Chart of the Week: Food Stamps Used by 1 in 7 Americans

The chart below published by The Wall Street Journal shows the states with the largest percentage of residents using food stamps. (the more red, the larger number of food stamp users) Embarrassingly, the the west coast state of Oregon joins the deep south and traditionally poorest state, Mississippi, with the largest share of population using food stamps to buy groceries.  In February the last month for which there are statistics, program participants increased by 11.6% over the previous month:

The increasingly wide dichotomy between rich and poor in this country was impressed upon US Person last weekend as he returned from viewing the fascinating documentary by Walter Herzog, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Crossing a Stumptown corner to wait at the streetcar shelter, he admired a Porsche Caymann parked at the curb, and wondered about the owner who could afford the sport car's hefty $70,000 price tag--perhaps a pro soccer player? His attention was soon diverted by a couple wearing blankets over their heads, preparing a place to sleep in a storefront doorway only a few paces away from the parked purple propulsion.  "There is no pity in the city", we are reminded by Mr. Paulson's team adverts.