More Americans Than Chinese Struggling To Put Food On The Table: Gallup Poll

Millions of Americans are currently weathering the effects of a slow economic recovery. Many Chinese, meanwhile, find themselves struggling less to keep their families fed, according to a recent Gallup report.

Nearly 20 percent of Americans say they've had trouble putting food on the table in the past 12 months, up from nine percent in 2008, the Gallup report found. That’s compared to six percent of Chinese respondents, down from 16 percent in 2008.

Though the U.S. economy is technically in a recovery, Americans' incomes have declined more since the recession's end than they did during the downturn. Nine in 10 Americans say they don't expect to get a raise that will be enough to compensate for the rising cost of food and fuel, according to an American Pulse survey.

At the same time, the Chinese middle class has been on the rise since the late 1990s. The middle-class explosion has been most prominent in the country's largest cities and government policies have helped to aid it along. Businesses are responding too: U.S. hotel companies are launching modestly-priced hotel chains in the country in hopes of attracting some of the scores of new middle class travelers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

And while the Chinese middle class is growing, the ranks of the U.S. poor are swelling. The nation's poverty rate jumped to 15.1 percent in 2010, the Cenus Bureau announced last month, as the total number of Americans in poverty grew to 46.2 million.

There's one area where Americans are struggling less: Eleven percent of Americans said they had trouble affording housing in the last 12 months, compared to 16 percent of Chinese, according to Gallup. Still, the share of Americans struggling to find housing is growing; in 2008, five percent of Americans said they struggled to pay for adequate housing.

And the American housing crisis may be getting worse. Half of American mortgage borrowers with good credit may end up owing more on their homes than they're worth, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. Meanwhile home values have fallen more during the current housing crisis than they did during the Great Depression, CNBC reports.

At the same time, Chinese cities are beginning to roll out policies that would bolster local housing markets in defiance of official Chinese policies that aim to curb housing prices, according to Marketwatch.

The Gallup poll's distinction between American and Chinese lifestyles comes after the Senate passed a bipartisan bill targeting what they call Chinese currency manipulation. U.S. critics claim that Chinese officials have undervalued their currency, giving the country a trade advantage and hurting U.S. job creation.

Comments

[LynnW49]

07:17 PM on 10/15/2011

"And while the Chinese middle class is growing, the ranks of the U.S. poor are swelling."

And that is why American business dumped any allegiance to America a longtime ago. They do not need the American middle class to sustain their business. They can replace it with the middle class elsewhere.

[Forgive and Share]

07:50 PM on 10/25/2011

Exactly.

The capitalist is not a nationalist. He instigates, sells and wages war because it is profitable. Profit and greed is cold, blind and without virtue. But the capitalist's freedom to control government and fleece the people is more curtailed in the People's Republic of China. Not all freedom is good. Although the pre-amble of our Constitution suggests a nation of the People, by the People, for the People, that is not the nation we now live in. Politicians have empowered Corporations instead, and sold out the people.

"Capitalis­ts generally act harmonious­ly and in concert, to fleece the people” - Abraham Lincoln

[TruelyFedUp]

06:14 PM on 10/14/2011

This is so easy to fix. Our govenment need only release some of the 30% of our land that it holds in "trust" for us so we can build self sustaining eco villages for those who want to live in them. They should be free to anyone that wants to grow the food, share a community kitchen and dining hall and library, laundry, schools, clinics, etc and do the work to build and maintain them. We should have these as permanent bases throughout the country for whenever Americans have a situation like Katrina, or they find themselves jobless and homeless, or the government otherwise fails to care for those that cannot make it in an exploitive capitalist system.

Also, Congress should redirect funds that are being spent on illegal wars, "lost" funds like the Pentagon's 25% of its annual budget and other stupid spending like the $250 million or so that USAID's Land Tenure department spends every decade to help people in other countries manage their lands.

This solution would take the pressure off the need to create jobs, off of people that are hungry and homeless, off of taxpayers because ultimately these villages would all be self sustaining.

[RodbfromNC]

07:35 AM on 10/14/2011

Well at least we are beating China at something......

[Forgive and Share]

08:02 PM on 10/25/2011

Don't fixate on the ego when capitalism is drowning you. And lay off the bottle, please.

[General Washington]

02:04 AM on 10/14/2011

Yep, being poor in the United States is just so much better than being poor in an undeveloped country like....

Hmm. On second thought, scratch that.

[JTyroler]

08:20 PM on 10/13/2011

I thought Reagan said that Marxism was on the dustbin of history. If this continues, we'll find out that it's not there waiting for us.

[flossophy]

05:08 PM on 10/13/2011

I remember when my mom would say:

"Now Flossy, eat all the food on your plate... there are starving people in China..."

[justme2005]

06:43 PM on 10/13/2011

I remember when my Mom would ask, and what does that have to do with the price of rice in China...

[Bob Metcalfe]

05:10 PM on 10/14/2011

Mine said India, but any economy that can't satisfy basic needs like food is in trouble, and the society associated with that economy is at huge risk of upheaval. Dare I say revolution? Probably not in the US but something close.

[Henry Spencer]

03:40 PM on 10/13/2011

“When I am talking to GE managers, I talk China, China, China, China, China. [Five Chinas] You need to be there. You need to change the way people talk about it and how they get there. I am a nut on China. Outsourcin­­g from China is going to grow to 5 billion. We are building a tech center in China. Every discussion today has to center on China. The cost basis is extremely attractive­­. You can take an 18 cubic foot refrigerat­­or, make it in China, land it in the United States, and land it for less than we can make an 18 cubic foot refrigerat­­or ourselves.­­”

-Jeffrey Immelt
Chairman, CEO of General Electric
quoted in an investor meeting, on December 6, 2002.

