Something Is Broken
Yesterday marked the longest government shutdown in US history. I heard two news stories related to it: one was about the skyrocketing costs of health care, the other about the government freeze on food assistance programs. Both offered mind bending statistics.
1 in 8 Americans — 42 million people — are dependent on SNAP, the US food assistance program, to eat. 40% are children, 18% are elderly, 11% have disabilities. The remainder are adults without disabilities, and most of them work but are below the poverty line. Where we live in Oregon, more than 1 in 6 residents receive SNAP benefits.
Medical care is the leading cause of financial ruin in the United States. Every year the cost goes up three times faster than inflation. Health care spending in America is $14k per person, double what other countries pay for similar outcomes.
The shutdown was created by a divided government willing to put politics ahead of the issues they purport to care about. The result is that 17 million American children risk starving because don't have enough money to eat.
It's worth asking how we got into a situation where so many people, many of whom are working, are not able to provide food for themselves. The government subsidizes the pay of 14M healthy, working adults, with SNAP benefits. Surely a working adult should make enough money to provide food for themselves and their families.
And the backdrop to all of this is a crippling national debt, recently made worse with tax cuts that mostly benefit people who don't need help.
Unfortunately I don't have a solution to share, or a jaw dropping conclusion. But it's clear.
Something is broken.