[Music] the Upper East Side is one of the most affluent and Powerful neighborhoods in America even to New Yorkers it seems Special A word aart of privilege and security one day walking across Park and medicon avenues I reflected on how far away the country's economic trouble seemed to be from these [Music] streets then I arrived at my hair Salone a place I've been going to for many [Music] years deor had design can I help you okay when did you want an appointment for I shared my thoughts with debor she gave me a r smile you might see things differently she said if you'll stay here with me and listen how's the boyfriend we actually we broke up oh yeah is that cuz he couldn't find work and had to go home he couldn't find work and he had to go home yeah it doesn't seem real you know I know it I know so you pick up an extra class or you try to get a couple extra hours at work because your rent keeps going up but your paycheck's not every every day everyone of my clients sit in my chair and talk about the economy we lost a deal on Miami which was not so good when we don't have a lot of money I I don't know how else to put it last week I had an unemployment check and uh two notices of foreclosure uh from two different banks on on my [Music] homeat somebody's willing to listen somebody is willing to hear the problems that they're facing because of this economic crisis so we asked debor if you could come back to her Salon to listen some [Music] more hey BS how you doing fine hi you can go H your coat we put in okay deor agreed to let us spend a week with her at the salon laor you're good you need tea coffee want some cold water a little too early for wine so you good all right so sit and relax Hi how are you Barbara debor sister was answering the phones Wednesday at 3 is that good Fatima the assistant was washing hair and deor tended to her customers while I I listened say how you doing great good everything's good it's good week Shon when you say good it's really really good or you know how's it actually going in other words now we now that we did the pleasant okay now that we did the pleasantries you know the whole thing is this why complain because everybody else is too know you know it's sort of like uh why should I I know the fell next to me is losing his job but I mean if you said all right well what was it like last year at this time it was a different story we had just been taken several trips and we had um this to look forward to and that to look forward to and now we talked last night about it we're not so sure we're going to be able to take any trips you know this Shon is a retired flight attendant her husband is a Salesman whose income dropped in half she says that now they must count on her pension and social security my husband used to be able to cover all our expenses that doesn't work that way anymore now he can't afford to cover all of our expenses and so I have to cover mostly everything so I'm paying for about 90% of everything and that's really stretching things I mean it's just a matter of a lot of doctor bills that are not a I'm not able to cover and and I'm having to say look at I'll I'll pay for it when I can believe me I know you're there but I can't pay them do you have a plan B Plan B no the our plan B is just to keep on this is Plan B yeah this is Plan B just keep on keeping on and just you know we don't go to dinner anymore we don't go out to dinner we don't get a haircut every month no we certainly don't get a haircut every month I mean I just lost my cell phone I'd like to rush up the street and get another one I can't get another cell phone that's out of the question right now I'll miss it but I don't know where it is me one second guys I just want to dehare up real quick you know you just you just know there's nothing Expendable there's just nothing Expendable it's not a matter of uh luy no no no no there's no chance of getting a A or you don't even want another job I'd love another job I mean I really would love another job but I mean a lot there are a lot of people in this company or country that would like another job I mean where am I going to find another [Music] job it didn't take me long hanging out in the salon to realize that the recession not only hits the pocketbook but is also redefining family relations hi hi baby say how do you wife hi wife hi hi wife what's doing with you working hard Emma and Andy are a young couple with a small child try my best a few years ago they opened a personal training business with a good following maybe more fin but now with a recession they have been losing clients and although we have a somewhat wealthy clientele and they seemingly don't get as affected there's still the psychology behind us so we still lose business because people are starting to cut back on things so we never know week by week how things are going to be financially we're making a lot less money this year than we did last year or the year before so we don't know how to really plan for our future I know my business is off about 40 to 50% now and meanwhile I feel like I I just can't like I can't get on top of it so they now count on their parents for my mom is 60 oh 60 early 60 she probably wouldn't want me to tell you how but um she's a grandma of five she's got three daughters and um she retired but she's still she's still working because she's helping us financially with our kids it makes you feel guilty of course it makes me feel guilty she's she's worked her whole I mean she's worked her whole life she gave me in education both my sisters in education uh I'm a Columbia University graduate um you know I I'm smart I I I should be able to completely stand on my own two feet without my mother at this stage of the G still getting on me I'm I'm almost 40 years old why should my mother have to give me money so this is just it's embarrassing I can't even believe I'm admitting to it should work that dire it's so embarrassing Emma says she's now going back to business school in the hope that the new skills will help their small company my mom still is in this illusion that um she thinks I'm going back to school so that I could get a job like get a real job kind