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Record 28 Million Americans to Get Food Stamps

Slip into poverty a grim economic indicator

By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 31, 2008 4:20 AM CDT

(Newser) – In an economic indicator that paints a grim future for swaths of the US population, an all-time record 28 million Americans are expected to be close enough to poverty to receive $36 billion in food stamps in the coming fiscal year, reports the New York Times. There is a surge in recipients in 40 states, with 14 already reporting a record count last year.

The number of recipients in Rhode Island jumped 18% in two years. In states like Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, poverty and unemployment have been rising for years. “Our caseload has more than doubled since 2000, and we’re at an all-time record level,” said a spokeswoman in Michigan, where one of eight residents receives food stamps.

An unemployed man talks on the phone with a counselor at the state unemployment and career office in San Francisco. Poverty and unemployment has driven up food stamp use in 40 states to record levels.
An unemployed man talks on the phone with a counselor at the state unemployment and career office in San Francisco. Poverty and unemployment has driven up food stamp use in 40 states to record levels....   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Sign of the times: a restaurant in Lake Alfred Florida is closed by the economic downturn. The New York Times reports economic hardship has forced record numbers of Americans to seek food stamps.
Sign of the times: a restaurant in Lake Alfred Florida is closed by the economic downturn. The New York Times reports economic hardship has forced record numbers of Americans to seek food stamps.   (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
A shopper reaches for a milk product in the Acme supermarket store in Lawrenceville, N.J. Record numbers of Americans are subsisting on food stamps because of the economic downturn.
A shopper reaches for a milk product in the Acme supermarket store in Lawrenceville, N.J. Record numbers of Americans are subsisting on food stamps because of the economic downturn.   (AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)
New Yorkers line up for a job fair last week facing a deteriorating job market. Latest figures say one in ten New Yorkers is on food stamps.
New Yorkers line up for a job fair last week facing a deteriorating job market. Latest figures say one in ten New Yorkers is on food stamps.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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