Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

cbsnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 71 posts

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#31

Post by lostmsu »

chongli wrote: post #10
lobbyingWins wrote: post #5

Can't afford food? Between food stamps and eating for $1.50/day (source- https://efficiencyiseverything.com/eat-for-1-50-per-day-layo... ) I don't think the problem is the cost of food. Rent, sure. Health insurance, sure. Food? Not the major expense, especially with food stamps.

A lot of people live in so-called "food deserts" [1]. That means they don't have access to fresh produce or bulk ingredients like milk, flour, eggs, beans, rice, pasta, or potatoes. Instead, they're stuck with convenience store food which is mostly junk food. If they wanted to buy healthier food they'd have to travel a long way to reach a grocery store, a problem greatly exacerbated for those who do not own a car. It…

They define "food desert" as 10 mile distance. I don't know how many of those 23 mil. don't have any means of transportation, but most probably do, in which cases 10 mile is just 10-20 minutes of driving away.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#32

Post by __blockcipher__ »

nimbius wrote: post #8

Im sure someone on HN has explained this before, but why are the markets steady and rebounding when the actual state of the US economy is so dire?? I've been waiting on that promised $1200 check for 2 days shy of an entire month now, and every day that passes I see another bar or clothing store or furniture outlet with boards up on the windows.

I think we won't see a true adjustment until earnings reports come in from a "full covid" quarter. At that point, unless PE ratios skyrocket, prices simply have to come down.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#33

Post by Hoasi »

iamthirsty wrote: post #6
cactus2093 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but I can't help but remark on the contradiction in your last paragraph... Nobody knows for sure what the future will look like, but don't worry, you know that this too shall pass and things will go back to normal. Just reminding you to have some humility.

> you know that this too shall pass and things will go back to normal. No, we don't. Who knows if this coronavirus will ever truly go away? What will the new "normal" be like when—if—things truly settle down. Surely our world will be forever marked by this event.

> Surely our world will be forever marked by this event.

Yes, it will leave a mark during our lifetime, but that doesn't mean forever. People quickly forget about terrible events, which is a blessing and a curse. Nobody remembers that much about the Spanish flu, and yet it was one of the deadliest pandemics known to mankind. This pandemic is dramatic and unprecedented in our lifetime, yet nobody can tell how that will affect us in the long term.

There are vested interests to come back to normal as fast as possible. And there are also incentives to use this crisis to push all kinds of agendas. I'd be wary about predictions.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#34

Post by cultofmetatron »

lostmsu wrote: post #31
chongli wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people live in so-called "food deserts" [1]. That means they don't have access to fresh produce or bulk ingredients like milk, flour, eggs, beans, rice, pasta, or potatoes. Instead, they're stuck with convenience store food which is mostly junk food. If they wanted to buy healthier food they'd have to travel a long way to reach a grocery store, a problem greatly exacerbated for those who do not own a car. It…

They define "food desert" as 10 mile distance. I don't know how many of those 23 mil. don't have any means of transportation, but most probably do, in which cases 10 mile is just 10-20 minutes of driving away.

by comparison, I'm in greece and no matter where I go in this city, there's always little shops with fresh vegetable ad fruit withing a 5 minute walk tops

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#35

Post by slashdev »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #16
roenxi wrote: post #7

I suspect shutting down such broad swathes of the economy is unprecedented even in wartime. Nobody has any idea what we are toying with here or what happens next. It wouldn't be surprising if everything worked out well, and it isn't unthinkable that this ushers in the worst decade of chaos and suffering in the last 200 years. The economy is the most complicated machine we have and nobody knows what it is doing right…

I can't help but recall that the Great Depression and the resulting widespread poverty is considered by some historians to be one of the factors leading up WW2.

I would say the suffering, hyper-inflation and widespread poverty imposed on Germany by the allies after World War I was a stronger proximate cause for the rise of the Nazis and the war in Europe. A very depressing illustration of the proverb that you reap what you sow. WWI was a complex jostling for power of the kind that had always happened in Europe, but on a scale and devastation never before seen. If not sparked by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, it would have likely been sparked by something else. WWII, on the other hand, was probably entirely avoidable, if not for the Treaty of Versailles. At least in Europe.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#36

Post by __blockcipher__ »

iamthirsty wrote: post #6
cactus2093 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but I can't help but remark on the contradiction in your last paragraph... Nobody knows for sure what the future will look like, but don't worry, you know that this too shall pass and things will go back to normal. Just reminding you to have some humility.

