WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.430 --> 00:00:02.780 Everything is more expensive. 2 00:00:02.790 --> 00:00:06.470 That's a shared sentiment at the supermarket in Central Arkansas 3 00:00:06.750 --> 00:00:10.656 where people say they're walking away with less after having spent more 4 00:00:10.657 --> 00:00:13.750 just because as a single mom, you know, thinking about how prices 5 00:00:13.750 --> 00:00:17.670 were years ago, I could use maybe like like a small budget, 6 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:21.310 half of what I pay now to get groceries and now I'm paying double. 7 00:00:21.310 --> 00:00:25.110 So it's just looking at the prices, how they were back then versus now, 8 00:00:25.110 --> 00:00:26.540 it just makes it a little bit harder. 9 00:00:26.550 --> 00:00:31.177 Back then, I probably wouldn't spend no more than maybe maybe about two to 10 00:00:31.343 --> 00:00:34.710 $300.00, you know, now it's like, you know, 11 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:38.430 300 to $400.00, you know, like like the prices like that. 12 00:00:38.430 --> 00:00:39.700 You know, because I have kids. 13 00:00:39.710 --> 00:00:40.630 I have about four kids. 14 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:41.660 So you know, they got to eat too. 15 00:00:41.670 --> 00:00:45.310 So I can't just, you know, I can't just buy buy a little. 16 00:00:45.470 --> 00:00:48.670 For some with whom the blame lies is clear. 17 00:00:49.110 --> 00:00:52.229 The administration, the people who are in charge. 18 00:00:52.550 --> 00:00:57.150 I think the administration has caused the inflation rate just to go crazy. 19 00:00:57.790 --> 00:01:00.060 These views are not entirely surprising. 20 00:01:00.070 --> 00:01:02.340 Arkansas is a conservative stronghold. 21 00:01:02.350 --> 00:01:06.950 In the 2020 election, Donald Trump won a little over 62% of 22 00:01:06.950 --> 00:01:11.440 the vote here compared to President Joe Biden's nearly 35%. 23 00:01:11.440 --> 00:01:14.149 It's also a state with the highest rate of food insecurity. 24 00:01:14.160 --> 00:01:18.310 Wages are anywhere from 15 to 20% lower than the national average, 25 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:22.110 but food is not that much cheaper than anywhere else in the country. 26 00:01:22.110 --> 00:01:25.550 And even as the economy has come roaring back and inflation 27 00:01:25.550 --> 00:01:30.430 has come down from its mid 2022 peak, prices are still 18% higher than they 28 00:01:30.430 --> 00:01:33.250 were when President Joe Biden assumed office. 29 00:01:33.270 --> 00:01:36.350 While hourly wages have grown in that time too, 30 00:01:36.350 --> 00:01:38.250 they've not completely caught up. 31 00:01:38.430 --> 00:01:41.670 Arkansas is a state that has both a low cost of living 32 00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:42.819 but also low incomes. 33 00:01:42.830 --> 00:01:47.110 So I think when you see very rapid increase in prices, people with 34 00:01:47.110 --> 00:01:49.980 we have such a high rate of poverty that people will notice 35 00:01:49.990 --> 00:01:50.980 that and feel it. 36 00:01:50.990 --> 00:01:55.270 Jeremy Horpidall is an economist at the University of Central Arkansas. 37 00:01:55.270 --> 00:01:58.830 He says policies like too much pandemic era stimulus under 38 00:01:58.830 --> 00:02:01.780 Biden could have driven up inflation higher than it would 39 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:03.050 have been otherwise. 40 00:02:03.190 --> 00:02:06.230 But he also thinks the president's influence over prices 41 00:02:06.230 --> 00:02:08.980 is overstated in the minds of voters. 42 00:02:08.990 --> 00:02:11.380 For most people, they they, they don't really understand 43 00:02:11.389 --> 00:02:12.550 where inflation is coming from. 44 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:15.380 And so some of them might look to, you know, say, 45 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:18.830 oh must be the fault of the president or someone in in Washington. 46 00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:21.740 I think as an economist, I look at this and I think, 47 00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:24.220 well, this is due to the increase in the money supply and 48 00:02:24.230 --> 00:02:25.220 other factors like that. 49 00:02:25.230 --> 00:02:28.410 But that's not how a normal person kind of thinks about these things. 