90% Of Families Struggling To Make Ends Meet
The expiration of the enhanced child tax credit now means skipped meals for nearly half of families who report financial struggles due to increasing prices.
Thanks for reading I Hate It Here And Never Want To Leave. You can subscribe to the publication by clicking the button below.
“Since Covid, my car broke down, & now my employer is cutting my hours, pay, and refuses to provide the raise promised previously. My truck was made not drivable due to [someone] cutting out the catalytic converter. My kids and I and my spouse do not get the time we need together due to me getting back into gig work. I am working 4 jobs to make ends meet.” - Rocky
“The child checks helped me provide decent healthier meals each night and provide healthier snacks for my boys. [They also helped ] provide activities to promote better health for us all. I was able to work a typical 8 hour day five day a week job and now I have to work two jobs and side jobs to get by” -Ashley
“I don’t have any extra funds for anything. We can’t even put gas in our only vehicle we have left. My vehicle is in the process of being repossessed. Me and the kids’ father often go without eating so we know the kids won’t go hungry. It’s been beyond terrible.” -Listree
Their experiences, sadly, are not unique.
These harrowing stories were shared with ParentsTogether Action. The group recently conducted a study that found because Congress let the enhanced child tax credit expire in December, over 90% of families are now struggling to make ends meet and over 44% of those families include parents who have skipped meals so their kids could eat.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Yes, of course the CTC should be reinstated. But in addition we must create a better system that addresses the root causes of the economic precarity millions of Americans find themselves in.
Food company giants are boasting record profits and 62 new “food billionaires” were created during the pandemic. Cargill, the US-based global food corporation and largest privately held corporation in the country, is expecting record profits this year.
The thing is, we have enough resources to feed everyone. Our leaders just choose not to.
According to Feeding America, 108 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States every year, the equivalent of 130 billion meals worth over $408 billion. They estimate we waste nearly 40% of all food.
The USDA also puts food waste estimates between 30% and 40% of our food supply with 31% of food loss happening in stores and other retail and consumer levels. This food ends up in landfills.
The United States doesn’t recognize a right to food or clean water. In 2010, the United Nations voted to recognize a right to clean, safe drinking water. The United States abstained. And despite the many international and regional agreements recognizing food as a human right, the United States refuses to participate in any of them. Instead, it opts to promote “access to food.” Delicious.
Your ability to obtain food and water—two things you literally need to survive—depends on your financial status.
And as I mentioned in the previous post real hourly average wages are down 3% from May 2021.
At the same time inflation has hit a 40-year high. Gas prices, now exceeding $5 a gallon, have risen 49.5% since May 2021. Year-over-year, the cost of electricity is up 12%. Utility gas, 30%. And groceries, 11.9%. All of these put a monumental strain on working families.
Bureau Of Labor Statistics data shows just how much the cost of dietary staples have risen since last May. Cereals, grains and baked goods are up 11.6%. Meat, poultry, fish & eggs, 14.2%. Dairy products, 11.8%. Fruits & vegetables, 8.2%. Nonalcoholic beverages, 12%. And all other food categories are up 12.6%.
Nearly half of all families with kids now report that they are unable to afford groceries due to the enhanced child tax credit expiring in December 2021.
The ParentsTogether study mentioned earlier found that, of the families now unable to afford groceries, 44.53% have reported parents skipping meals so their kids could eat. 8.68% of families skipped meals altogether. 44.91% have relied on food banks to feed their families.
At the very least, and in the immediate term, reinstating the CTC is one small step toward alleviating the pain for working families. This won’t permanently solve the problem or address the root causes—corporate greed and a government that favors “access to food” over treating it as a human right, which it is. Putting cash directly in working peoples pockets had an immediate and direct impact in their lives and its expiration resulted in millions of Black and Latino children falling back into poverty.
Working people are buckling under the weight of corporate greed. 64% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. A recession, many warn, is just around the corner if not already here. That would have devastating consequences for working people who want nothing more than to live a life of dignity and respect—which is something they deserve.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this piece, please share it and leave a comment. And if you’d like to subscribe to this Substack, can do so by clicking the button below. I really appreciate your support.