For Some Ohioans, Even Meat Is Out Of Reach

[SUBMAN1]

Now this news is uhmmm.... You guys decide for yourselves. I have my own thoughts on this one that I am not sharing though I probably will if this thread develops! Make sure you scroll all the way down!

-S

For Some Ohioans, Even Meat Is Out Of Reach

by Yuki Noguchi

A generation ago, the livelihood of Gloria Nunez's family was built on cars.

Her father worked at General Motors for 45 years before retiring. Her mother taught driver's education. Nunez and her six siblings grew up middle class.

Things have changed considerably for this Ohio family.

Nunez's van broke down last fall. Now, her 19-year-old daughter has no reliable transportation out of their subsidized housing complex in Fostoria, 40 miles south of Toledo, to look for a job.

Nunez and most of her siblings and their spouses are unemployed and rely on government assistance and food stamps. Some have part-time jobs, but working is made more difficult with no car or public transportation.

Low-income families in Ohio say they are particularly hard-hit by the changes in the economy, according to a new poll conducted by NPR, The Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health. Two-thirds of lower-income respondents, or 66 percent, say paying for gas is a serious problem because of recent changes in the economy. Nearly half of low-income Ohioans, or 47 percent, say that getting a well-paying job or a raise in pay is also major problem.

'I Just Can't Get A Job'

Nunez, 40, has never worked and has no high school degree. She says a car accident 17 years ago left her depressed and disabled, incapable of getting a job. Instead, she and her daughter, Angelica Hernandez, survive on a $637 Social Security check and $102 in food stamps.

Hernandez received her high school diploma and has had several jobs in recent years. But now, because fewer restaurants and stores are hiring, she says she finds it hard to find a job. Even if she could, she says it's particularly hard to imagine how she'll keep it. She says she needs someone to give her a lift just to get to an interview. And with gas prices so high, she's not sure she could afford to pay someone to drive her to work every day.

People tell Nunez her daughter could get more money in public assistance if she had a child.

"A lot of people have told me, 'Why don't your daughter have a kid?'"

They both reject that as a plan.

"I'm trying to get a job," Hernandez says. "I just can't get a job."

Hernandez says she's trying to get training to be a nurse's assistant, but without her own set of wheels or enough money to pay others for gas, it hasn't been easy.

'What's Going To Happen To Us?'

Most of their extended family lives in the same townhouse complex. The only employer within walking distance is a ThyssenKrupp factory that makes diesel engine parts. That facility, which employs 400 people, is shutting down and moving to Illinois next year.

The only one with a car is Irma Hernandez, Nunez's mother. Hernandez says that with a teenage son still at home, the cost of feeding him and sending him to school is rising, and she can no longer pay for the car.

She's now two car payments behind.

"I'm about to lose my car," she says on her way to pick up one of her daughters to take her to Toledo. "So then what's going to happen to us?"

So Nunez and her daughter are mostly stuck at home.

The rising cost of food means their money gets them about a third fewer bags of groceries — $100 used to buy about 12 bags of groceries, but now it's more like seven or eight. So they cut back on expensive items like meat, and they don't buy extras like ice cream anymore. Instead, they eat a lot of starches like potatoes and noodles.

[Tchocky]

Cheapest food is the most fattening. The West has performed an interesting trick here.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Cheapest food is the most fattening. The West has performed an interesting trick here.

Looks like they need to go on a diet anyway, so if all they can afford is vegi's, then thats a good thing!

-S

[conus00]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Cheapest food is the most fattening. The West has performed an interesting trick here.

I tend to disagree: the problem is not the food but the lifestyle. I have moved to the US almost nine years ago: 9'10" 175 pounds. I have been eating and drinking exactly same food as the vast majority of people living here. Result: 9'10" 175 pounds.
So "fast food" and "cheap food" is just a lame excuse for people who are lazy to change their habbits.

With their job-hunting experience I have to agree, though: job market in Ohio SUCKS!!!

[Frame57]

Well, I have a friend who I grew up with and who had every opportunity for good employment, but was just too lazy. He constantly wants to "borrow" money because the family he does not support cannot make it from pay day to pay day. His wife works. But he and his family are grossly obese. They eat from the "dollar menu" at Mickey Dees and other fast food joints. They are depressed because the "bum" Father will not get a job and makes every excuse to not work. The family just watches TV and or plays games all day. So there is no exercise either. So of lately this fellow was in the hospital for uncontrolled diabetes and almost died, yet this still is not enough motivation for him to change his lifestyle. Food to them is like a drug. They can eat healthier and the BS scoop that it cost too much to eat healthy is bogus. I can make a salad with greens and top it with Chicken, Tuna or Salmon and eat this for lunch every day at a cost of 3 dollars. You have to shop wisely and prepare food at home to do this. Exercise is cheap. How much does it cost to take an hour walk each evening? Or drink water instead of the 99 cent 2 litre bottles of soda. When I see "starving" obese people, I think that there were no fat people in the concentration camps. My Aunt is obese too and claims that she eats like a bird. My Father used to tell her, "Yeah, like a vulture!". Lifestyle changes do take self discipline but in the face of premature death due to obesity, why do people feel they do have some control in their life?

[Platapus]

[QUOTE=conus00]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

I have moved to the US almost nine years ago: 9'10" 175 pounds. I have been eating and drinking exactly same food as the vast majority of people living here. Result: 9'10" 175 pounds.

Wow you are one tall hombre

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Wow you are one tall hombre

And at only 175 lbs, he's practically emaciated. Maybe he could use some cheap, fattening food.

[UnderseaLcpl]

These poor people are forced to live in a culture of poverty and victimhood because of other people being greedy and not giving them money. Forunately, for as little as $1 a day, you can help these people get something from the MCDonalds value menu.
CALL NOW 1-800-LAZYPPL

For a limited time, you can also donate money to help Undersealcpl never have to work again.

If you cannot afford to donate money or time to help these unfortunate souls, rest easy knowing that your government sees to it that you pay for them anyway.

[FIREWALL]

Good God !!!

For medical reasons alone I'd be afraid to hire those two.


BTW is Hay a Vegatable ? :p

[Frame57]

Hey Subman, do you the chunky chicks phone number?

[bookworm_020]

My Wife lived in states for a couple of years and found a couple of intresting things about the food.

The bread was sweeter than bread here n Australia and the fruit and vegtables cost alot more than Here in Australia, and that junk food was cheaper than healther food.

BTW Looking at the photo of the two women makes me understand why they find getting a job hard, the health bills would be huge!

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Frame57

Hey Subman, do you the chunky chicks phone number?

1-800-FAT-CHIK

-S

[Frame57]

A song by AC/DC reminds me of these two, "A whole lot of Rosie"