Feb. 23, 2006 - 17:47 MST

ALMOST BARE

Among the things I read are indications that perhaps I am semi-intelligent. Today's Rocky Mountain News has an article by Stephen Ohlemacher of the Associated Press. Herewith in full:

SURVEY:GROWING HUNGER AMONG THE WORKING POOR

WASHINGTON -- "When Lisa Koch asked several people at a Chicago soup kitchen to complete a survey of the people who eat there, she got a surprising response: "They asked how long it would take because they had to get back to work after lunch."

"A national survey of people eating at soup kitchens, food banks and shelters found that 36 percent came from households in which at least one person had a job. In the Chicago area it was 39 percent."

Even through the economy might be changing, it isn't creating the kinds of jobs that allow people make ends meet," said Koch of the Greater Chicago Food Depository."

"More than 25 million Americans turned to the nation's largest network of food banks, soup kitchens and shelters for meals last year, up 9 percent from 2001, the report by America's Second Harvest said."

"The network represents about 39,000 hunger-relief organizations, or about 80 percent of those in the United States. The vast majority are run locally by churches and private nonprofit groups.

"The surveys were done before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Gulf Coast in 2005. After the hurricanes, demand for emergency food assistance tripled in gulf Coast states, according to a separate report by the group."

"The new report, being released today, found that 35 percent of people seeking food came from households that received food stamps. Ertharin Cousin, executive vice president of America's Second Harvest, said the number show that the government program, while important, is insufficient."

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The econonmists and the administration keep trying to tell us that the economy is going great guns. Maybe it is for the corporations and the folks who get money not earned.

It has seemed quite obvious to me that the economy ain't so great.

For the rest of us it has been a belt tightening operation to say the least.

The usual bind that retirees find themselves in is still with us -- those of us who have enough Social Security and pension to survive. There are many people who don't, many who have worked all their working lives, putting money away in supposed guaranteed IRAs and things like that and found that the backing their corporation was supposed to contribute just wasn't there.

Heather and I have noticed that prices and fees for services as well as heating and gasoline have gone out of sight. We do as many folks are doing now, we make do or do without. Just making sure we eat and can get to the necessary places we need to be.

Sure, they tout that there are more jobs being worked than ever before. Numbers -- but nowhere do I see a comparison of people's incomes before we were amBushed and after. I fear that Old Mother Hubbard on her next trip to the pantry will find her cupboard ALMOST BARE . . . . . . . . . . . .

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