Americans Are Spending Less On Food

This is not really a surprise. A recent Gallup Poll shows that Americans are currently spending less money (in 2012 dollars) on feeding their families than at any time since 1944 (when Gallup first starting asking this question). The average amount of money spent to feed a family in this country is now about $151 a week, down from a previous low of $157 a week.

But don't get the idea that all, or even most, American families can afford to spend $151 on food. That figure is an average, and like average pay in this country, is skewed by richer Americans who spend a lot more on food than most other Americans (10% spend more than $300 a week on food, and 31% spend more than $200 a week for food).

A much better idea of how much Americans are spending to feed their families can be seen by considering the median figure instead of the mean average. That median figure is $125 a week -- meaning half of all Americans spend less than $125 a week for food (and half of Americans spend more). And a full 25% of American families spend less than $99 a week for food (with 8% spending less than $50 a week).

Of course, millions of Americans are having to be very careful about their spending, even for necessities like food, thanks to the recession costing millions of Americans their jobs (due to the Republican economic policies of the last 30 years). We know that half of all American families now must live on an income of less than 150% of the poverty level, and with an income that low, they have to watch every penny they spend just to try and make ends meet.

And things are not going to get better any time soon. According to figures from the Economic Policy Institute, more than one out of every four American workers now holds a low-wage job (defined as a full-time job paying at or less than the poverty level). This is expected to continue for several more years at least, with the figure predicted to be 28% in the year 2020. Too many of the few new jobs being created are low-wage jobs, and with many millions of unemployed people the employers don't feel they need to pay very much to fill their open positions.

Adding to the problem of supplying food for a family on low wages is the droughts in this country last year and this year. That is expected to bump up food prices by 3.5% this year, and possibly another 4% next year. But the Republicans say they have a solution to America's serious economic problems. They want to cut government help for hurting Americans (including food stamps and free school lunches for poor children) so they can give the rich more tax cuts. They have to be brain dead.