Original Air Date: March 18th, 2013
I get a text from my husband when I'm at work saying,
"PGE is here to shut us off."
And they come to my door.
He says, "I'm with PGE, and I need $557 right now,
otherwise I'm going to shut off your electricity."
I was like, "I don't have $557."
I came home.
No lights, no nothing,
and then explaining to the kids when they got home
that we had no electricity...
That was hard.
With the no lights,
it was hard to get around the house.
And since there was no electricity,
we couldn't cook our food.
It was so cold
that me and my baby brother had to curl up on the couch
together, and we had, like, 4 comforters on us.
It was really scary.
My 4-year-old was like, "Mommy, why are you crying?
What's wrong?" I'm like, "Nothing, baby.
It's OK. Everything's going to be OK."
"Then why are you crying, Mommy?
"I don't want to see you cry.
It's OK. We're OK."
My son walks in and he comes up to me
and he-- Oh, yeah.
He puts his arm around me,
and he says I'm the best dad.
Don't feel like it.
_
Sync and corrections by n17t01 www.addic7ed.com
Thank you for calling 211. How can I help you?
I was calling.
I need help with our electric bill.
Still looking for a job, but I haven't
found anything, and the money I had has run out.
I just lost my job, and
I won't be able to pay rent for February.
I'm going to see if I can find some resources in your area.
211 here in Portland,
we're a non-profit organization
that connects people to community services,
primarily over the phone and also through the Web.
_
Thanks for calling 211. How can I help you?
Yes, I need to know if you guys can help me see
if there's anybody to help with energy assistance.
- We were doing awesome. - Then the winter came.
The winter came. He got laid off.
I currently am going to have to move out
of my apartment; I have no way to pay it.
We can't pay our bills.
Are we gonna have to move out?
Are we gonna have a 72-hour eviction?
Yes, I was calling to inquire
about energy assistance.
I got good grades in school, I went to college,
and then to come out and still live impoverished?
I was told to call you guys and see
if you had any resources for rental assistance.
I have got doctor bills,
like, every day in the mail.
I got a $49,000 bill.
Today we have no water
and we have absolutely no money to pay it.
It's been 3 days since the water got turned off.
I'm not used to being able
to not provide basic things like water.
My house is going up for foreclosure sale.
My savings dried up from making these house
payments, so I'm getting foreclosed on.
I don't know what to do.
I'm needing some help with my electric bill.
My mom never owned a home,
so buying a house was a huge deal for me.
And yesterday, when we were signing those papers,
it's just like, "My kids don't have a home."
I am looking housing for myself and my son.
I am a recent widow.
I came home from work one day, and my son
looks at me and says, "Dad's in the back of that ambulance."
They said, within him being there not even two hours
that he was septic and that he was going to die.
For the middle class in this country, we have
a "one strike and you're out" economy.
The system that once was in place
to cushion those crises has been frayed.
And I think what people are experiencing in this country is
how quickly you can go from middle class
to being extremely vulnerable.
The most endangered species in America is
the middle-class family,
and I think we have to be alarmed by that
and ask whether that is
good policy.
We got the car payment,
the credit card's at $151 right now,
so we have to come up with $500
to make this month's rent.
Did you just say 500?
500.
When he lost his job, I was kinda scared and
kinda nervous, but then, you know, I figured,
"Oh, he'll, he'll get a job, you know?
He's been doing this for 5 or 6 years.
He'll get a job," you know?
And it has not been that way.
- Hasn't been that way. - No.
I went through the whole phone book
from top to bottom.
I went through every single page
and I called each place asking them
if they were hiring, and none of them,
not one of them said they were hiring, not one.
Close.
I went to the apartment complex,
pretty much laid it out, saying,
"I don't have a job anymore.
I can't afford $1,000 a month.
Is there any way I can get out of this lease
so I can kinda move into somewhere I can afford?"
They pretty much told me no.
If you get an eviction on your record,
you can't move into a place.
We can't have an eviction. We have two children.
We need another place, and they said that-- the $1,500,
we said, "Can we make payments on it?
So let's move out, we'll make payments."
They want us to pay $2,500 in 90 days.
It's hard to accept that this is happening.
Like, we're going to have to put all of our stuff
in storage and then live with my mom again.
I'm 26, living with my mom again.
I never thought I'd be getting
help from the state, you know?
I told myself I would never do that.
Never thought I would be getting food stamps.
I never put that in my head.
- You know? - I know.
We're going to possibly be on couches.
I can't count the number of people
I've spoken with who start their conversation with,
"I never believed I would be in this situation."
They say, "I have always worked."
People are just stunned that they are suddenly in a position
where not only did they get laid off, but their unemployment
is running out or has run out because they cannot find a job.
They think, "Well, I had money in my retirement account
and I had a savings account and I used to take vacations
and I had new cars, and now
I am struggling to put gas in my car."
_
Pay attention to Daddy, OK?
- I need your help. - Nope.
Yeah, I need your help.
One more.
You did it.
It was about 8:00, 9:00 that evening
when the doctor came in and told us that he had Down Syndrome.
You know, I tell you what,
something that will knock you on the floor, that-- you know,
that initial reaction and everything.
You know, you just-- "Oh!"
OK. Ready? Here we go.
- You ready? - Ready. Ha ha!
Oh!
I was working for Columbia Sportswear,
making oh, about $55,000, $56,000 a year
as their cost accountant,
and then I got laid off.
OK, come on. Back up a little. Back up a little.
My parents, they live about 490 miles away.
They run a cattle ranch up there in North Central Washington.
We take the horses and train them,
and then my parents use them
up in the Cascade Mountains.
I've been working since I was 10, 12 years old.
Anyone worth their salt wants to work.
I'll scrub toilets. I'm not too good to do...
you know, I'm not above doing any kind of work.
I cannot tell you how many people
have told me how they were the successful people,
they always did well in school.
And so they had families and they bought homes
and they had mortgages, and then they started to
find that they were being laid off.
No matter how well-educated they are or how experienced,
the fact that they're older, above 50,
they can't get other jobs.
They spent their retirement trying to, you know,
survive long enough, and now they have nothing.
All right, you guys.
I got certified as a medical assistant,
cardiac technician, and phlebotomist.
I worked for the Alpha Plasma Center
and they laid off 1,500 people.
I went and I got into a field that I thought was practical.
If you become a medical assistant, it's a growing field,
but they don't tell you that you're gonna become
a medical assistant and still be making minimum wage.
- What? - I got to go.
Scrapping is basically
when you recycle metal.
On this scale, you're recycling refrigerators
and stoves and washers and dryers.
On a good day, if 4 of us go out,
then we have to split the money 4 ways.
So if we make a hundred dollars that day,
it's $25 for everybody.
When you literally put in more than 8 hours,
you're not even making minimum wage.
People do what they have to do to make it,
so you can donate plasma every other day.
I like donating plasma less than going scrapping.
You know, it's just something that I do to make ends meet
and try to make sure that we're not hungry
for too many days out of the month.
