receive food stamps.