The New York Times Sunday Cover: Food Stamps For All!

by Joe Coscarelli | 3:18 pm, November 29th, 2009

NY_NYT

The New York Times delivered a sobering message on Sunday with a lead story that read “Food Stamp Use Soars Across U.S., and Stigma Fades.” We’re all hurting, the paper seemed to say, as a giant United States infographic detailing the change in number of people who receive food stamps over the past two years occupied most of the space above the fold. The Great Recession indeed.

The cover story begins matter of factly and it’s clear we’re not in for a feel good Sunday human interest piece:

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s.

The piece puts the 2009 government price tag at about $36 billion, as 14 states reached a record number of recipients by last December. “One example is Michigan, where one in eight residents now receives food stamps,” reads the article, illustrated by the dark sections of the above map. See also: Nevada, Florida, Arizona. Ouch.

You can see another nifty looking, mood deflating Times graphic below, and read the whole downer of an article here.

20080331_foodstamps_graphs

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Bad Money, Economics Ouch, food stamps New York Times, New York Times, No Money Mo Problems, Sunday New York Times, The Great Recession

4 comments

ChrisNH says:

November 29, 2009 at 4:48 pm

Knowing The New York Times as we do, they’re obviously heralding this news with their favorite cry: ‘Yay!-more-government-Yay!’ Until they realize that people aren’t buying their newspapers with those ’stamps.’

Kevin Gotkin says:

November 29, 2009 at 6:05 pm

Did you read the article, ChrisNH? I think the piece was guided by solid facts and grounded itself in the realization about the place of food stamps in the American family, wholly supported by strong evidence. The argument about NYT being liberal is so dead and beaten. Once you talk to a NYTer, you realize how heavy the curtain is between editorial and reporting.
I thought it was a fantastic article and I was DELIGHTED to see you wrote something about it, Joe! A downer it may be, but long live good journalism!

StewartIII says:

November 30, 2009 at 10:24 am

NewsBusters — Reviewing NYT’s Food Stamp Report, Part 1 of 3: Paper Cheers Growth, Loss of Stigma
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2009/11/30/reviewing-nyts-food-stamp-report-part-1-3-paper-cheers-growth-loss-stigm

Nachi says:

November 30, 2009 at 2:09 pm

The effects of the heroic BushDrunk years are well known in Florida. More than 70,000 college students now
are using Food Stamps. Praise Geesussah!!

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