I read today of a woman (pic) in California who went from making $70K/year to becoming a food bank regular (
www.cnn.com/living). She spoke of embarrassment, dispair and depression as she tries to make do with no money, no employment and not a safety net of any nature. A sign of the times, to be sure.
The middle class gang is hit the hardest whenever the economy fluctuates to the worst thanks to the cards that huge corporations are fond of playing from time to time: they start lending money and spending trusting that by the time the ensuing bubble burst, the government will come to bail them out. This game strikes me as funny: big governments are so hated by the corporations and their neo con prophets, but since it's up to governments to regulate public funds (that is, your pocket and mine) they provide the shelter so that big money makers won't lose it all.
The woman in California, ironically a former employee of one of these huge money lenders, cannot find the safety net that perhaps she herself with her votes unwillingly helped to dismantle back in the good old $70K days.
What can a food bank do to restore a person to her or his dignity? Giving away to every person 4 cans of beans, 2 cans of tuna, 2 cans of vegetables, 2 Kraft dinners, 1L of milk, 1 box of cereal, 1 bag of bread, every other week (in the best case scenario) to someone just about to lose his or her house seems like a fitting punishment for being a high risk debtor. However, in a context of crumbling markets and Wall Street inspired panic, a volunteer-managed, community sponsored miniscule food bank is one of the positions that a powerless neigborhood can take in order to confront the excess of big investors, who at the end are the ones profitting from sub prime risk takers.
Toutes les six secondes, un enfant meurt de faim ou de maladies liées à la malnutrition.