50 00:02:28.870 --> 00:02:32.790 Over in this North Little Rock neighborhood, Rick Tatum says he does 51 00:02:32.790 --> 00:02:36.010 not trust the government to make sure everyone can afford food. 52 00:02:36.710 --> 00:02:38.340 I expect nothing from politicians. 53 00:02:38.350 --> 00:02:41.380 As you can see with like national there's every time you turn around, 54 00:02:41.389 --> 00:02:44.340 there's a government shutdown about to happen because they can't agree 55 00:02:44.350 --> 00:02:44.900 on things. 56 00:02:44.910 --> 00:02:46.620 Why would we put this in their hands? 57 00:02:46.630 --> 00:02:49.140 Somebody's livelihood, what do they eat tonight or not? 58 00:02:49.150 --> 00:02:50.980 Why would we put that in their hands? 59 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:54.669 Aided by cash and goods donations, Rick Tatum runs a community 60 00:02:54.669 --> 00:02:57.540 pantry on his front lawn in response to the rising 61 00:02:57.550 --> 00:03:01.150 costs of food and his neighbors increasing struggle to meet them. 62 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:05.669 It was about 9:30 PM and a young boy comes and knocks on our door. 63 00:03:05.950 --> 00:03:07.780 And I recognize him from the neighborhood, 64 00:03:07.790 --> 00:03:08.890 but I don't know his name. 65 00:03:08.950 --> 00:03:12.230 And so I opened the door and he says I'm hungry. 66 00:03:12.230 --> 00:03:15.020 And I was like, OK, well, what do you want? 67 00:03:15.030 --> 00:03:16.820 And he says, I like cereal. 68 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:18.820 So I'll grab a box of cereal out of our personal pantry. 69 00:03:18.830 --> 00:03:20.380 And I just give it to him and he says thank you. 70 00:03:20.389 --> 00:03:22.210 And he just goes off. 71 00:03:22.389 --> 00:03:25.260 And that let me know that, hey, there's a need here because 72 00:03:25.270 --> 00:03:27.660 that kid walked through this neighborhood at night, 73 00:03:27.669 --> 00:03:29.210 which some adults don't do. 74 00:03:30.760 --> 00:03:34.000 Once a week, Rick shops for items with which to stock 75 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.580 the community pantry. 76 00:03:35.950 --> 00:03:38.850 Hungry neighborhood children coming home from school. 77 00:03:38.990 --> 00:03:42.670 So usually in this area is where we get like, the snack foods. 78 00:03:42.670 --> 00:03:44.460 Like, again, these are the things like, 79 00:03:44.470 --> 00:03:47.750 they're not on anybody's healthy list, but there are things people 80 00:03:47.750 --> 00:03:52.070 like, and so one of the main things that kids usually like are like 81 00:03:52.070 --> 00:03:53.530 these Taki snacks. 82 00:03:53.870 --> 00:03:59.470 Having spent $345.87 on the shopping trip, Rick prepares 83 00:03:59.470 --> 00:04:00.700 for the day's visitors. 84 00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:02.940 It doesn't take long before they come. 85 00:04:02.950 --> 00:04:05.700 He's become a fixture in the community with his neighbors 86 00:04:05.710 --> 00:04:08.610 saying the pantry has become essential for them. 87 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:09.060 Help out. 88 00:04:09.070 --> 00:04:09.780 They help out. 89 00:04:09.790 --> 00:04:13.870 He help out every day, every day, every day with grandkids that eat 90 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:15.420 you out of house and home. 91 00:04:15.430 --> 00:04:18.140 It's really needed and helpful. 92 00:04:18.150 --> 00:04:20.420 That the community pantry would not be needed 93 00:04:20.430 --> 00:04:24.390 one day is a wish he has, but until then he says he'll continue 94 00:04:24.390 --> 00:04:26.100 putting out food every day. 95 00:04:26.110 --> 00:04:28.380 In my community, I don't see it getting 96 00:04:28.390 --> 00:04:30.770 better for most people. 97 00:04:31.230 --> 00:04:35.070 The reason being is that if you go to the grocery store, 98 00:04:35.070 --> 00:04:38.320 you see prices go up, but you seldom see them coming back down. 99 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.700 I can tell you the thing that people need most is something 100 00:04:41.710 --> 00:04:44.140 that the pantry provides but not is paid for, 101 00:04:44.150 --> 00:04:45.210 and that's hope. 102 00:04:45.430 --> 00:04:48.836 People need that more than anything, and that's why we do this. 103 00:04:49.202 --> 00:04:52.300 From a community effort to a statewide project. 