I walked into the house and she was sitting
in the kitchen in the dark and I was like, "Mom, what's wrong?"
And, like, she was crying because she just didn't know
what she was going to do for food
for the next couple of weeks.
And, like, I just couldn't do anything but hug her
and, like, tell her that I was going to be OK.
People want to work.
You know, people just say to me over and over on the phone,
"I want to work. I want a job.
I will do anything, and I can't get one."
They don't want to live in poverty.
Are you kidding me?
Is that the electric bill?
- Let me see it. - This is impo--
It's $1,200, T.J.
There's no way I can pay $1,200 in two weeks, so
it's to keep our lights on or--
or keep our house.
- Keep our lights on or keep our house? - Mm-hmm.
I'm trying to work 12 to 13 hours a day
just to try to get our house payment paid.
It's minimum wage.
I'm making $8.75 an hour.
I'm not making the money to pay for our house,
you know, and he's working his butt off
to try to find a job.
I can get a second job.
How can you get a second job?
I can't even find a fricking job.
We got to do something, T.J.
I try not to blame myself,
but I was the main provider
for so long, it's hard not to.
I wake up from night terrors all the time.
I wake up screaming, crying.
My main thing is, is I lose my kids 'cause
I can't make the money to provide for them.
I literally could come home and we could have
a 72-hour notice on our door.
And at that point,
we have nowhere to go.
Do you want to go stand on the street with a sign?
Oh, I don't know. I'm not holding no fricking sign.
Yet.
A friend of mine had told me
that they had just fired, like, 4 people.
And I said, "Well, I'm interested in applying."
This place, they paint cars.
It's not as much money as I'm used to making.
I don't care, you know? Long as there-- get some more money
coming in and take some of that weight off of Tara.
Thank you for calling 211.
Please press 1 for English.
My house payment's so high that I have no money for food.
I've been pretty much out of work for two and a half years.
We don't come up with the money in 3 days, we got to get out.
I got 3 kids depending on us to keep a roof over their heads.
_
My name is Bev.
- Hi. - Hi.
And I'm going to be taking you back
to get some food, and you have a family of?
- 5. - 5. OK.
Family of 5. OK. Perfect.
By the beginning of 2010,
the clients were changing.
They were no longer
the traditional people who needed social services.
Now we're seeing these people who
are stunned to be in this situation.
- This is a new, relatively new experience for me. - Yeah.
Not something that we do.
I can remember--
It's OK.
Oh! This is, like,
a hundred dollars' worth of groceries for us.
It's a lot for me.
- It helps a lot. - Good.
I'm glad we can do it.
They feel guilty.
Two years ago, they were giving to a food pantry, and now,
they're pressed to buy a half a gallon of milk.
And they have 3, 4 kids at home.
And I don't think that's unique to Portland in any way.
You know, this is just not something that I'm used to doing, and--
You can help somebody another time.
We used to talk about,
like, what we were going to do with our life and
our dreams and what we wanted for the kids,
and all we talk about now is money.
Forget the dreams. How do we make it to tomorrow?
Right.
Tomorrow's the dream.
This dinner is the dream.
You can turn the lights on and turn the water on.
That's a dream.
I hear them in bed sometimes
saying, "We skipped dinner
because we need to feed our kids."
It makes you feel that it's your fault
that they have to pay food for us
and that's wasting their money for us.
Sometimes when I hear that,
I cry sometimes.
One of the things we have is
a vibrant social safety net of non-profits.
They can't keep up with the onslaught,
and it's not just for food.
It's also for the utility shut-offs,
need help with rent.
The non-profit sector, are they able
to meet the increased demand
when you have a great recession? Absolutely not.
_
Come on, Brandin!
Go, Brandin!
Chelsea's wrestling manager for
- the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. - How's she doing?
It's a long road still.
We just went in Monday and had her stomach dilated again.
She's probably missing a lot of school, isn't she?
She added it up the other day,
and I think she's missed 40 days of school.
Wow.
My middle daughter
was complaining of stomach problems.
She was just laying on the couch, crying
and crying and crying, "Mommy, it hurts. Mommy, my tummy hurts."
They did a scope and a upper G.I.,
and found out that she had 5 ulcers
and one severely bleeding ulcer.
And they put a tube, a feeding tube in through her nose.
That was, I think,
the worst thing that I've ever dealt with.
A feeding tube and it went up my nose,
down my throat, and into my stomach
and past my digestive system.
Sometimes I've woke up feeling sick
and I screamed and tried to rip it out of my nose.
- I was off work for almost 3 months. - Oh, right.
And I'm slowly just now--
I mean, I haven't even begun to get caught up,
but now my insurance is saying, "Oh, by the way, this month
and this month, you didn't have insurance."
So I have a $49,000 doctor bill that they're saying
that I didn't have insurance for, so I have to pay it.
Brandin's gonna wrestle.
- Come on, Brandin! - Come on, Brandin!
Come on, kid.
Come on, Brandin!
Squeeze!
Squeeze, Brandin!
Nice job, Bubba!
I try to just kind of tell her, "It's OK, Mom. It'll be OK."
And, like, I just try to encourage her as much as I can.
Being the only "man of the house,"
I should say, it's...
it's kind of my job, I guess.
Is he your boyfriend?
- Is that why? Who is he? - No.
He was my first friend on the first day of school.
He sat right across from me.
- Is it a date? - No, it's not.
I can feel you staring at me.
OK, so this isn't a date, right?
- No. - No date? OK.
- No date. - Told you.
- Dad is gonna wig. - I said the same thing.
OK, well, you have fun. No date.
No kissing. No sitting.
No hugging. No hand-touching.
I mean it, sissy. Ha ha!
- Love you. - Love you.
- Be good. - It was nice to meet you, Tara.
Nice to meet you, too. Sissy, be good.
We can go over to Mom's and shower till Dad gets home.
She said we can just run people through if we want to.
- Do you need to shower? - Yeah.
OK. That's what I figured.
The power was shut off.
The gas has been shut off now, too.
Water. Water's gone.
No electricity.
Our neighbor has let us use his electricity.
He is the nicest guy in the whole, entire world.
Like, we wouldn't have got through any of this
if it wasn't for him.
- Yeah. - So I do everything for him
that I possibly can to make his life easier 'cause he's--
- The lawn. - He's let us
- plug in a cord to his garage and he's, you know-- - So we can warm water.
These are used for bathing, to flush the toilets,
to do the dishes, to...
I mean, this is our water source.
The water outside, it's filled with--
Bugs. Got to boil. Ha ha!
Ha! See all that gross stuff in there?
I remember when he told me when he was losing his job,
but I didn't really think-- I don't know.
I didn't think it was a big deal until our water was turned off.
It's just, like, embarrassing 'cause you can't bring your friends over to your house
and you can't tell anybody about it, really.
School's already stressful enough, but having things like this happen,
it's hard to concentrate because I'm so worried.
We got a letter from PGE the other day that said,
"We're worried about your children, and if you can get a doctor's note
that says that it's detrimental for your children's health
to have the power off, then we can maybe work something out with you."