of thing like work for company and she always talking about yes you could get all the benefits she doesn't realize she do yeah I think she's still you know she's still maybe of that mindset the generation where you work for a she was working for a very large company um that for a really large corporation to does that well the government I mean does that really exist anymore like do I really go to school and then go out and try to find a real job and so there's that pressure from the from the family that what we what Andy and I do it's like they don't my mom sees it as very um juven it's so fun why am I even talking about my mother I'm I'm a woman who's like almost 40 years old and I keep talking about my mother I feel like a child I do I feel you know what right you know what I feel like right now with this economy and it's like I feel like a child we're like children deor a had design can I help you it's not happening for anybody Lori and Betsy are both mothers and grandmothers who have been supporting their families so I've been doing an analysis of when am I going to run out of money wow and and how many years and I just spent a whole lot of money taking care of my mother I was very generous with my family I helped put uh helped put people through College help keep people out of bankruptcy um and you know thinking that that cash was going to be replenished that cash is not going to be rep hi trace and how can I keep cutting back my spining within just a few minutes okay according to De Bora she has noticed a big change in her clients in the last 2 years I just see a lot of fear a lot of sadness a lot of concern you worked very very hard you did everything you had to do and it's just been struggle after struggle after struggle oh thank you how you doing Tracy and her husband struggled and lost what's doing anything just trying to get trying to work I thought you had a business oh oh gosh that's a long story it's okay we got we had a business yeah the recession is just so bad that it's just Mom and Pop stores can't stay open you know we had a coffee lounge called The Grind in Sunnyside Queens and my husband pretty much ran it but I did all the finances and stuff we did a really good job we brought music to the community we brought standup comedy open mic poetry jams everything we had someone playing during brunch time we did everything we could possibly do to keep it open and create a second home for the community and it just it just didn't help it didn't help everyone's suffering they're not going to spend $4 for a coffee any other time it would have been fine it's just we would at least had a shot we would yeah we have at least had a chance we didn't have a shot at all it's just the recession just hit I think that was that's what's upsetting is cuz my husband did everything he could do we tried to do the marketing we renovated the whole thing ourselves we did everything ourselves and it just it almost deflates your ego when something like that happens you know and you just have all the burden afterwards and it's really not your fault you did it everything would have worked out if it was a different time you know it has been six months since Mike and Tracy had to close their business Mike found a job as a Salesman in a fitness center and has taken over the cooking at home to this day we have all of our tog go packages in our house we got a coffee thing so we now make coffee and use the Tog go cups I mean we're making positive out of it you know that's good do you feel bad that the business failed oh absolutely failure big time you know over and over I'm like this is supposed to work why is this not working you know and uh we were using up the money that she was earning to keep this thing going so uh it was kind of like oh I need your check again this month I need to pay this off this month so and it's just I wasn't earning enough he wasn't earning enough nothing was coming in so then it's just stressful and nothing we lost fun for 4 years my mind was constantly on that business to make it work and not on the marriage and not on the marriage absolutely the marriage was like a fifth or sixth down the line uh maybe maybe that far um because it's such a uh I mean personally it was such a kick in the shin um um because it's not working and you could just see it not only deteriorate at the work but then you see it deteriorate here at home that it was getting to the point where I was I was happy to be at the store yeah yeah and what's ironic is he the whole reason he wanted to do the Coffee Lounge was so that we can have money coming in we could start a family and calm down and have more time to get together and it's so ironic how it wasn't anything like that nothing at all like that cuz he was gone all the time we had no money we never saw each other and kids whatever no way not even you know they remain $200,000 in debt does the debt bother you oh every day every day um just having that financial burden that has my name written all over it is something that I wake up with you know every a lot of our debt is on credit cards so it's still continuing it's not done because there's interest compounding on that debt that we built up so it's a race to get that credit card bill down because you know every month we're still paying off of that you know box of cups that we bought [Applause] but it's funny when you go through these times you start taking care of yourself you know that because I'm working out I'm getting I'm do I am getting a massage every once in a while I'm getting my hair done I'm the money I just charge it oh you're already so deep in debt no but I pay it off I try to pay off my monthly anyway deep in De I figur put years of going Tracy is hardly the only client with credit card debt Adam first came to the Bora 25 years ago when he wanted to change his image you know you should have kept the before and after picture of that day when I came in here with that 80s style uh what' you call that what's was that style the mullet yeah that was very interesting well we you know listen the whole the whole Community fell into that I mean it was a societ lot people got out of it I didn't get out you