20 percent of Californians had a tough time affording food in 2010

One in five Californians struggled to afford enough food for themselves and their families last year, according to a new report by the Food Research and Action Center.

The rate in California was slightly higher than the national average of 18%.

INTERACTIVE: Check out rates near you and how the states compare.

Jim Weill, president of the Washington-based nonprofit group, said the figures underscore the need for a strong nutrition safety net -- including food stamps and school meals -- for families that continue to struggle even as the economy begins to recover.

"While the nation's Great Recession may have technically ended in mid-2009, it has not yet ended for many of the nation's households," Weill said in a statement Thursday. "For them, 2010 was the third year of a terrible recession that is widely damaging the ability to meet basic needs."

The report was based on data collected for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which conducted telephone interviews with more than 350,000 people in 2010, including 35,543 in California.

Read more: "Report finds 20% of Californians struggled to feed their families in 2010."

-- Alexandra Zavis

Comments

[WF]

How about we just lower the outrageous tax burden on the citizens of California so people have more money? Food stamps ... just another burden to the taxpayers.

[bob]

The rent in the Inland Empire and Long Beach cost about the same as anywhere else. Heads of household pay about one thousand dollars or more for 500 sq ft of apartment space. When you compare that area with the mortgage payment of a single family home, you see that the rent has been inflated. The Association of Landlords has suggested rent prices to their numerous members. Their charge is right on the heels of a mortgage payment. You need a place.

[Alice Peters]

Yeah, lower the taxes! After all, highways, police, paved roads, schools, traffic lights, water infratructure, storm drains, administration, community colleges, state universities, tree trimming, parks, the court systems, agencies to protect our air and water, plowing and sanding, paramedics, the folks who track disease and infestations, and the safety net for those who earn minimum wage or below and all that other garbage that taxes are wasted on will be provided anyway by garden gnomes! And even if those those things ARE supposed to be covered by a BIT in taxes, everyone knows the prices of all those things have actually been going down for two decades now, just like costs for everything outside of government. So of COURSE it makes sense to cut our gosh darn taxes!

Apparently liberals and other idiots haven't caught on to the fact that saying something really DOES make it so!

Oh, and stop all this foolish talk about ice cream being a poor choice for dieters!

Finally, remember NOT to cut any taxes that pay for things that are important to me in particular. That would be irrational. Oil companies MUST continue to get subsidies, and it's the right of EVERY California corporation to consume and taint resources here in CA, while escaping state taxes by headquartering off-shore. That's what the Founders intended!

[shadowpark]

And yet the top 400 wealthy people in America have double there wealth in the past 8 years ..
Puzzling how that happens and we all face austerity while the wealthiest Americans lavish in the lowest tax rates since the 1920s and hold more wealth than any time in the history of this Country.