Once a year during the holiday season, the corporate media takes a day or two to mention the problem of hunger in the United States. There are a flurry of TV stories that mention the alarming rate of hunger and then show a food bank or shelter. It is designed as a heartwarming picture, with volunteers assisting those less fortunate, who in turn are extremely grateful for the meal. There is an encouragement to deliver canned goods and other basic supplies to your local shelter.
The rich often get the spotlight in charities because of their occasional large donations, or for the photo opportunity of having a celebrity spoon out soup to the homeless. But millions of working people take part in these charitable activities every year as well, donating their money and their time, motivated by a sense of community and service.
Yet hunger remains. All the energy and resources poured into charity and philanthropy have scarcely made a dent in this social problem, which has only worsened in recent years.
Feeding America, a major charitable organization, estimates that one in six people in this country suffer from hunger. The problem affects people of all ages in cities and rural areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated that more than 16 million children in this country live in households that are food insecure and 49 million people do not have consistent access to adequate food. They are often forced to choose between paying for food, medicine or heating an apartment.
But why? Why, in a country as fabulously rich as the United States, are so many people hungry in the first place?
Individual misfortune or the system?
Charity gives the impression that we live in a compassionate society. But in fact, the capitalist economic system treats the vast majority of the population as disposable items. We can be hired or fired and left to fend for ourselves based solely on whether or not our labor can be exploited to maximize profits for the 0.1%. Hunger is not a problem of individual misfortune.
Hunger in the U.S. is not caused by a lack of resources or an insufficient food supply. Rather, it is the result of the capitalist need to sell goods at a profit. People go hungry while food that cannot be sold profitably is thrown out.
In the case of corn, for instance, capitalists do not hesitate to sell it for conversion to ethanol bio-fuel if that will make them a bigger profit.
The limits of charity
Hard-working people who support and work for charities to alleviate hunger and poverty will never overcome the problem in spite of their best intentions. Mark Winne, former director of a large food bank in Connecticut, wrote about the limits of charity: “I often wondered what would happen if the collective energy that went into soliciting and distributing food were put into ending hunger and poverty instead. Surely it would have a sizable impact if 3,000 Hartford-area volunteers, led by some of Hartford’s most privileged and respected citizens, showed up one day at the state’s legislature, demanding enough resources to end hunger and poverty.” (Washington Post, Nov. 18, 2007)
Capitalists work hard to obscure the systemic reasons for hunger. The corporate media play a role, transforming billionaires into celebrities and writing puff pieces praising their philanthropy.
In 2010, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and dozens of other wealthy capitalists found a new way to improve their image: They pledged to donate half their net worth to charity, with the money donated by the time they died, or upon their death.
This is like George Washington, who in addition to being the first president was also Virginia’s largest slaveholder. Washington decided to free his slaves, but only upon his death. How “generous!”
Who are the real philanthropists?
In fact the capitalists’ wealth, like that of the slaveholders, was generated by exploitation of the working class. It does not come from their own labor. In effect, they steal the money from the workers, donate a fraction back and in turn are praised for their generosity. They leave behind philanthropic foundations that bear their names so that they will not be remembered for their misdeeds. Andrew Carnegie, the steel baron who worked his employees seven days a week and routinely called out murderous thugs to break their strikes, is now mostly remembered for college scholarships and scientific research!
In reality, workers are daily philanthropists, “donating” a portion of their labor every day to build the wealth of corporations and banks and further enrich their billionaire shareholders. Worldwide protests in the last year show that millions are recognizing that struggle, not charity, will get rid of this rotten system and create a just one in which charitable handouts are a thing of the past.