I'm just waiting for Children's Services
to come knock on the door and take my kids away.
I... Fuck.
If capitalism is not regulated or checked,
there's a harsh logic,
and it will always seek out the lowest costs, highest return,
which is why we have historically viewed government
as a check and a balance on that.
Over the last quarter-century, we have reduced regulations,
degraded wages, cut back on healthcare.
We've reduced taxes, and now people are more vulnerable.
And my job is to communicate to people
the absolute moral imperative during these times
of using public resources to maintain the safety net
until things turn around and to make sure that
we don't throw some of our most vulnerable people, essentially, to the wolves.
You need to seriously fix this drawer.
You know how annoying it is when you try and open up a dresser drawer
when you're getting ready for work and it doesn't open right?
You don't have work.
I don't have a job yet, but I hope to have one soon. Are you with me on that?
Yeah. Come on. Go, go.
Came home from work one day, and my son looks at me
and says, "Dad's in the back of that ambulance."
And I said, "Gunner, I'm not"-- 'cause Gunner liked
to play little jokes on Mommy and I thought he was just kidding.
They said within him being there not even two hours
that he was septic, that they didn't expect him to
live through Saturday, and that he was going to die.
And what was the hardest is that I hadn't-- I hadn't told Gunner,
and I remember going to the hotel, and Gunner just kept asking me,
"Did that just really happen, Mom? Did Dad just really die?"
I said, "Yeah, baby, he did."
It was hard, very hard.
Uh-oh. Look at what's in here.
You think it's time we threw Dad's clothes away?
- Mm-hmm. - Huh?
Does it matter much now?
Well, I don't think I can keep them forever.
Oh. Look at-- Remember, this was Dad's favorite shirt?
Living in a garage with my son is nerve-wracking.
Little bit bigger than a hotel room, I would say,
but with no windows and there's no heating in here whatsoever.
We just are ready for our own space
and our own home.
Mom, I'm hungry.
And Dad always said that we're survivors,
and so we'll survive.
We'll get through this.
_
Oh, my God, they're closed.
Oh, they're closed, huh? That's funny.
Huh. Now what do we do?
- Don't we have to, like-- - I'm sorry.
I thought they were open until 7:00.
Like, I'm not really worrying about the food situa--
Of course you're not. You're not a mother.
You don't worry about your son being hungry.
Not the end of the world.
You always had something for dinner hot to eat.
I don't need a fricking hot meal. Dang.
- Yes, you do. - No, I don't.
- You have school tomorrow. - And I can have--
I don't want you to go to sleep with an empty belly.
All right. OK, OK, OK, OK.
We'll figure this out, right?
All right.
Sorry. If I'd have known it was closed,
we wouldn't have come out all this way for nothing.
- Right? - Yeah.
If you're constantly moving
from apartment to apartment, or apartment to car
or car to motel-- which happens,
and it happens here in Portland--
kids struggle to learn.
In the middle of a crisis,
sometimes it is hard to think about
investing in very early, young children
because your pay-offs are coming 15, 20, 30 years down the road.
But if you don't, those problems will be there 15, 20, 30 years down the road.
_
Hi.
So don't even talk to me. Tell me what happened.
I'm excited.
Don't get too excited.
It was a long process, just-- I went in there,
filled out my application, gave them my application.
And, uh...
So, what'd he say?
They got to, uh, go through a couple more guys.
OK.
I'm kidding. I got it.
Did you?
- When do you start? - Tomorrow morning.
- Are you serious? - Yeah.
Are you serious?
T.J. got a job. Thank you, Lord.
And so that's been helping out. I mean, he's working.
We haven't seen a paycheck, but he's working.
He's making some money.
I just know that today, right now,
the kids have food in their stomach
and they don't have to worry about being...
out on the streets.
- Is it really part-time? - Yeah.
He said part-time to full-time.
- Proud of me? - Yeah!
- Good. - I'm so happy now.
Yeah, I'm relieved that my dad got a job,
even if it is minimum wage.
Then it's still-- I'm OK with it.
We still are going to get money to pay the bills
and not have to worry about our power going off again.
Our country holds
that the richer the rich get, the better off everyone will be.
And that rich business guys like me are job creators,
and so, if you just make it cozier and cozier
for businesses and rich people, somehow everything will be good for everyone else.
And, of course, that hasn't worked out.
If there was a shred of truth to the idea that
the richer the rich got, the better everyone else would be
and the more jobs we'd create, today we would be drowning in jobs.
It's obviously not true, and that's why
all of our policies are so upside down.
When you give the biggest tax breaks and the best exemptions
to rich people and to businesses in the name of job creation,
all that happens is that the rich get richer.
_
Thank you for calling 211. How can I help you?
We're on a fixed income,
and I don't have any bed for my daughter to sleep on.
My fiancé got fired on Friday,
and we have to be out of our apartment by this Friday.
I'm having some health issues right now and I need to see someone.
I have an energy notice for $375.
My daughter and I don't know where to turn.
_
OK.
Where are we?
- Hi! - Hi!
Hi, sweetheart.
If you could sign in here, please.
And this is your first time?
- Yes, it is. - OK.
I did not anticipate ever being in this position, ever.
I told myself me and my husband are hard-working people.
We would never have to ask for help, ever.
We wouldn't because we would feed our own children
our own selves and we would, you know, work hard to make that money.
And when you can't find a job, you can't find a job. There's nothing you can do.
So you rent a home?
- Rent an apartment. - Apartment.
- I'm glad you got a home. - Well, we're losing it,
so I'm moving in with my mom, but-- ha ha!
You are losing your home?
Mm-hmm.
Is there enough room there for you?
It's a two-bedroom apartment with my mom and my sister,
and I'm bringing in 4 of us, so it will be 6 people living
in two bedrooms, so... it's going to be tough.
It is going to be tough.
My husband got a job interview on Monday,
and he came out feeling like it went really well,
so I'm hoping he finds out next week.
So I'm hoping that he gets a job so when
we live with my mom, we can pay off all our stuff
and try to move back into somewhere else, so--
I really hope he gets that job.
Me, too.
Pam, what size diapers?
You needed a size 5 and then?
Uh, 3 and a 5.
3 and a 5. OK.
And then get you... some shampoo.
Sometimes we have-- we're really short on things today.
That's OK. Actually, I just really need some razors.
Razors. OK, I can do that.
Say I'm talking to my father back in Wyoming, all right?
He's a conservative guy, all right? He's a banker.
He grew up independently.
Our family owned banks.
He feels people should be able to take care of themselves, all right?
"You don't go to the social service agency
to take care of your problems. You take care of it yourself."
I don't think he understands the same
kinds of pressures that a young family would feel now.
Millions of people without health insurance,
without good education, unsafe streets,
little opportunity to build their way out
if you're struggling day to day.
I just got out of the place.
I've never been so, like, scared and out of place out of my whole life.
I just wanted to bolt out of there. Like, I did not feel comfortable at all.
I'm, like, shaking to death. Like, people were talking about me, you know?
