Beyond the numbers and official stats, real or not, people in US are suffering hunger, something that would have been unthinkable in the past.
All the obstacles to reforms of any kind in US are based on the assumption that the system works fairly. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hates to use words like “hunger” and “malnutrition” in the same sentence as the “United States.”

A paradox of plenty – hunger in America

After all, a bedrock belief in America held that this is the land of unlimited opportunities where every citizen has an equal chance to succeed and become rich. That requires an assumption that the system is fair. How many Americans still believe that?
In this era of bank subsidies and bonuses, almost 50 million in US are chronically lacking adequate food, according to the government. 1 in 8 Americans is now on food stamps. 1 in 6 Americans sometimes goes hungry for lack of money. And it’s getting worse.