$700 Billion Buys Lunch for Every Child in the U.S. for 29 Years

By Ellen Parry Tyler

The U.S. food system allows one in six children to go hungry for at least part of each month. Hungry children are not healthy and don’t learn as well as well-fed children. Poor families across our nation have been told to wait as global leaders analyze the causes and solutions to our current food crisis. Food banks face food shortages while the number of Americans showing up at their door is rapidly increasing. In the wake of the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout, one wonders what our country could accomplish if $700 billion were instead spent on Main Street.

Michael Thies, UCLA professor of Political Science, shares a widely-held sentiment when he says, "Instead of bailing these companies out, bail out the people! If [Congress] wants to send money, don't send it to the mismanaged companies and let them mismanage further!" (1)

$700 Billion dollars would:

• Give every person in the U.S. $2,300, or give every household $6,200 (2) or
• Pay the income taxes of every American who makes $500,000 or less a year (3) or
• Create the 17th largest economy in the world—roughly equal to the Netherlands’ (4) or
• Buy lunch for every child in America for 29 and a half years (5) or
• Buy every 18 to 65 year old American 3.06 acres of farmland (6)

Forbes Magazine points out that, “Though much of the money may return to the nation’s coffers over time… the bailout will severely limit what the government can afford to spend on health care, energy, infrastructure and education in the years ahead.” (7) So now we know where the country’s leaders place their priorities.

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(1) http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/25/700billion.irpt/index.html
(2) http://www.eandppub.com/2008/09/what-else-you-c.html
(3) ibid
(4) ibid
(5) given that there are 51.3 million children age 5-17 enrolled in nursery school to 12th grade according to the 2006 US Census, and a school lunch cost $2.57 according to the USDA
(6) according to data from the US Department of Agriculture in 2002
(7) http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2008/09/23/bailout-billion-uses-forbesli...