"Why is she here? Her children are dressed nice,
and look at that big wedding ring on her finger.
She's obviously married. She's probably doing fine."
And it just made me feel so awful and stuff, and I just--
Oh, my God. I didn't feel good.
I don't feel good about it at all.
The kids are screaming. I got to go. I love you.
Bye.
I finally broke down when-- this was kind of a prideful thing,
but I'd never even had food stamps until
a month and a half ago.
The food stamps were people-- it was for the needy.
I was looking at myself as being,
you know, kind of like a deadbeat
for having to resort to... food stamps.
I was told by PGE to call you folks.
Gonna have some problems making electric payment and everything.
Well, my unemployment is expired, and I was wondering
if you could give me a holler, hopefully help me out.
Thank you. Bye.
I called Oregon Housing Assistance,
and they said that they were out of money.
They were stone broke, and for that section-8 housing,
there was, like, an 8-month waiting period on that.
Stay. Puppy. Look.
You know, you get in this situation where
you're so broke, you know, you have to start
selling things off just to have a little gas money.
Talking to my dad. He tries to keep my head up.
He'll help when he can.
This last month...
I had to call him up and have him
pay the electric bill.
It's not easy.
You're a 50-year-old man and
you have to call your dad to pay the electric bill?
You're funny in that picture, OK?
Stay. OK?
You hold still.
OK! Good dog!
Around the eighties, I noticed
there was a change in how we spoke about poor people.
We started talking about welfare queens
who were taking advantage of taxpayer money.
And suddenly, we started not thinking about
the challenges faced by our families,
but we started blaming the victims of poverty.
Her little friend boy is coming over.
He'll be here in, like, 5 minutes.
Friend boy? Why? How?
What? Why are you always surprise--
No, we've been discussing this
for 5 days now, right, Dakota?
- 5 days. - Who's we?
Because his birthday's tomorrow,
and I'm going with him and his mom and his sister and--
Oh, so he wants to come over here and make out with my little daughter
for his birthday present?
Dad. He's just my friend.
Would you rather have her do it in our house or with--
"Do it"?! What do you mean, "do it"?
Have dinner inside our house.
Listen.
Dad's watching, all right?
- I love you. - I love you, too.
When I grow up in the future,
I want to be able to support my family.
I'm gonna have a good job and I'm gonna help my mom and dad.
If they need money, I'm gonna let them borrow the money.
Like, I'll even let them live with me.
- Hey. - Hi.
Mom, Michael's here.
- What's up? - Hey.
- How are you? - Good.
- Nervous? - A little, yeah.
Ahem. Come here.
This is my dad.
Hey. How are you?
How you doing?
Good. You?
So you're my daughter's boyfriend?
Um, no. Friends.
- Do you get good grades in school? - Uh, yeah.
- He's home-schooled. - I know.
Well, I used to go to school, though.
Why are you home-schooled now?
'Cause my mom-- I used to be home-schooled
when I was in, like, first grade.
We were having problems with money, so we had to go back,
but now we can start back up again or something. That's what my mom told me.
You guys can go sit down and visit.
OK.
He's so nervous. It's funny. Ha ha!
- Zeus, get down. - OK.
Zeus, come here. Come here!
So it's already been two weeks since you guys were here last, right?
- Actually, yesterday was two weeks. - Yesterday was two weeks. Oh.
Yup. I'm waiting to see if we'll be back in another two weeks.
- Yeah, exactly. - So...
The doctor told us to come in,
and he wants to keep dilating it
until her stomach opens and stays open
'cause it's not staying open.
We have to do this, he said, every two weeks.
I feel bad that it's my fault that she's losing so much work.
My mom was always there for me and stayed every single night with me,
so she made me really happy.
I'm really anxious.
I just want it to be done.
I've got doctor bills,
like, every day in the mail.
I got a $49,000 bill.
About fell over when I opened it.
I haven't paid my rent for December.
I've always been able to do it on my own.
I may not have a lot of money, but my bills are paid, my kids are taken care of.
Nobody has rent assistance.
I guess you have to call before the first of the month,
and I didn't know that.
Am I going to get an eviction tomorrow?
I just don't know.
I have never seen a time
when there has been as much venom and vitriol over things
that, in previous years, we agreed on.
We've always been a nation
that would look out for those that needed help,
and for the life of me, I don't understand the response
that would say, "No, fend for yourself."
And that's not rooted in the fabric of America.
_
I've got the letter from the doctor right here
to help us get the electricity turned back on,
let them know about the medical.
My son's got just this incredible... cough.
He's coughing so bad he's throwing up.
Our power's been shut off for about a month now.
- OK. - And so we just
found out not too long ago that you can get a letter from your doctor
that states that if you have medical issues--
OK, once your power is turned off,
you are not-- you don't actually qualify
for the medical certificate at that point.
Once your power is restored, then I can give you--
I can give you the phone number
for you to contact them and then, you know,
hopefully they can get that going for you.
- So, hey, dude. - Hmm?
Like... how are you doing?
- Bad. - Bad?
It just sucks.
Like, the house?
Mm-hmm.
Like, what sucks about the house?
Almost everything.
There's been times that there's not enough food,
and I definitely go over to friends' houses
and eat their food.
But I feel bad for everyone else who has to stay here
'cause, you know, like, what are they going to eat?
If you want, you can go to your friend's
and we won't blame you or anything.
You should probably eat there, too.
I don't know.
This is too much for you, you can go.
Me and Austin aren't gonna blame you
and we're not gonna be lonely.
OK.
I definitely worry about them a lot.
I want to take care of them, but I just can't.
It's so hard.
In Oregon,
and this is mirrored around the country,
but 26% of the population lives in a condition of asset poverty.
So that's one out of 4 people.
If you don't have income for 3 months,
you're going to your friends.
Hopefully you have some friends, right, or family?
Maybe you don't have family nearby, or public assistance.
The resiliency cushion-- the resiliency,
economic resiliency of Oregonians
and, in fact, nationwide is almost non-existent, really.
We need to pray
that we get our food stamps next week.
We'll just eat what's in the cupboards this weekend.
We're just not going to have any meat.
Will you go to that food bank tomorrow?
Yeah.
Our kids know I don't eat during the day.
They ask, "Mom, what'd you eat for lunch today?"
I didn't eat. "What'd you eat", you know?
"I wasn't hungry," you know?
"I worked through my lunch." I'll make up some excuse.
I just worry about my mom the most.
She doesn't really get to eat.
I'd rather have my mom eat than me.
So, you cannot,
cannot forget your lunch.
So if you forget it, I'll be texting you.
- And you'll get in trouble. You'll get grounded. - OK.
My daughter-- we had leftovers last night,
and she's like, "No, you need to take this to work.
You need to eat." I was like, "No, no, no.
Don't worry about it." So I wake up this morning,
and she had one on the door,
two on the fridge, one on the cupboard, and then one
on my bedroom door saying, "Mom, don't forget your lunch.
Don't forget your lunch."
