New York City Coalition Against Hunger/Political Rally

            This morning, I headed down to the infamous Wall Street area to meet with Joel Berg, the passionately outspoken executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.  Joel is a very prominent figure in the world of food insecurity advocacy.  We didn't have much time to talk, but his essential message is this:  food banks shouldn't exist because the government should be running effective programs that keep its citizens out of food insecurity and support them thoroughly when they are hungry.  He cites the 1970's as a time when minimum wage jobs could provide families with a living, the economy was doing well, and the government was running assistance programs.  Essentially, the war on poverty had been won and non-government food organizations virtually did not exist.  Around 1980, during the Reagan era, these programs were drastically cut and many mentally unstable citizens were turned out of mental institutions.  As a result, food banks and soup kitchens appeared all over America to try to stem a wave of hunger and homelessness that simply had not existed before.  Joel believes that most Americans today know that we have a hunger problem (I am not so sure about that) but few know that there is a solution.  However, that solution would require a massive government commitment to raise minimum wage, increase education, increase entitlement programs, renew aid to Seniors and the mentally unstable, and simplify federal nutrition applications.  With the current political climate, this is not going to happen very soon. 
        Joel also spoke quite a bit about the growing disparity between the rich and the poor in America.  Did you know that the 57 richest people in New York City alone have a combined wealth that equals the combined wealth of thirteen million minimum-wage workers?  Furthermore, those 57 very rich New Yorkers could pay the deficits of all fifty states combined.  These numbers are staggering.  Meanwhile, fifty million Americans live in food-insecurity and the working poor are the fastest growing subset of the poor. 
        Next, I went with Joel and another staff member to the New York City Hall for a press conference/political rally held by the congress men and women of New York.  The focus of this rally was both the budget passed on Friday and the mysterious entitlements deals worked out between Obama and the Republicans that will be announced Wednesday.  I am wary of events like these, because the perspective is so incredibly skewed.  As with most rallies, this became one where each speakers had the same basic message with which everyone else agreed.  They decried that "Republicans are trying to repeal the 20th century" through cutting entitlement programs.  It is truly a sad thing that the means of balancing the budget is focused on cutting programs that give food, assistance, health care, and job placement to the country's poorest when tax cuts to the country's wealthiest remain untouched.  I am learning more fully each day that no one in the social services non-profit sector is a Republican.  On a side note, I felt pretty professional attending a press conference with media coverage and reporters on the steps where Abraham Lincoln's body was laid after he was killed, where Albert Einstein was hosted, and where numerous other historical events have unfolded.