| Jeffrey Moeser and his company are aiming to change the future of home entertainment. His effort to link music, video, pictures and other digital information into an all-in-one box is a goal many high-tech entrepreneurs share. What is unusual about Moeser's effort is that his company is based in a suburb of Boise, Idaho, in a sparsely populated northwestern state best known for its potatoes. "I think this is the hotbed of agriculture in the country right now," Moeser said.
At the same U.S. Department of Agriculture is especially important in the harsh economic times, when many Americans rely on the food help from the government and receive food stamps.
U.S. Department of Agriculture cites the following data about participants of the food stamp program (as of 2006):
* 49 % program participants were children (in the age group of 18 & less), 61 % of them live with single parent families;
* 52 % of households, participating in the program, have children;
* 9 % of all participants of program – elderly persons (aged over 60 years);
* 76 % of aid go to households with children, 16 % - with disabled family members & 9 % - with elderly persons;
* 33 % of households with children — single parent families, in overwhelming majority of them with woman, heading the family;
* Average size of household – 2.3 members;
* Average aid per household in the program - $673;
* 43 % of participants of program - white, 33 % - Blacks, 19 % - Latin Americans, 2 % - Asians, 2 % - American Indians. |