104 00:04:52.310 --> 00:04:55.510 The largest food bank in the state operating out of this 105 00:04:55.510 --> 00:04:59.270 9300 square meter facility, the Arkansas Food Bank, 106 00:04:59.270 --> 00:05:02.750 says it distributed 40,000,000 lbs of food last year. 107 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:06.830 But CEO Brian Burton points to a much more historical struggle with poverty 108 00:05:06.830 --> 00:05:08.940 and food insecurity in the state. 109 00:05:08.950 --> 00:05:12.750 That may prove difficult to dislodge by any single administration. 110 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:19.470 We are an agricultural state with roots in slavery, 111 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:25.190 tenant farming, sharecropping, all of that changed so much during 112 00:05:25.190 --> 00:05:30.710 the Fifties, 60s and 70s as modern farming became mechanized and 113 00:05:30.710 --> 00:05:33.710 thousands of laborers, you know, were no longer needed. 114 00:05:33.870 --> 00:05:37.910 When that happens, you just see kind of a hopelessness 115 00:05:37.910 --> 00:05:39.700 and despair emerge. 116 00:05:39.710 --> 00:05:45.416 What happens when a poverty rate climbs up to 35 or 40% in a town. 117 00:05:45.450 --> 00:05:48.660 Much of the capital leaves. Back to the present. 118 00:05:48.670 --> 00:05:51.670 A particularly pressing priority for him is the so-called 119 00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:54.910 farm bill although negotiated every five years governing 120 00:05:54.910 --> 00:05:56.860 agricultural and food programs. 121 00:05:56.870 --> 00:05:59.700 It's on the table again, but Democrats and Republicans 122 00:05:59.710 --> 00:06:03.390 are divided over the costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 123 00:06:03.390 --> 00:06:06.300 Program within the bill, a program providing 124 00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:08.650 monthly benefits to purchase food. 125 00:06:09.350 --> 00:06:13.510 That doesn't make me proud that there are that many people who are hungry 126 00:06:13.950 --> 00:06:16.090 and fearful and suffering. 127 00:06:17.029 --> 00:06:22.589 And so I think the there's a mini prong strategy in terms of 128 00:06:22.589 --> 00:06:25.870 reducing and shortening the line is what we call that. 129 00:06:26.230 --> 00:06:30.230 And I think it does involve government making investments and 130 00:06:30.230 --> 00:06:34.029 we get more people signed up for SNAP benefits because we're one of 131 00:06:34.029 --> 00:06:37.589 the lowest participating states. In this election year 132 00:06:37.589 --> 00:06:41.470 Brian Burton is hoping for policies that will help him feed the hungry. 133 00:06:41.830 --> 00:06:46.990 No matter who wins. When Trump was president, he created 134 00:06:46.990 --> 00:06:49.660 a company called Trade Mitigation where all of 135 00:06:49.670 --> 00:06:52.710 the food that was going to be sold to China was redirected 136 00:06:52.710 --> 00:06:53.780 to the food banks. 137 00:06:53.790 --> 00:06:56.540 And then when the Biden administration came in, 138 00:06:56.550 --> 00:07:00.750 they did invest heavily into recovering from 139 00:07:00.790 --> 00:07:01.620 from COVID. 140 00:07:01.630 --> 00:07:05.710 And so I think we need to really understand that there are 141 00:07:05.710 --> 00:07:09.550 good ideas in both parties and we should try to ferret 142 00:07:09.550 --> 00:07:12.990 those out and take advantage of those and encourage those. 143 00:07:13.270 --> 00:07:17.510 Rather than just being fussy pants all the time. At a time and place 144 00:07:17.510 --> 00:07:21.110 where poverty, pricing and politics are all intertwined. 145 00:07:21.270 --> 00:07:24.060 The people of Arkansas will have choices to make. 146 00:07:24.070 --> 00:07:27.710 Many will have already decided long before the November election 147 00:07:27.710 --> 00:07:28.940 who they want to lead them. 148 00:07:28.950 --> 00:07:32.430 But in the end, those that need the most help will look much closer 149 00:07:32.430 --> 00:07:34.950 to home, towards those that can feed them.