> you know that this too shall pass and things will go back to normal. No, we don't. Who knows if this coronavirus will ever truly go away? What will the new "normal" be like when—if—things truly settle down. Surely our world will be forever marked by this event.

> Who knows if this coronavirus will ever truly go away?

Wait, what?

I keep hearing this notion floated around and I'm honestly very confused.

Are people under the impression that our lockdowns are going to eradicate this? Or are you using "going away" as a metaphor for "will recede to the background level of death from flu/etc that we have learned to tune out?"

It should be stunningly obvious that a highly infectious respiratory disease that is present in every country, originally came from animals and has shown the ability to infect other animals will never be eradicated. There's too many reservoirs, even if the totalitarian dream that everyone seems to want were a full reality.

If you meant the other sense, then it should be equally obvious that this will eventually pass through the population and we will build immunity to it, at which point Covid-19 joins the friendly cast of characters such as the common cold coronaviruses, common cold rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, influenza, etc. In short, a disease that kills people but not in numbers that we freak out about. (And incidentally once the globe has been exposed to it it should be much less deadly than Influenza since new humans will be exposed to it as babies/young children and not as 80+ year old nursing home patients, and Covid simply does not kill young children in significant numbers)

What's that? Do I hear the "There's no evidence for immunity to covid-19" crowd in the distance? I'm getting a bit tired of that line, but if someone wants me to dismantle that argument (again) I am happy to.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#37

Post by pstuart »

BrainlingPdx wrote: post #14
raidicy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if people in 1918 thought the same thing. And then the only impact the Spanish flu had on me was it was mentioned in passing in outdated middle school "social studies" books.

That's not true at all. The Spanish flu outbreak had a ton of impact on the modern world. Health codes, science around vaccines, economic effects, etc. To act like the Spanish flu had no long lasting effects shows you didn't pay much attention in middle school social studies.

No need to be rude. You had a point and then sullied it.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#38

Post by wbronitsky »

roenxi wrote: post #7

I suspect shutting down such broad swathes of the economy is unprecedented even in wartime. Nobody has any idea what we are toying with here or what happens next. It wouldn't be surprising if everything worked out well, and it isn't unthinkable that this ushers in the worst decade of chaos and suffering in the last 200 years. The economy is the most complicated machine we have and nobody knows what it is doing right…

This argument elides the fact that the US government is giving away plenty of money that these people could use on food and rent. They are just giving it to people who don’t need it.

While you’re busy arguing that the shutdown is the problem, our government is literally giving the taxpayers’ money to billionaires.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#39

Post by xkapastel »

fataliss wrote: post #30
lobbyingWins wrote: post #5

Can't afford food? Between food stamps and eating for $1.50/day (source- https://efficiencyiseverything.com/eat-for-1-50-per-day-layo... ) I don't think the problem is the cost of food. Rent, sure. Health insurance, sure. Food? Not the major expense, especially with food stamps.

Food stamps come with a whole bunch of restrictions on what you can and cannot buy with it. Want a big jug of milk to save and you need a big one anyway cause you have kids? Nope, the only approved milk is the half gallon, etc. etc. So for some people, while it might not be the top #1 problem it's def up there.

I don't think that's true, WIC is the one with restrictions like that. You can buy any food with food stamps. Certainly there is no restriction on any kind of milk.

Re: Millions of Americans can't afford food, rent and other basics, report finds

#40

Post by wbronitsky »

lostmsu wrote: post #31
chongli wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people live in so-called "food deserts" [1]. That means they don't have access to fresh produce or bulk ingredients like milk, flour, eggs, beans, rice, pasta, or potatoes. Instead, they're stuck with convenience store food which is mostly junk food. If they wanted to buy healthier food they'd have to travel a long way to reach a grocery store, a problem greatly exacerbated for those who do not own a car. It…

They define "food desert" as 10 mile distance. I don't know how many of those 23 mil. don't have any means of transportation, but most probably do, in which cases 10 mile is just 10-20 minutes of driving away.

People are going hungry because they live in food deserts. The GP has proved this and you dismiss it. Why would people make this argument if people weren’t actually going hungry?
Post reply on HN