didn't get out of it Adam worked in real estate in New York City until the business dried up you know it's interesting now I'm in the gym at 8:00 in the morning obviously rather than at work and everyone at the gym that I meet they're either bounces or they're unemployed Financial people from wal Street I met one girl who was a party planner lost all her customers I met two people that were financiers and bankers and everyone's in the gym wondering what to do next and I tell them all the same thing go get your master's degree after he lost his job he became seriously ill and that led him to an unexpected path to study theology I think God gave me another lease on life and I think going back to school and studying theology is going to really make a difference for a lot of people other than myself you know business can be very selfish and it could just serve immediate needs and wants answer me a question uh you just graduated from college how'd you pay your way through college uh well student loans and Master Card I how let me tell you something the first time I bought food on MasterCard that's when I knew yeah oh when the path mark went on the credit card I said you know what you're in debt like you're in debt and then uh and then that's a major reality that's when you know you're in trouble yeah especially when you're doing it in Coney Island and the person in front of you is using their welfare card yeah there you go and you say you know what I don't think there's much of a difference here yeah we're both using this some type of system to get by do you owe a lot of money I would say I owe about 80,000 whoa between my car the Master Card the two cards and the student loan yeah yeah 25 15 and 40 80,000 wow how do you plan on paying that back uh how does any you went to school for theology so well I won't be getting a job anytime quickly you become a priest at the end of the day well that's a decision you but that's can I tell you the truth you can't be a priest if you owe money oh let's all live in reality that's my point yeah the arch dasis isn't taking you to the Seminary if you open $80,000 well they who knows but uh so what's your plan I I'll tell you what I learned I learned to surrended to God's Will and he makes a he makes the way so you trust God to manage your credit card debt basically he makes the way he doesn't manage the credit cards but he gives us the capacity for the knowledge to had to deal with these problems that was the great mystery of the Saints was to Just Surrender everything to God and let him take [Music] over hi dbor hey hey how are you good how are you what's doing not too much not too much how was work today long long okay all right we need to touch up your ha just a tad right you're going out tonight yes blowy would be great no problem okay have a seat we'll get your coat and everything I used to refer to Karen as the Porsche lady since she had a Porsche which I admired I grew up in a very comfortable home uh my father was in the steel business and when I graduated college I went directly into the steel business and I traveled primarily to Western Europe and I sold steel did how did you plan how how did you think about your retirement I thought about my retirement the same way most of us did which is the big problem I had a brokerage account an IRA everything was in place and now it's practically worth nothing the Bor just told me that you don't have the Porsche anymore I sold the Porsche because there was a question of maintaining the Porsche or maintaining my health insurance and since I have to carry my own health insurance I sold the car thank you thank you wasn't it difficult for you to part with it honestly I can tell you that losing the car was worse than getting divorced and yet I'm fortunate enough that I had the car and I was able to sell it and I'm able to pay my health insurance had I not had the car I would be in worse condition so I'm not that upset but I miss it a little bit yes Alan's car became his source of livelihood married with two children Adan was a successful construction manager for over 20 years now he's a driver I was laid off about 8 8 month mon ago eight months so now you're a driver so now I try and um get some cash so I could put food on the table by driving people to the airport uh into New York City wow it's amazing how imaginative you have to be just to put food on the table oh yes you know it's not like okay this didn't work so now I'm going to go try this cuz you got a lot of skills 20 years you're doing something you learned a lot of skills management I'm sure I'm a very good Problem Solver and detail oriented but right now where are you going with it that's right it's amazing isn't it it is amazing I never thought my whole life that this is where I'd wind up being when I was 55 years old it's crazy when I go to like the supermarket or I go out and I'm with people that are part of the regular part of society they're just going about the same way they had done a year or two ago and here I am like in this this bubble Funk yeah it's like a death you know like when somebody dies in your family and you go to the funeral and then the funeral's over and you're like why is the world still going on and why can't I and that's kind of what yeah it's that's where it's like like being the Twilight Zone nobody prepared me for this how long you think you can hang on like this my savings have become depleted yeah and I could see the end in sight and it's not it's not pretty it's not pretty I don't know what's going to happen Deborah has aign can I help you Hi how are you oh I'm sorry a consolation someone I'm told was laid off you know the perception about unemployed people used to be you know they were unemployed for a reason but in this market they're really unemployed for no fault of their own these are people with tremendous skills with great work habits and now their industry has collapsed around them and and Steven is the founder of a job search website for older people which today means people over 40 the market is just so tough for really know so many people out of work but particularly for for older workers I have clients who've been