Sure enough, I didn't forget my lunch.
It was the best lunch ever.
I really love my Mom.
The social safety net
has more holes in it.
You have to be significantly poorer today
to even get in the door, OK, for them to consider you.
In Oregon, for instance, a 3-person family
whose income exceeds $616 for a month
cannot get into the door to be considered for the TANF program.
That was set in 1991
when our minimum wage was under $5.00
and it's been frozen there ever since.
That's a bad budget priority.
It's a bad choice,
and we need to change that.
So are you going to come to the game tomorrow?
- To where? - To the game?
Yeah, it's my last game.
Uh! It's in the Northeast?
It's at Grant.
If I can get the insurance and stuff on the car
and get, like, a trip permit, then I'll be down there.
The job interview she went to, she said that she had killed it.
She said she felt like she killed it and she ended up not getting the job.
And she was, like, down and she was like, "I don't know if I'm ever going to get a job again."
And I'm like, "Mom, you got to do this.
We need you and you're gonna push through."
Weren't you invited to go to Nevada?
- About wrestling? - Those regionals?
Huh? No, for nationals.
When is it? When is Nebraska?
- I have to have my money in by June-- - By June what?
You have to have your money in by June and how much?
$500.
Oh, my God. How long you guys gonna be there?
For a week.
Your one goal as a parent is
that your kids do better than you.
Also, they know that I went to college.
They know that they have the ability to go to college.
I do want them to know that they can achieve more.
This is not it. This is not it.
I told her all the time
that when I get older, I want to buy her a house.
That's, like, the American dream for me.
I was like, "I just want to buy her a house."
I just want to give her the world, and I literally do.
She's like Superwoman on steroids.
If you believe
that wealth trickles down from the top,
then the only reason you would help a poor family
is for charity, because you felt sorry for them.
But there's, I think, a far more persuasive argument
that you simply have this problem where no one can afford to buy stuff anymore.
Helping a poor family isn't an act of charity.
It's converting a family that you have to support
into a family that can buy things from your company.
Helping the poor is what drives the economy.
That's why all prosperous economies
have big middle classes, right,
that there's a huge return--
economically, socially, and politically-- in helping poor people.
_
So there's going to be 3 rooms, and right now we have 5 rooms.
Somebody's going to have to share, and it's either going to be you two
or you and Bella.
I was working for Volkswagen Credit.
Company cars, new car every year, you know, made every bonus.
But things changed.
- The baby comes along-- - And I got pregnant.
And she's got health problems.
And then, you know, he lost his job.
We were already starting to get
a little bit behind on our mortgage.
I called them, and he said that
"We can modify your loan and,
you know, get you a lower payment."
And he said, "But you're not far enough behind yet.
You need to be 90 days behind
before we can help you."
And that, to me, sounded crazy. I was like, "What?"
- No, take the whole box. Get it into the U-Haul. - OK.
But they said, you know, "Don't make any payments
until we can modify this loan."
Then, in September, they say,
"We're so sorry.
You don't qualify for anything,
And we need $17,000 in 5 days."
We came home and we saw the foreclosure sign
on, like, in the front door.
That was really scary.
The kids are gonna have that sense of unstableness.
I wanted better for them.
I feel like a failure. I feel like I failed.
- Gunner, stay with me, please. - I'm staying right here.
So it's going to be a little rough the next couple days.
I'm going to be staying at the shelter I don't know the name of.
This is our first night here.
Um, are they having dinner tonight?
The food's right in the kitchen.
OK, thanks.
- There's so many people here. - Shh.
You know, people start crying
the minute you even use the word "shelter."
They say, "I can't. I can't go there."
No one wants to go to a shelter.
It's not a wonderful environment for you or for your children,
and yet it's a safe place you can go and you can start working
with folks whose job it is to help you get back on your feet.
I know there are people who would rather sleep in their car than go to a shelter.
I think there's a lot of people in that situation.
It's just temporary. I promise, OK?
I'm not worried about the stupid shelter.
Gunner...
you know Mommy will fix this, right?
Oh, why do you-- why would I say something?
You're all, like, "Ooh, don't worry."
'Cause you look like you're upset right now and--
I'm not upset. I'm tired.
- Really? - I'm tired.
I know you better than that, son.
- I need you to stop. - OK. Give--
I know you're upset, but I'm sorry.
I'm not! Mmm!
Gunner?
Gunner.
Where did he go?
People asked me where I lived at school,
but I just said I lived in the same place
or by that place so, like, they wouldn't, like,
make fun because my school is very, like, judgmental.
They'll make fun of you if you live somewhere
that isn't regular or normal.
- Gunner, stop. - I'm tired! I want--
I know this is a lot to take in.
When is this going to be over?
I don't know. When it's over, it's over,
but in the meantime, you and I have to figure this out, OK?
I promise, things will be better in a real soon time.
Please, dear God, let this be temporary.
Everybody has a bump in the road.
Homeless people are people who, in many instances,
have hit a rough stretch in their life.
A series of things have happened.
Someone's lost their home, their job,
their healthcare; and then they have some
traumatic personal experience and they're on the street.
And I think the thing about homelessness that I've learned
is it can happen to anybody; that it could be your neighbor,
your friend, a family member.
And I think once you break down those barriers and stereotypes,
and you see homeless individuals as brothers and sisters,
friends, co-workers, others,
it changes one's attitude.
All right. One more.
Geral, guess what. These are the long ones.
It's tough when you can't give your kid something.
He sits there and says, "I want to watch a movie.
I want to get a movie. You know, it's one dollar."
"Sorry, kid."
"Not tonight." "Why?"
"Can't afford it."
Kids shouldn't even have to worry about that kind of stuff.
It's not their fault, you know?
OK, Geral. Here we go, Geral, right here.
Aim that ball. Use your knees.
Here we go.
Oh, yeah.
- Yeah! - Good job.
Yeah.
Without a job and all that stuff,
the only thing that really keeps my sanity
is the little boy, the little guy.
He's always smiling. When you see that smile
and the way his outlook on life is, you know,
it gives you a feeling like, "You know, the world isn't so bad."
You know?
Whoa!
We have these trade policies
with other countries which have been enormously beneficial
to the owners of companies because it turns out
to be incredibly useful to be able to relocate where we manufacture
or create our products to places where workers have no power, right?
Where you don't have to pay them anything and you don't have to worry
about pollution regulations or anything like that.
What Congress hears about
is how fantastic that is for business.
And it is fantastic for the shareholders
in the near term of the businesses.
But what it doesn't account for is the long-term health
of the American economy.
The only people who suffer are the workers,
and the only people who benefit are the owners.
The sort of typical American family
has been completely railroaded.
I would have never thought that I would have had to move back home, ever.
And it's just extremely hard and it's extremely frustrating,
and I don't even want to tell people. I'm embarrassed.
My husband's embarrassed. We don't want to tell people.
And people on Facebook... "Hey, how you doing?"
"I'm doing good. How are you?" You know?
And I mean, no, I'm going to tell them? You know.
