1 in 5 Americans cannot afford to buy food

The results of a new poll show that American citizens are still experiencing difficulty in affording food for themselves or their families, a sign which proves that the country’s economy is not on the road to recovery. A total of 177,662 adults from across the United States responded to the poll conducted by Gallup organization via phone from January through June 2012.

According to the findings, which were made public on August 21, almost one in five Americans in 15 states say they had trouble buying food at least once during the past 12 months. “Nationwide, 18.2 percent of Americans so far in 2012 say there have been times when they could not afford the food they needed, on par with the 18.6 percent who had trouble affording food in 2011,” the Gallup poll results also stated.

The poll further highlighted that residents in southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama are among the most likely to struggle to afford food. The development comes as worsening drought in the United States has pushed grain prices to new highs as crops are withering and the temperatures are rising. At the same time, corn and soybean production in the US has slashed to a six-year low due to the drought. Read more >>

Confidence in US Public Schools at Record Low

A new poll says that confidence in U.S. public schools has dropped to the lowest level in nearly four decades. Twenty-nine percent of those questioned in a Gallup poll said they had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in public schools. Forty percent had some confidence while 30 percent expressed little or none.

When Gallup first measured confidence in public schools in 1973, 58 percent reported having a strong belief in the country's educational system. Since then, that number has steadily tracked downward. Read more >>

Sales of Home Safes Skyrocket Over Anger and Distrust of Banks

In an era marked by financial turbulence, it's probably not surprising that safes have become a popular commodity, with some manufacturers, retailers and installers reporting sales increases of as much as 40 percent from a few years ago. 

In a Gallup poll last year, a record-high 36 percent of Americans said they had "very little" or "no" confidence in U.S. banks. (In 2008 and 2009, when the financial crisis was peaking, that figure stood at 22 and 29 percent, respectively.) And growing concern about identity theft has made some people more eager to keep their assets in a form they can see and count, says R. Brent Lang, an investment manager in Surrey, British Columbia: "By acquiring one password, someone can wipe out all your digital wealth," he says. More...