out of work you know well over a year they've gone through their savings their stocks are gone their pensions gone they're in their 50s there's no way for them to go well that's the tragedy of what's going on right now right these are people with with skills and talent and great work ethic and these are people who were in many cases were pillars of their communities where they Liv hey Rob Hi how are you nice to see you to see you hey hi good to see you too long time no see yeah really Rob who had been a high paid executive has been out of a job for over a year so how have you been I've been okay you know you any prospects anything happening um a few prospects actually I'm actually I actually have an interview later this evening oh that's the haircut that's right there are an awful lot of candidates out there right now in all different fields so you're constantly having to uh to hone your skills and reinvent yourself he talks about his old job with Nostalgia I bounced out of bed every morning I was responsible for the recruiting the employee relations the training and I enjoy this every single day he remembers vividly the day it ended it was a beautiful day drove to work it was early in the morning and I was sitting in my office and my boss walked in I was kind of surprised that she was there that early and um she closed the door and immediately said that uh the company was having a reduction in force and that I was a part of it uh that um wanted me to she was sorry that that she wanted me to pack up my my things and um I was shocked I was stunned um I was sad I was um distressed what did you do I um I looked you uh asked me if I had any questions but I was really in in quite somewhat of a days and um she said really if I could pack up in about 10 minutes that would be helpful and I said it's going to take me I'd been there for many years and it was going to take me longer than 10 minutes um and well if I could do it as you know quickly as possible and um she opened the door and uh she handed me a package and uh an envelope and and I uh and and she left my [Music] office you get in your car somewhat disoriented totally [Music] dejected which way did I want to go which way did I even want to go home I stopped and I sat in the car for about 20 minutes or so and just sat there at that point I wasn't sure who I was he had been a human resource executive for a marketing company in charge of hundreds of people whom he had the power to hire and fire he now found himself on the other side of the fence it took me probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 months to realize how difficult a task this was going to be that the challenge to get a job was insurmountable I've probably sent out as far as resumés somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 and it takes me somewhere between an hour to an hour and a half to write a cover letter sometimes it takes me an hour sometimes to ret tweak a resume correctly companies have specific ways that they need an application submitted so you may have to go to their website and then submit the application directly through their website so you have to follow the directions to a t or else they'll just take your your resume and throw it in the garbage and this takes time it takes hours and then in the event that you are called for an interview you have to speak about those keywords that are important and those specifics and you have to continue to follow up with that and all of this takes so much time and each time you do it you have to bring bring yourself up every single time you have to constantly be up constantly be up and that takes an emotional drain from you oh for it's an emotional drain many of Steven's clients are in the same situation these are people who probably have never had to look for a job in their life never right these were the people that people the phone rang for them exactly exactly we seal so many people who have who haven't done a resume in 20 years or have never done a resume at all and now you're asking them to not only come up with a resume but just to create a whole skill set in terms of finding a job and it it it does require specific skills that many of these people don't have and several of my clients have gone to these work Fair things and they so ridiculous so ridiculous cuz it's down to a point where they tell them now watch how you cross your legs and watch how you move your hands always make sure your hands are open but use your hands it's very nice people like you to animate but don't lose them too close together right because then you're kind of shutting them out and it's all this psychological drama and they're like do you understand you know I was a soand so or I'm a this or I'm a that like right you know I I don't I have people I have staff who hire people for me I have to worry about how I'm sitting there may be hundreds or even thousands of resumés for every job opening so Rob search can never stop there's networking to do and classes to attend how much time do you spend driving since you've been out of since you've been looking for a job oh my gosh uh an ex I spend an exorbitant amount of time driving I I actually could not believe the thousands of miles that I clock going between networking functions and coaching functions it's an amazing number cold companies are companies that are not actively hiring but you know J is Rob's new career coach sometimes you've got somebody Going H maybe we need to do this maybe we need to do that your resume lands on the right desk at the right time the goal is to get through to someone who may know someone else who can get you an interview which would end in a job so when you start mailing those out it should be about 30 a week and at the bottom of your letter you don't say um please let me know you say I look forward to following up with you the week of can general rules for following up are two to three times about every three days okay now the other thing about this is there are times you're going to look at the after the session with Judy Rob is off to a networking meeting one of the hundreds taking place across the country this one is organized by the state labor department in Denbury Connecticut I go to almost every meeting one of the things that I lost were my work friends home I was and one of the things that I've gained are network friends everybody kicks in a box I want to thank you for really opening the door because I've contacted them a couple times and went no place but with your lead it really worked my pleasure right and you were right on track with this is a weekly support group where unemployed members check with each other I don't know if I'm putting out a decent cover letter give ask for advice and then one Monday boom and let down their guard at 60 okay I still need to work for another 4 five years you know I've changed my resume a bit okay fellas let's get back on track here you're going to stand up you're going to introduce yourselves you get 15 seconds to do it an important part of the meeting is to practice the elevator speech your work history and career goals in the time it takes an elevator to reach the ground FL all right fellas it's all yours we'll start with Rob good morning I'm Rob Weiss I'm a human resource management executive with an expertise in recruiting employee relations and training my most uh recent position I was responsible for 7,300 people 300 full-time people 7,000 part-timers so I'm looking for a position in a similar company probably a small to mediumsized company now in the tri-state area thank you very much I'm a marketing person looking for an opportunity with companies that are technology related growth companies and uh I will entertain any offers thank you I'm a telecommunications technician and I'm looking for a job to upgrade phones in any midsize company my specialty is uh infrastructure it and it is hard not to notice that most of the members are over 50 I've been in the pharmaceutical industry for the past 20 years age is a problem age is a big problem in thee region the large companies don't want people at my age anymore that's plain and simple companies could include IBM and the number of members that have joined the networking groups that I belong to keeps increasing weekly and they're all in the same age bracket as I am and I'm really open to any industry and Target company I'm looking for a job so thank you thank you very much dor do you remember hearing about the uh the plane crash in the Hudson river right and that pilot Sully solenberger was a hero for saving all those people right you know the irony of that is I mean he was 57 years old the irony is that every HR Manager on that plane before he took off wouldn't have given Sul solenberg even an interview for a job and yet it was because of all this skills and experiences that he had that is what allowed him to land that plane safely and save the lives of all those people but age by us aside Rob goes on and we go with him there is another event which he will not miss I am yes I am do you have a car this one called wine and dine that's wi with the wh is for human resource Executives so much I really appreciate the referrals let me give you my card because it began a couple of years ago with working professionals only Facebook my Twitter on the other side of my business card because I now about half of those present are as they say in transition which optimistically means between jobs don't talk about children or grandchildren absolutely that's a big big no no yeah right you know you talk about you know talk about something that's that's high technology and you talk about this stuff cuz that's what the young people cuz you're competing against the younger people you know hi I'm Jan Davis and I work in training and professional development and I have almost 20 years of experience in HR leadership I administer Health and Welfare plans as well as pension plans hi I'm Rob Weiss I'm a skilled HR management professional with an expertise in recruiting more elevator speeches and I'm seeking a position Rob seems tired but he's determined to go on to one more late meeting Rob wi thank you we decide to call it t [Applause] night debor BS 55 grew up in Brooklyn in a working class Irish American family and is the only one in the family to have her own business I started doing hair about 35 years ago in 1985 I went in business for myself she rents two units in the same building one she lives in the other is the salon I wanted a place where people can go and they can feel comfortable they know they belong here hello nothing intimidating about hey I need to some color okay she developed a large and loyal clientele but with the downturn of the economy this is now changing there can now be ours when no one is there it's very hard it's very hard sometimes you have a good week sometimes you don't okay who's cancelled him but it's nowhere near what it was I mean nowhere knew what it was you w okay now it's guess guess who still has a job guess who still has money Guess who's coming guess who's not it's how you been I've been okay can't complain you hanging in there you know business is slow it's tough time it's just difficult you we leave work and you know just happy you have a job you they um they cut me back to a 4- day work week with the four days do you make enough money I'm finding I'm getting more into debt now than I've been in since in in years I'm more in debt now I wish I could somehow cut back my prices for everybody but if I've lost so much of my business already and I'm you know you know uh I'm hanging on to what I can and my clients God love and they're wonderful and they're still coming but if I cut back too much how do I pay my bills you know people are coming less and less you know less frequently yeah you know where they're this is one of the places they're cutting back you know it's uh they don't color their hair as often like me it's you know yeah you like you you used to come all the time color your hair get a haircut you know they uh so many of them are losing their jobs or their family members are losing their jobs and they have to go back home or you know it's just yeah yeah it there's no one issue here and you see so much oh I know you know one of the things I notice it's easier to get a cab in New York City now did you notice that