I mean I'm not going to sit there and say,
"Oh, we're both not working. We have no money.
We don't know how we're going to pay our bills.
I'm living at home with my mother,
and my mom's sleeping on the couch."
I mean, it breaks my heart.
I don't want to tell people that. It's embarrassing.
- Hey, Mama? - Yeah, son?
I just want to say thank you.
It is a hard day, and I know this is a lot on you.
Thank you, son. And you know what?
My pleasure. I love you.
You're a good man.
You know, least we can do is just
continue being the family that we should be.
Yeah?
We're just one big happy family.
Yeah, we are.
My last job interview,
I mean, I think I nailed it to the tee.
- That's awesome. - I think I did pretty good.
I mean, I've never done an interview where,
towards the end of the interview, we were pretty much done
and then they asked me about football.
And I was like, "Oh, yeah, big in football."
When are you gonna hear back on that interview?
This week.
We have to have a system
that can take that person whose skills were perfectly fine
when they left high school and now, all of a sudden,
the economy has changed around them
and they need to be re-tooled.
We need the money and the investment to help them re-tool.
They end up costing us more
sitting on the sidelines than they would if we invested the money
to get them the skills they need to participate.
- Hey, baby. - What's up, lady?
Nice.
What's up?
Well, how was your day?
Fine, till I checked the mail. Heh!
What's in there?
- Do you want to know? - Yeah.
We got a shut-off notice from the electricity company
even though I just gave them 280 bucks.
$336.
Sit down.
Why? Ha ha!
Well, I got bad news.
The bad news-- they fired me today.
What do you mean, they fired you?
They fired me.
I got pulled in the office
and...
I got fired.
OK.
And, look, and when I was leaving,
Jerry said--
- Who is Jerry? - Jerry's the owner.
Said apparently he should have listened
to Jason and not hired my kind.
So, at that point, I told him
that that was racist
and it's just not right, it's not fair.
Things started happening,
as far as me getting accused of doing things wrong.
It started probably about maybe a week ago,
when the painter was talking about
a customer's car, you know, and I kind of had an idea.
He has a big rebel flag tattooed on his neck.
He was like, "Oh, great.
Now I get to paint another nigger's car."
And he looked at me and he goes,
"You're not nigger, are ya?"
And I just kind of smiled and I was just, like, going,
"I'm American," you know?
I said, "I don't really see any color."
It just pisses me off.
Just another stump.
Yeah, but it hit us hard right now.
We still have rent to pay.
And then this.
Did you get your check today?
I asked him to give me my check,
and he said he had 24 hours to get it to me.
I was hot.
I was, like, really upset and very angry.
I wasn't only angry about the situation, you know what I mean?
About me being fired and stuff like that, because all these things that's
running through my head is, "Now we're going to struggle again,
and I've got to tell my wife this."
And now everything's pushed back on her.
So how do you feel about this whole thing?
Hurt. Upset.
Distressed, disgusted with people.
So what is real? Like, how do you feel about everything?
You losing your job hurts the most just because
just because of the fact that we were bringing in more money.
Might not seem like it right now,
but it was helping with the bills.
Well, I have no control over that.
That's why I feel like you're kind of blaming me
for losing the job and everything that's going on.
No. I don't blame you at all.
You had no control over this.
It's just this whole thing affects me in a weird way, you know?
I just don't get the fact that people are racist.
God made us all the same, right?
No.
Some of us are darker.
I still love you.
It's all that matters.
Honestly, the way I look at it is,
I don't know how I'm going to make it.
I have no money saved up for college.
I don't have any of that stuff.
And I want to go to college.
I want to be able to have a good life.
And it makes me worry, like, how am I going to be successful?
And how am I going to be able to provide for my family?
I worry about that every day.
Oh!
Oh, my goodness.
It's so cute.
It's trying to find its mama.
That doesn't surprise me that,
among the folks who are showing up on the 211 phone line,
that they're questioning the American dream 'cause you know what?
It's not a part of the American dream to have to call and ask for food help.
It's not a part of the American dream to think,
"I'm not going to be able to pay my rent."
I think people still believe in the American dream and want the American dream.
I think there's more and more people who are being denied it
by the growing income inequality.
And they're saying, "I work hard. I play by the rules.
I see corporate profits going through the roof
and I can't get ahead."
I am a single mom
that really needs help with coming up with the rest of our rent.
We just got an eviction notice and we have nowhere to go.
I am out of food, and I've got very little for the baby.
- How old is your daughter? - She's 17.
- Are you sleeping in your car? - Under a bridge, actually.
Yeah, and it's cold. It is really cold.
Think we check in right over here.
All right, so you guys are disconnected
on PGE and Northwestern, right?
- On everything. - And our water.
We have never gone through this, so we really let things--
we don't, you know-- it's been almost a month.
I was in a similar situation.
I've been homeless, been in apartments
where I couldn't afford anything, got evicted.
You know, finally got a place but couldn't get my electricity back on.
I actually came to Human Solutions for help,
and they're the one who helped me with the housing, with electricity
and, you know, with everything, and then, next thing I know,
they offered me to volunteer here and I got a job.
- No way. - Really?
- Wow. - Yeah.
Everybody goes through something.
Mm-hmm.
OK, so, with PGE,
your balance is $1,439.
- Mm-hmm. - So we are
helping you with
$945.
- You're kidding me. - Oh, my God.
Did you know that they told us one of the options
is we could get it turned on if it was over $700?
Yes.
We're going to get electricity?
Turned back on today and your gas, too.
Today?
It's all going to be today.
- Yeah. - You're kidding me.
- Heat and electricity? - Oh, my God.
- Thank you so much. - So I will be right back in just a second, OK?
I'm dumbfounded.
What does it mean to be in America?
What does it mean to live in this country?
Everybody wants the same thing.
We want to be able to live in a place of freedom.
Want to be able to live in a place where we have the chance to be the best we can be.
- Awesome. - Thank you very much.
That's why you're seeing so many other nations
appreciate that about America,
yet we're throwing it away,
and it's our most powerful asset that we have.
_
My daughter's been very ill since September, off and on.
And I have, like, hundreds of thousands of dollars in doctor bills.
And I didn't know if,
like, I can get help with those or
I don't know what to do at this point.
OK. Well, I appreciate it very much.
OK, thank you very much.
Uh-huh. You, too. Bye.
What'd they say?
There's nothing they can do.
- For reals? - Yup.
So basically they're telling you that you have to pay every single bill?
Pretty much.
They don't go back and pay
past medical, due to budget cuts and stuff.
How does the doctor expect anybody
to have that kind of money, like, honestly?
I just feel like it's all my fault that you have to pay so much money.
Honey, it's not your fault.
So what? You got sick. We couldn't change that.
But I don't want you to stress about it every day, by all means,
I want you to just be a kid
and not worry about bills.
You're too young.
That, and it could give you a fricking ulcer again.
And we don't want that to happen
'cause then we'll have double the bills.
Yeah, exactly.
Just, I feel like...
I have to help you in some way.
No, you don't. You're a kid. Be a kid.
