On Oct 5, 2011, at 9:05 AM, [email protected] wrote: > mex my want to re-evaluate the assertion that 1 in 5 Americans live below the > poverty level: > > <http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/10/hunger-hoax-perpetuates-dependency?utm_source=10/5%20Washington%20Examiner%20Opinion%20-%2010/05/2011&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest>
"Burgers, pizzas and the like cost more than food that you can buy at a store and cook yourself. If you can afford junk food, you can certainly afford healthier food." Wrong on most levels. When burgers cost $1, they are cheaper than the equivalent food For someone like Sowell, yes, it's certainly true that healthy fresh food costs more than junk food, but he clearly doesn't live in the 'food deserts' that characterize a great deal of the landscape of poor America: <http://www.cdc.gov/features/fooddeserts/> (by your constant denigrations of the poor, I can pretty well assume you have little direct experience. I've had to shop in the kinds of slum grocery stores they're describing and yes, there's a significant difference in costs. Just a tiny, petty example: in one (NY Food Lion store circa 1990, istr it was in Tarrytown) I went looking for some canned tomato sauce. IN the stores you or I shop in we have a choice, often three or more brands, and small, medium and large cans, with significant quantity savings for the large cans. In the slum store there were two sizes of cans: the 8 oz size you or I would call 'small' and a ridiculously tiny 4 oz size. The prices were the same as for a medium and small cans in the much nicer suburban store 15 miles up the road. The vegetables looked like they were the ones swept up off the floor in the produce warehouse and were exorbitantly priced. I've seen this pattern reproduced again and again. Even Wal-Mart does it this way. Also, he completely discounts the time it takes to do that cooking; these are not his fantasy 'Father Knows Best' 1950's households; there is usually no one with the time to do this cooking, let alone possessing the skills and in many cases, even the most minimal of equipment. And finally he's just as patronizing as any of the rest as he scolds these people for not cooking more of their own food. Finally, Francis (Wouldn't want expend TOO many milliCastros of my free speech allowance on the subject!), don't link to opinion pieces by partisan hacks with no links to actual data to support his theories and pass them off as 'fact'. Doesn't work that way. (And I won't EVEN getinto the hackery of "the poors, they have the TeeVee sets and the Air conditioners so they're not poor!" Do your REALLY need to be taught the trajectory of technology costs over the last fifty years! (post length 35.4 mCastros) -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/stratalist-ot?hl=en.
