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I don't believe this is true. In a nation of ~350 million, my estimate of the number of people who've died of classic Dickensian starvation in the last decade is 0. Kids get neglected by unfit parents, elderly people get sick enough to stop eating, maybe a shut-in breaks a hip and no one notices, but near as I can tell, we have literally conquered bread. Food pantries and giveaways are ubiquitous, as are programs to hand out meals to the homeless. Some of the people panhandling on the side of the street might have missed a meal recently; I also miss meals when I'm on a gaming binge and am too lazy to actually feed myself. When they get hungry enough, food will be available for them. When they go hungry, that is a choice they have made.
This idea that a dollar is the difference between eating or not for the homeless guy is, near as I can tell, entirely fictional. Homeless people mostly live the way they live by choice, at least until the drugs burn out enough neurons that choices aren't really a thing they can do any more. Most of them appear to be stuck in a spiral of self-destruction; we should be taking them off the streets and putting them in a secure, structured environment where they can get their shit back together. Giving them free money often seems to only help them kill themselves faster.
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