I know, but--
Doesn't everything always work out?
No.
- You got everything? - Yeah.
- OK. - Please be on.
- Please be on. Please be on. - I know, right?
OK. I don't see any lights yet.
I don't know if we left any.
Ohh! No!
- Really? You hit a light switch? - Whoo!
- Ha ha! Let me do it. - Oh, my God.
See this?
Oh, my God. Are you-- crazy.
This is crazy cool.
OK, breathe-- ohh!
- We have lights. - That's awesome.
I'm just psyched.
Are you OK, buddy?
Obviously not. You're puking.
You're OK. I'm right here.
Let me see you. You look really pale.
Well, yeah, I just barfed.
Do you feel a little better, though?
No. I'm achy.
- Will you at least tell me how to set the-- - See that?
I know. You're shaking. It's also cold outside, too.
I am so sorry that we're here and you can't be at home.
No, I really don't want you by the window. Let's go over here.
What we have is a system that,
once someone falls into homelessness,
we've ensured that the highest-cost
service delivery system kicks in.
The police officer becomes their case worker.
The fire bureau becomes their medical provider.
They get most of their medical care through emergency-room services.
What if we actually went upstream and said,
"How do we prevent people from falling into homelessness?
How do we make investments upstream
so that no one falls into homelessness,
and what if it turns out it costs a lot less?"
Now, of course, we've documented all over the country that that's the case.
If we make a small investment then-- early on--
to keep someone in their apartment
and avoid all of the dominoes
which follow when there's an eviction,
then not only do we save a fortune,
the back end, but we keep someone in a healthy place.
_
- I love you. - Love you, too.
I'm going to be right by you, so if you need to get up
or anything, just wake me up, OK?
- Mm-hmm. - I'm sorry you have to be sick here.
Sometimes I dread coming here
because all the stress and stuff.
Some times are harder than others,
but I never lose hope.
Bye.
Nighty-night. Sweet dreams.
Day by day I'm in that house,
I'm getting, like, more and more depressed.
When we married each other,
and when we talked about our future and our plans,
- this isn't what I saw. - Oh, I know.
Brandon was so disappointed he did not get that job.
He thought, "Oh, we were talking about football and laughing
and the interview went so well," and no.
No. They even said, "We'll call you by next week
to let you know if you're going to get it or if you're not."
And then Brandon called them,
and they said, "Oh, we still haven't picked an applicant.
It'll be the following week." But he didn't get a phone call.
You know, I'll be honest with you.
When I go to this interview tomorrow and it doesn't work out,
I'm going to fricking lose it.
Heh! That's the honest truth.
Because this is, like, the fifth interview that you had?
I'm gonna lose it. I'm gonna be so angry.
Each job I've been interviewing for,
each donation I'm getting from my family,
each little step I take on moving into a new place,
then living with my mother-in-law,
the confidence up here just keeps taking a step down and a step down.
Your hope is just draining out of you.
It seems like I was on a ladder up here...
but I'm not even on the ladder.
I'm back on the ground, I got two feet on there,
just holding a ladder looking up; it's all I'm doing.
I don't know.
- I do love you. - I love you, too.
I love you, too.
Every state in this country, if you look at state
and local taxes, the lowest-income Americans pay a higher share of their income
towards state and local taxes than do the wealthy.
That's upside down.
The home-mortgage interest deduction is a perfect example.
Someone who can afford to pay the monthly payment
on a $900,000 mortgage, we're subsidizing through
our tax code at the same time that we're not willing
to build affordable housing for families who are homeless.
That's a poor budget choice. That's a spending choice that's wrong.
You've been approved for our Housing First program,
which is 3 months of rental assistance from the time that you move in.
Funding is not guaranteed.
- It may run out before you secure housing. - OK.
We're just going to stay positive and I'm going to have an address
soon, very soon.
And what we're going to do today is
- go over your training plan... - OK.
And talk about your job description,
- give you a tour, introduce you to the staff. - OK.
Talk to you a little bit about Southeast Works and what we do.
OK.
I have gotten a job,
and most people would probably think that
getting a job would be a great big change
and everything would be all better.
But the guy who actually referred me to the program,
he said, "Yeah, it's gonna be $10, you know."
$10 an hour.
It wasn't until I got the paperwork
and I looked down, and I'm like, "Oh, my God, it's $8.80.
It's minimum wage."
At that very moment, I wanted to cry,
I really did. I wanted to cry.
I felt like I-- you know, like a kick in the stomach.
Still gonna be difficult to help keep my family clothed,
still gonna be difficult to help keep them fed.
Right now I have rental assistance, and so my rent is fairly low,
but as soon as I start to make money, the rent goes up, the stamps go down,
and I'm back in the position that I was in in the first place.
- Good job, Mama. - Thank you.
And tomorrow-- ohh!-- after working all week,
I have to get up and go scrapping.
Scrapping, donating plasma, that's just making ends meet.
You'll never be able to get ahead,
not working for minimum wage.
You'll never achieve the American dream.
That's not part of my reality.
If you're earning the minimum wage
in the United States of America, you're on food stamps, Medicaid.
I don't know what the array of government services are that you
need to survive, particularly if you have a family.
If you tripled the minimum wage, none of those people
would need those services anymore.
So it's very clear the minimum wage
is simply a way
for the American taxpayer
to subsidize companies
that pay people the minimum wage.
They pay this person the minimum wage,
and then we supply a social safety net
so that person doesn't starve to death.
It's insane!
_
Got to go feed the horses, huh?
Yup. I'm ready.
With my little boy, Geral, this is home to him, you know?
He has his dogs, Puppy and Bishop.
He loves the horses.
He loves the animals.
It's home.
And that's one of the main reasons
I really even want to keep this house,
is this is the house that he knows.
This is home.
OK. Here's Bulls-eye.
- Say, "Hi, Bulls-eye." - Hi, Bull's-eye.
Yay!
- Yay! - I did it!
Yeah. Yeah.
We did it! Yay!
You did it. One more.
Tomorrow they're going to auction off
my house, my 5 acres here.
I'm scared about my situation right now,
but I'm also scared about Geral's situation
as he gets older.
Come on, kitty-kitty. Come on.
My hope was that I could build something here,
pay it off; that way Geral would have something to fall back on.
I got to be here to protect him,
or... make his life
as comfortable as... I can.
Hmm.
Yay! I did it!
Whoo! I did it!
Hey Gunner, look! Our furniture got here!
Oh, my goodness.
Lookit, Gunner!
Yay!
Gunner and I got up one Saturday morning and it was beautiful,
and I said, "We're not going home till we find a place."
This was the third place we looked at.
Amy had to come do, like, an inspection thingy
for Human Solutions, and then she called me with--
less than 24 hours and said, "You guys are approved.
You can move in. Come get your keys."
That day was... the heavens were shining down upon us. Ha ha ha!
I'm so glad we have a place here.
Oh, Gunner. Are you happy?
Yeah, I'm happy.
_
We can still file bankruptcy on the house, too.
