Want an example of how sick is the U.S. economy? Look at the growth of the food stamp program. The program is now expanding at the rate of about 20,000 people every day, according to an in-depth examination by the New York Times.

"This is the most urgent time for our feeding programs in our lifetime, with the exception of the Depression. It's time for us to face up to the fact that in this country of plenty, there are hungry people," Kevin Concannon, under secretary of agriculture, told the Times.

No one really gets food stamps anymore. People get a card that they swipe at check out counters, removing the past stigma when folks had to pull out stamps. The shopper could just as easily be using a credit or debit card for all anyone knows.

It also has a new name, SNAP — Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. And before any conservatives go blaming the "liberal" Obama administration for promoting food stamps, please take note that it was the administration of the last president, George W. Bush, that greatly expanded efforts to get qualified people to apply for assistance.

Some of the numbers revealed by the Times are staggering — 12 percent of Americans, about 36 million people, now receive such aid, including 28 percent of black Americans, 15 percent of Latinos, and 8 percent of whites. Benefits average about $130 per person, per month.

Visit Van Wert County, Ohio and you will find that food stamp use has increased by 84 percent. One irony, of course, is that while so many Americans are turning to food stamps to have enough to eat, obesity levels continue to rise, often highest in counties with high levels of food stamp use. Many, apparently, are using their cards to buy fatty, high-calorloic, but often cheaper foods.

A study by Professor Mark R. Rank at Washington University in St. Louis, noted in the Times article, found that the government is becoming the feeder of first resort for many. Prof. Rank concluded that about half of Americans receive food stamps at some point by the time they turn 20. Among black children the figure was 90 percent.

There is something very wrong that while corporations have shipped millions of manufacturing jobs overseas, so many Americans must depend on the largesse of the government to eat. The new service economy only works, it seems, if Uncle Sam is subsidizing it through food stamps, closing the gap between how much people make and how much they need to survive. And even that help is apparently not sufficient, given the growing food donations reported by charitable organizations across the country.

Don't expect the pace of food stamp expansion to slow anytime soon. The government estimates that the program now reaches about two-thirds of those eligible. Concannon, the under secretary of agriculture, said his department wants to reach all the others.

"I think the response of the program has been tremendous, but we're mindful that there are another 15, 16 million who could benefit," he said.

To read the entire Times article go here.