Yesterday I Linked an Article from the NYT

which was about the growing use of food stamps by vast numbers of people, and that the stigma of receiving the assistance has decreased.

The "welfare bum" who had food stamps to buy booze and junk food has pretty much fallen by the wayside. But the increase in food stamps points to a bigger problem:

The Times conducted a statistical analysis of food stamp use by county, in an effort to present a more detailed social portrait of the 36 million people currently on the food stamp rolls. “They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare,” the report noted.


Among the significant findings:

In 239 counties, more than a quarter of the population receives food stamps.
In more than 750 counties, at least one in three African-Americans receives food stamps.
In more than 800 counties, more than one-third of all children depend on food stamps.
In 62 counties, food stamp rolls have doubled over the past two years.
In 205 counties, food stamp rolls are up by two-thirds.