And then what?
I don't know what.
Maybe it'd be better you go to your mom's.
How could you say that?
I know she's not going to put me up anything,
you know what I'm saying?
I'm not saying it to be mean or anything like
that; I'm just thinking about all the options
and we don't really have that many options.
I can't even imagine why you would say
move out of state.
It's crap.
- It's not crap. - It is.
What's crap about it?
Realistically? Realistically.
Dad already has 10 people living in that house.
Mom has 5 people living in her house.
It's not even an option for me...
or our kids.
If it gets to the point of where--
where we have no place to go and we're going to end up
up on the fricking street...
you're gonna stay with me even if we have to live in a tent?
- Mm-hmm. - Really?
Mm-hmm. In the snow.
You're crazy.
Well, we're a family, right?
And families don't just up and move
because things are bad.
I haven't left you in 9 years.
I don't think I'm gonna do it now.
My dumb ass chose to stay.
I'm glad you did.
- Me, too. - You didn't have to.
I know.
Hey.
I love you.
I love you, too.
How much?
Enough to stay and live in a tent in the winter.
That's love.
- So I appreciate you coming in today. - Mm-hmm.
You know, I told you during that interview process
that there was a lot of candidates that we were interviewing
and that it was incredibly competitive.
- I'm prepared to offer you a job today. - All right.
- That's the good news, OK? - That's good.
Really, you're over-qualified and I recognize that.
I wouldn't let you down.
If you tell me that I'm getting the job,
- I'll work hard and wouldn't let you down. - Well, I appreciate that.
I really think you'd be a great fit to this company.
- So how about we start next week? - All right. We'll do it.
- Welcome to Caldera. - All right, all right.
- Thanks very much. - Thank you. Thank you so much.
I finally found a job.
At my last job, I was making about $22 an hour.
Yeah, and he's making, like, half now.
Now I'm making $13.50 an hour, and...
- It's a big blow. - It is a big blow.
It's really hard.
Daddy's not going to have as much as free time,
you know, 'cause he's working part-time.
I'm working, but on weekends I'll still take you out.
- Yes. - Promise.
If we did not have those resources,
I don't know what we would have done.
I really don't.
Those resources are the only thing that I think saved us.
Whee!
In this country, as profits
went up at businesses and the economy was producing
more incomes of all of the income groups,
the lowest income, middle income, and upper income
all went up pretty much the same rate.
Starting in the mid to late-1970s,
the wealthy shot up and everybody else
leveled off or went down.
Businesses have had record profits,
and what do we have for it?
We have middle class seeing their incomes go down.
We have highest level of poverty in the--
that we've ever had, number of people who are poor.
That's not right. And so, for me,
the American dream is you work hard, play by the rules,
and there's opportunity for all; that everyone gets to share
to some degree in the growth in our economy, in our prosperity.
And we haven't had that. And now, when the country
does better, it's going to a select and privileged few.
We were talking about getting a home, and now we're back to square one.
And now I don't even want to talk about getting a home,
just talk about getting on our feet.
I always wanted to raise my kids in a home
'cause I never had it, but it's just sad.
That dream is just so far, just...
sad.
- Sorry, baby. - It's OK.
I've never lived in a house.
She's never lived in a house.
She's always lived in an apartment.
I still want that.
So...
I could hit the lottery, you know?
I love you. Ha ha!
You never know.
Say, "Bye-bye, park."
Bye-bye, park.
See you again soon.
Bye. See you soon.
I believe our American dream has turned
into American nightmare by falling for the lure
of sort of individual success
that we have forgotten our ideals.
It's not just our safety net that's falling apart,
it's the moral fiber, and that's what happens
when we forget to have love and compassion for one another.
"Happy Mother's Day, Mommy.
You are my mommy and I am proud to say that.
I love you so much. You are the best mommy ever."
That is very, very cute.
Thanks for being there for me in the hospital.
You're welcome. Thank you, guys.
This is where we're at, is people really looking for a safety net
that's frayed well beyond what I think most people think.
Ohh!
Stimulus dollars, a lot of that has now gone away,
and that's going to impact a lot of social service agencies.
So you see need up, you see social service agencies with less resources.
Your mark, set--
Go, Geral! Go, go, go!
So I think, for us, the next year, year and a half
is going to be probably even more challenging
than the last year and a half.
Good job, partner.
- Did really, really good, huh? - Yeah.
- Were you really, really, really fast? - Yeah.
The reason why I want to be successful now
is because when I wake up, I look around,
I don't like where I am. I don't feel like I deserve this.
I feel like I deserve better. Feel like my mom deserves better.
I was like, "Mom, my whole 17 years,
I have always had to struggle," and she's like, "You know what?
I'm 40 years old and I feel the same way."
And I'm like, "Why?"
When people realize
that it's not "every man for himself,"
that it truly is "we're all better off
when we're all better off,"
you're going to have a much better society,
one that's both fairer and more inclusive,
but also more prosperous for everybody.
I don't want to have, like, a mansion or anything
and, like, stacks of money sitting right next to me.
I want to have, like, just a normal house,
maybe a dog, maybe two kids;
I'd prefer one.
That's the American dream, right?
To not have to worry about money. That's every kid--
Like, if every kid could say that, then it's just awesome.
That'd be awesome.
- Ha! Who's that? - Dada!
- Hey, buddy. - Dada!
We've lost our identity.
Are we headed in a direction that is gonna cause us
to thrive and survive and grow, or are we headed in a place
where you're gonna have the haves and the have-nots?
If that increases and there's a divide between the two,
that's not going to bode very well for the future of America.
Yee-haw. Ride, cowboy.
Yee-haw.
- Ride, cowboy. - Yeah.
Once upon a time, America had policies
which promoted a strong middle class,
investing in education so that kids have a chance.
Investing in affordable homes.
Making sure that healthcare is affordable and accessible.
It's investments in the kinds of things
which we know produce healthy outcomes
for our community, and we know what they are.
That's no mystery. The question is, are we willing to invest in them?
And we keep falling short.
Can we insist
that we protect families in this country
and that we have policies that make sure
we're investing in healthy outcomes for them?
- Love you. - I love you.
Yeah? Me you.
When I grow up, I want to have kids,
a husband, and I want to be able to not worry about
"How am I gonna feed my family?
How are we gonna pay our bills?"
And I'll have to worry about that.
Gonna say your prayers?
OK. Fold your hands like this.
Go like this.
Close your eyes.
- Say, "Dear God..." - Dear God.
- "Protect my family." - Protect my family.
- "Keep us safe." - Keep us safe.
"Thank you for looking after us."
Thank you for looking out for us.
"And providing for us."
And providing for us.
I sure hope I'm gonna be able to live the American dream.
I want to be able, when I get older,
to have a good job and go to work every day.
And I want to have that, like, relief
to know my family's gonna be OK
and they're gonna be able to eat.
- In Jesus' name... - In Jesus' name...
- Amen. - Amen.
Yeah, I do want to get to a place where I don't have to worry.
I think that's every kid's dream.
_
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