Lunch Line

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Line Grows Long for Free Meals at U.S. Schools,” shows the depth to which poverty has grown in this country by the ever increasing number of subsidized lunches for schoolchildren.

The National School Lunch Act, originally passed in 1946, has been used as a barometer of poverty in the nation, and there have never been so many new kids receiving the subsidized lunches it provides in a single year since 1972. The program has now grown to $10.8 billion with 32 million kids participating. Families earning up to 130 percent of the poverty line are eligible.

There are many reasons cited for this less than satisfactory number. Las Vegas, for example, is suffering under an unemployment rate of more than 13 percent, and the construction industry has collapsed. Lumber and paper mills have closed in North Carolina. In Rochester, New York, there are many unemployed engineers and technicians.

It is sad to note that all 50 states have experienced expansions of the school lunch program. And one wonders how many kids are relying on the program for their only hot meal of the day.

Juxtapose these statistics with the Republicans intransigent attitude about renewing the payroll tax holiday, and you get some idea of what is at stake in the coming election.