Conservatism -> High Energy Costs -> Foreclosures -> Starving Citizens

My local paper in Western Mass., the Daily Hampshire Gazette (sub. req'd), today reported on the strain being put upon area food banks.

Food banks across Massachusetts, already hobbled by state and federal budget cuts, are struggling to meet the increasing demands of a faltering economy beset by the mortgage debacle and higher food and energy costs.

'We're literally in a crisis. Even middle-income families are on the brink too,' said Andrew Morehouse, executive director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, based in Hatfield. 'If costs continue to rise, it's going to be even worse. The situation we are in now should be telling us we must do something about this.'

Two chief factors are making this a dismal season for food banks and the people who rely on them: reductions in federal food donations and shrinking governmental funding.

As noted here earlier, the mortgage crisis (the Gazette reports foreclosures tripled in Mass. this year) happen in part because conservatives weren't interested in regulating banks.

And high energy costs for dirty fossil fuel, along with the lack of affordable clean alternatives, are a signature failure of Bush's conservative energy policy and foreign policy.

And while conservative policy weakened the economic foundations of America and increased poverty, budget cuts weakened the ability for charities to cushion the blow.

The result: more Americans go hungry.

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