> But I never feared missing a meal. That's not the experience of most poor folks in the U.S.
I'm not an expert on the U.S. However, I have seen people digging through trash for food in Atlanta. I have also seen the extreme state of homelessness in Philadelphia, and the problems in San Francisco.
It is certainly true that many people in the UK struggle to afford food [1], and given that the US has a much greater disparity of wealth, I assume that the US has this problem on a great scale.
Yes, I've seen them, too. And there's a risk here that it will sound like I'm moving the goal posts around so that I'm right by definition. But that's not what I'm trying to do. There are of course those at the bottom who are chronically homeless. Those are the folks I was referring to in my first paragraph. Yes, you will see them digging in dumpsters.
But this is not the typical experience. Most poor people never end up homeless. And those who do are typically homeless for a short period of time (and do get help).
It might be surprising to hear, then, that those people using food banks in the UK by no means consist entirely of the chronically or mentally ill. I'd say that would be a small minority. Most of them simply use food banks because they can't afford to buy food - the number one reason being their welfare payments being ended or delayed. See, in the UK in the process of dismantling our welfare state and I look across the Atlantic to see our fate. :-s
I'm not an expert on the U.S. However, I have seen people digging through trash for food in Atlanta. I have also seen the extreme state of homelessness in Philadelphia, and the problems in San Francisco.
It is certainly true that many people in the UK struggle to afford food [1], and given that the US has a much greater disparity of wealth, I assume that the US has this problem on a great scale.
So, no, I don't agree that it is an exaggeration.
[1] http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects