Happy New Year to all our members and supporters in Hunger Action LA. But as you already know there is not much yet “happy” about it.

For those who were around when we “rang in the new year” with the Northridge earthquake in 1994, the fires and subsequent human loss, suffering and misery are triggering memories and emotions. As with COVID we have already seen an overwhelming response, which is a good sign that our emergency food system is working well. But for the disasters to come there needs to be sustained preparedness at the state level, and that is something HALA will be pushing in Sacramento this year.

And even as people flee the fires, rumors about deportation of immigrants has many on edge.. The threatened deportation of 20 million people will generate a chilling effect even in people who are legally here and who are qualified for public benefits like CalFresh for food assistance. They may stay away from programs that can help them get enough to eat, and prefer to go hungry.

That same  administration is filled with appointees hostile to public benefits in general, who a few years ago attempted to severely restrict SNAP benefits and are likely to attempt to do so again, including using arguments related to healthy eating . RFK Jr’s appointment as a health czar could lead to a mixed bag of results. On one hand his interest in healthy food has been noted and Governor Newsom has tried to get out ahead on this message with an executive order about finding ways to reduce ultra-processed food. This could help us to get more permanent state investments in the variety of food programs---CalFood donations from farmers to food banks, Market Match, Sun Bucks---that currently help our low income residents.

On the other hand RFK Jr’s notorious extreme anti-vaccination stance could hinder efforts to contain bird flu which is now beginning to spread to humans, but also is impacting food security in the increase yet again in the cost of eggs (and this was supposedly one of the big campaign issues that got Trump elected.) In many stores eggs have disappeared from the shelves. A concerted campaign to protect our food supply must include support from those who are not part of the industrial food chain---our local farmers who do not use chemical processes in growing food. California has more small-acreage farmers than any other state. Our food is a precious resource.

All of these things will indeed take a universe of compassionate volunteers, dedicated donors and fearless advocates, willing to take part in a turning point in our nation’s long fight against hunger. And it’s a fight that has two sides, regardless of the public belief that “everyone is against hunger.” Everyone talks a good game, but many don’t admit or want to realize that fighting to make the rich even richer contributes to hunger. And many others in our country sadly will take delight in hearing that people they don’t like, such as immigrants, unhoused people, or poor people in general, will struggle to get enough to eat.

But for those who don’t get the disconnect between their belief that they are against hunger and poverty, vs. the consequences of the policies of the people they have just voted into office, there may come a rude awakening (hopefully.) Trickle-down economics was disproven long ago. It is time for everyone to grow up and declare that in the year 2025 with people gawking over a vacuum cleaner that can pick up and move your socks out of the way---something we’ve all needed for centuries---we still can’t feed everyone, regardless of their amount of work effort or the ability to produce record amounts of food .

Please join us!

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California is Headed For Some Dismal Times Indeed

Blog By: Frank Tamborello

Trump garnered significant support from individuals who may face challenges from his policies, highlighting the resilience and courage of those who seek hope for a better future.

The entry of a Republican congress and/or presidential administration has for decades indicated slashes to social safety net programs including food assistance (the interesting exception being the George W. Bush years which saw benefits restored to categories of immigrants who were booted off of food stamps under the “Contract on America” of 1996.) The Trump administration in 2019 attempted an executive order to force states to remove waivers on rules limiting SNAP benefits to able-bodied adults between age 18 and 50; only the Covid crisis kept those rules from being implemented.

With the return of Donald Trump to the helm of US foreign and domestic policy, food security in the US and particularly in California is headed for some dismal times indeed. And it’s going to be across the board, not just impacting the SNAP program

In a way, the election just completed was about food security. Grocery prices had hit all time highs due to the inflation that set in after the worst days of the pandemic. While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sought to reassure Americans that the “rate of inflation” had gone down, this was very bad optics politically as no one cares what the difference is between the “rate of inflation” and the fact that something costs a lot more than it did while your wages stayed the same. Everyone was paying more for food than they were before, and it doesn’t offer much consolation to know that the price will go higher less dramatically. Even Trump’s clumsy attempt to talk about grocery prices was much better than Biden and Harris either trying to tell people everything was OK or just ignoring the topic altogether. One could argue Biden had the misfortune of this happening during his time in office, but in fact his failure to connect with people and show empathy was what hurt the campaign. Remember that when FDR initiated the New Deal , it was hardly successful in its early years. Yet he got re-elected precisely because people felt he was on their side and doing something about it. No one got that impression from Biden and Harris.

While Trump had the edge on economic issues, that may turn to dust once the impacts of his policies kick in, as long as people do understand the connection. The first of those policies that will have an enormous influence on food prices is his promise to deport 20 million Americans. He has selected to carry this out former ICE director Tom Homan as “border czar” and likely also Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, both of whom have the approximate charm and empathy of Darth Vader. The Guardian recently posted an article (see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/11/mass-deportations-food-chain-california) showing what anyone who knows the slightest bit about American agriculture already knows; the vast amount of work of harvesting our crops is done by immigrant labor, of all sorts of documentation status, and chasing those workers off won’t result in any kind of replacement by home-grown labor. Homan’s casual comments that he will go after immigrants legally here as well just adds to the fact that America’s bounty will collapse as crops will go unharvested, unplanted once the big farms go out of business, and America will ironically have to become a net  food-importing nation, the precise opposite of Trump’s Made in America type philosophy. Expect food prices to go up, up, up.

The other policy issue is of course Trump’s support of tariffs---borrowed from the Democratic party of the early 1990s which was much more aligned against free trade policies (if you’re of a certain age you may recall a TV debate in which former presidents Bush, Ford and Carter helped NAFTA advocate Bill Clinton spar against a fascinating left-right coalition of Pat Buchanan, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Jerry Brown, and Ross Perot.) But in the current environment in which China dominates much of the manufacturing field (as it did not do in 1990), Trump’s tariffs are going to result in higher prices for a vast array of goods, and unemployment for workers at businesses that do a lot of importing.

Those are the huge blows to affordability that will come with Trump and his minions but that’s only the beginning. On the food assistance side, Stephen Miller and his cohorts are only too eager to implement the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the unpopular blueprint for a quasi-fascist America. Trump disavowed Project 2025 during the campaign---well aware that it would have sunk his election if anyone associated him with it---but the votes were barely finished being counted before J.D. Vance, unable to control his glee, declared that “Project 2025 is the agenda.” 

We can probably expect to see attacks on the SNAP program that have already been included in recent House proposals for the Farm Bill. We may see the return of the Trump “Treasure Box”, which will be offered as an option to families instead of SNAP benefits, taking away needy households’ choice as to what they can get to feed their kids while tossing a prize to Trump fans in the corporate ag world. It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be attacks on current rules allowing immigrant participation in SNAP and other food programs. States may be able to step in to mitigate the damage to some degree, but it will take a serious budgetary consideration and a lot of courage and resilience from advocates.

In this election Trump got a lot of votes from people who will be hurt by his policies. While fighting courageously for what is right to keep those policies from being implemented, it will be interesting to see if Trump will turn out to be more skillful at gaslighting Americans than Biden was and telling them that everything is alright.  You may vaguely remember the website that recorded “Trumpgrets”, the reactions of Trump votes who soon found out he wasn’t what they had thought they were voting for. It’s back in business: https://www.reddit.com/r/Trumpgrets/rising/ .