....now serving as the President’­­­s Council on Jobs and Competitiv­­­eness.

OH, the irony...

[jaxroam]

04:04 AM on 10/14/2011

If you can't join them beat them?

But really this is a story of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage The US may initially become rich on mass production, but this is one field where China has the advantage. They have more mass so to speak, and good supporting infrastructure. Other countries like Bangladesh or Indonesia may have cheaper labour, but would be hard-pressed to produce in similar quantities, as would the US.

This Jeffrey Immelt may have better idea of where the American and Chinese comparative advantages lie, or he may not (I don't know this guy), being a CEO of a multinational doesn't necessarily make you an expert on economy.

[RodbfromNC]

07:43 AM on 10/14/2011

It's a race to the bottom..the cheapest labor. One concern I have is that 99% of all antibiotics are made outside the US with 70% made in China. What happens if we get into a squabble with China over something..where do we get the antibiotics from then?

The interesting part is that no one here in the US will be able to afford that 18 cubit foot fridge if the multinationals keep outsourcing. Good luck extending credit to someone in New Delhi...or Bangalore.

[jaxroam]

03:24 AM on 10/15/2011

The task is to raise the bottom, not to race to the bottom. There are many unemployed people in the world, especially from rural areas, but the supply is not limitless. The wages in China is increasing with 10-15% every year, so while a Chinese labourer is cheaper than an American one he or she is four times as expensive than a decade ago, while the American worker is only a little more expensive. Based on hourly price Americans are much more competitive than they were then. But the price of labour is only one cost, and distance to market and culture counts as well.

[StopMakingSense2]

02:13 PM on 10/13/2011

The conservative's can rejoice in their success! Share cropping and indentured servitude are finally within reach! Who needs Peabodies wayback machine with rubepublicans around? Now to get to work on repealing the 13th amendment and getting things back to only white male land holders being able to vote then conservative nirvana will be achieved!

[eco124]

03:59 PM on 10/13/2011

Let us guess, you're one of the brainiacs at OWS protesting.

[westbygod]

05:24 PM on 10/13/2011

Us? Are you counting the voices in your head as people?

[agness nutter]

01:30 PM on 10/14/2011

I assume that's the royal "us" - because it certainly doesn't include me. Don't presume to speak for anyone other than yourself.

[Forgive and Share]

08:17 PM on 10/25/2011

"Capitalis­­ts generally act harmonious­­ly and in concert, to fleece the people” - Abraham Lincoln

[Whats Inaname]

02:05 PM on 10/13/2011

Yet one more thing the Chinese do better. According to the Rep/TPer Party we can't even compete with them on solar energy (go ahead bring up Solyndra or any other company you may have heard from “Faux News”).

They are also "happier" than we are.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/oecd-life-happiness-report_n_1007484.html

To the 99% who so feverously defend the 1%, go ahead keep saying it is "entitlements" and "Obama care" that is responsible for all this. The Chinese don't even have to fire a single "shot" they are already handing us our behinds to us in everything. Keep saying we need to spend more on defense than our own citizens. Go ahead give your "1 VOTE" to the Rep/TPer's. After all, that is all you are worth to them.

[slickbottom]

01:24 PM on 10/13/2011

And the Republican and teabaggers call this the "greatest country in the world". I really am fed up hearing their BS. Of the developed countries in the world we rank near the bottom. Our health care system ranks number 37 out of the developed countries according to the World Health Organization. We have little left of the safety net, concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and ever growing poverty. Our country is not just in depression it is lapsing into third world nation status.

[DFL]

01:03 PM on 10/13/2011

Thank republican for-profit health insurance, and now I got a relative moved in with me, can't afford any rent payments, and if not for my place he would be living in the car and eating out of dumpsters.

[JTyroler]

08:17 PM on 10/13/2011

Your relative is fortunate to have someone who cares enough to let them move in with them. There are many who don't have a supportive family.

[loki]

12:54 PM on 10/13/2011

in the 80s china privatized its healthcare. In the last 10 years they have been moving it back to universal at an amazing rate. The average person pays $7 a year for medical insurance. Sure, its not the worlds greatest, doesnt have all the bells and whistles like a billionaire CEO or congress person is entitled too, but they have something. That goes a long way in helping to put food on the table too, not having looming health bills to deal with like we do.

[jaxroam]

11:56 PM on 10/13/2011

No, it is not the world's greatest. There are better hospitals, which are a lot more expensive, and private clinics that are very good but really expensive. That is the main reason for Chinese savings, to pay the health bill when one in the family get sick, which easily can cost a year's or a lifetime's saving for that family.

I know of a shop assistent in her 30s who was clearly over-qualified for her job. She had run stores of her own but had to sell them when her father got cancer, the medical bill came over a million yuan (150,000 USD) and had to start over again for her and her son.

[knewsreply]

12:53 PM on 10/13/2011

I don't know if I can believe this poll, because it’s not easy to take a poll like this in China. I’ve visited many parts of China numerous times. I’ve seen very poor and extremely expensive areas. It’s a fascinating country to visit and I have many Chinese friends. Most my friends live in gated communities or the expensive areas of China.

[zbb]

01:04 PM on 10/13/2011

Most of the poor in China are from rural, which means they have more or less a piece of cultivated land. They don't even worry about food safety problems.

[echome]

12:35 PM on 10/13/2011

When the Republicans say America is the greatest best place in the world could they do that if they actually had a brain or would/could listen to the truth? It is easy to say a thing... what takes real courage is to live it!

[Mat Biscan]

12:33 PM on 10/13/2011

Whoa. Up 9% in 3 years? That's troubling.