45 Million Americans Live on Food Stamps

Nearly 45 million Americans exist on food stamps, which is a stipend provided by the US government every week which helps them during these tough times.

For everyone else, there's the Food Stamp Challenge, thrown down by anti-hunger activists in the industrial port city of Baltimore to lay bare the reality of living on the poverty line.

Shifting Domestic Roles for Men Who Lost Jobs in Current Recession
It is reported that the acute economic downturn that began in 2008 sometimes is called the mancession to reflect its harsher impact on men than women.

Participants each get $30 -- the average food stamp benefit in the East Coast state -- to buy groceries for a week, after which they are invited to blog about their experience.

"The purpose is to raise awareness on the issue of hunger, the importance of this (food stamp) program and how critical it is that we continue to fund it, because so many people rely on it now in Maryland," said Cathy Demeroto, director of Maryland Hunger Solutions, which organises the challenge.

Participating earlier this month, Demeroto set off for the supermarket with chili con carne -- a relatively cheap dish to prepare -- on her mind, "because I don't believe I'm going to have money to buy chicken."

National Health Insurance Scheme may Push S. Africa into Recession
South Africa’s economy is in danger of being pushed into recession because of a proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.

"With a budget of $30 you really have to plan," she told AFP. "You cannot just go and pick things up."

Nearly one in six Americans draw food stamps from a scheme run by the Department of Agriculture that is officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Progam, or SNAP.

Thanks to Recession, Japanese Students Saying 'no' to Overseas Education
The number of Japanese studying abroad has seen its sharpest fall yet, the government said Wednesday, blaming the nation's economic slowdown and young people's inward-looking perspective .

Its history goes back to the early 1940s and the introduction of the Food Stamp Program, which used real stamps which have since been replaced by an electronic bank card.

With the onset of recession, the ranks of beneficiaries have exploded from 28 million in 2008, and has leaped again by 10 percent since last year. The cost of the program has doubled since 2007 from $33 billion to $68 billion.

What Companies Must Do to Improve Employee Morale During Recession
Corporates must do their best to engage with employees and boost their morale during an economic downturn.

The figures reflect those of the Census Bureau, another federal government agency, which found that 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty last year, or 15.1 percent of the population -- the highest level in 52 years.

Eligibility for food stamps depends on a household's income and savings, and the benefits can be used only at designated supermarkets like Santoni's in Baltimore, where Tiffany White was shopping the other day.

White, 21, is a part-time cashier whose 30-hour-a-week job earns her $900 a month, from which she spends about $150 to $160 on food. Without food stamps, she said, "it would be really hard to eat."

Depending on food stamps is especially tough for families.

Kelly Hicks, 31, who lives alone with two children in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, has been out of a job since June. She collects $288 a month in food stamps.

"I try to stretch my meals," she said. "If I do run out, I go to churches (which offer food banks). I don't know what I would do without food stamps. It would be so hard."

Blogging about her experience three days into the challenge, Demeroto wrote: "Not having the necessary funds for food not only negatively impacts on your mood and health, but also on your social life, and can lead to isolation."

She added: "It's important also to just have a better understanding of what our neighbours are experiencing. Doing it for a week is not even comparable to having to do it, like many people do, for weeks, for months, even for years."

Source-AFP