Hard Times preceded the recession

Even before the recession, more than one in five Americans needed help from family, friends or outsiders to pay for basic needs, according to a survey by the Census Bureau.

In addition, 14 percent of all Americans and 26 percent of blacks who responded to the 2005 survey reported that at some time in the preceding year they were not able to meet essential expenses on their own, like paying the mortgage and buying sufficient food.
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Since the survey was conducted well before the recession started in 2007, presumably many measures of economic well-being have since gotten worse. Still, 9 percent of households over all and more than 25 percent of those below the poverty line could not afford nutritionally adequate food without resorting to food pantries or other emergency supplies or to scavenging.


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This dovetails with the 25% of American children living in poverty or near poverty.