On November 16, the US Department of Agriculture reported that 49 million people in 2008 “lacked access to adequate nutrition.” That’s 13 million more people than in the previous year, and the most ever since the US began reporting this data 14 years ago. 

As we recover from the Thanksgiving holiday, is there anything else for us to think about as a people?

Let’s start with these grim facts. Before the Great Recession of 2008-09 hit:

• The US lost 30 million good-paying jobs
• 47 million people were uninsured
• The US was spending 17% of GDP on health care, while ranked at the bottom among industrial nations for outcomes for patients of the delivery of that enormous expenditure
• The nation’s infrastructure was in need of more than $1 trillion in overdue repairs to roads, bridges, rails and ports
• Most states were headed toward life-threatening deficits
• Two thirds of families who are defined as “food insecure” contained one or more full-time worker!

All this accumulated pain in the heart and soul of American society. Then, to make matters much worse, the Great Recession of 2008-09 hit. The pain that has accumulated steadily over the last 30 years is broad and deep. A serious lack of leadership in this period is responsible for a society that now leaves its people vulnerable and insecure.

And we now learn that along with nearly 20% unemployment last week -- that’s right, the official 10.2% figure was correctly interpreted by The New York Times last week as at least 17.5% if we include people who have stopped looking for work and those who are involuntarily working part-time—more people are hungry than at any time since hunger statistics have been recorded. And the hunger is among those who have jobs!!

What to do? 

Among other things, we must change our language. We must STOP saying that “things will get better when the economy improves”. This language is designed to make us think that an economic “upturn” (as people like to call such things) will make things better.

Since 1975, when the unrelenting slide for working people began, there have been several “upturns” and “downturns” in the shopworn economic indicators that are watched mostly by Wall Street, large investors and major corporations.

Until we change our language to demand real security for all people in our society, we will not create the will to begin to create public policy and private investment that will take us there.

If we want change, the first thing we need is to be relentless with a new language. 

Next year, more will be hungry. Time’s up!