yeah even in the rain you could get a cab yep if someone travels up Madison Avenue from about 46th Street 60 plus stores went out just during the month of January which is pretty serious and then if you driveing up and down and you see Lexington and second and third it's amazing how many shops are out when you drive by and you look at how many people are in the stores it's just the proprietor that's it yeah it's the Upper East Side this isn't supposed to happen here why not it's part of America I know but it's just not supposed to happen here one doesn't have to walk more than a block or two from the salon to see what is happening I've lost so many good neighbors they've lost their business I mean I'm still here here but I worry how long I can be here and am I next Barra Deborah's sister who lives in Florida came to New York to help right now I'm here and I have to go back to Florida and I'm concerned about you know what could happen with her business and her and she's worried about it you know we're not young anymore Barbara has her own con concerns serious ones her home in Florida is in danger of being foreclosed so when she went to Florida we went with her Barbara bought her house in 2006 at the height of the market believing that it was a great investment there was a boom going on here that was incredible there were investors buying up you know five and six houses at a time friends were buying houses it was like you know it was like a candy story and I really thought I was you know had done a good thing and I would make some money and I wouldn't have to worry about a college loan for my daughter I could use the house as collateral and the bottom fell out and it was and that's not going to happen my daughter goes to a city college now and it's difficult but that was not you know my hopes and dreams for her Barbara divorced is the mother of Katie who's 19 I start see our chicks on Monday I start training okay is that necessary yeah need to pay rent I didn't think that at this time in my life I would be in this position and my daughter knows about it and I don't want her to have this on her head but she does she knows don't worry I'll get rich I'll pay it off just give me a couple years [Music] all around her Barbara sees houses that have been foreclosed and signs of neighbors who have lost their homes it's like in your face kind of stuff and it's like this is the reality this can happen real easily so I I don't sleep Barbara's Home has lost nearly half of its value but she still faces steep payments she can cannot afford my interest is 9.25 on a $236,000 mortgage that's the killer that 9.25 is what's killing me so all I need is reduced rate and I I can keep my house she has applied for both refinancing and modification but the bank forced her to buy hurricane insurance and then rejected her applications for having too much debt and not enough income in the meantime she has had to take in renters to help her pay the mortgage there was more deterioration in the job market last month the labor department says David was the first tenant once a vice president of a bank then real estate appraiser he could afford to pay rent that covered the whole mortgage till his business dried up and there was Richie a rodar University graduate who found work in the financial industry until his company folded now he sells telephone lines then came Mike and Steve whose houses were both foreclosed Steve was a friend of both David and Barbara he had a brokerage firm and lived well in a high-end gated community until his house was foreclosed his business dried up up and he had a stroke he had a beautiful home in PJ National and he fell three months behind and he tried to pay the three months to the bank and they said now you owe four months so we're not going to take the three months if Steve had been able to bring it those three payments in he could have made up the other payment eventually and they wouldn't have had to go through the the bank wouldn't have to go through the process they went through and uh obviously Steve wouldn't you know be in the circumstances he's in it's easier for them to foreclose take possession and sell it than it is to renegotiate the loan Mike's story is particularly tragic working as a carpenter he now lives in a small room at the back of the house with his two dogs Jakey come on honey Jakey my wife was dying up at the hospice and then I lost my job so I became two months in the rear and that's when I got scared so I went down to the uh Housing Development uh company here and they said fine what we'll do we'll hook you up with an individual and he will um fix it for you so we got in there and uh he says yes we have a grant for this you have nothing to to worry about just keep looking for a job so that's what I did I kept looking for a job and I found one he found a job as a carpenter and spent the coming months visiting his dying wife and working to pay his mortgage but somehow things went wrong the development department would not release the grant money until Mike made up the difference which he couldn't do and the bank did not agree to modify alone so M's case fell through the cracks 3 days after his wife died Mike found his house locked up and everything he owned in the street when you lose your loved one and you lose your house at the same time I don't know was the worst time of my life anyway I don't know the pain was just so great I just I've been a recluse ever since I've been just going to a little humble job and then coming back here I mean I haven't been able to it was just devastating it just kind of wipes you out when you lose everything and then you go man you know Mike wasn't always a recluse he was a deepsea diver who was part of an expedition that had found sunken treasure and in his youth he was an acclaimed dancer in the Florida Ballet [Music] Company you know there's got to be more to life than this huh when you fall out of rhythm like that you just man it's a bummer you [Music] know before we left Florida we passed by Mike's former home for which he had paid $125,000 there was a man watering the trees he said he was the new owner and that his name was raldo I got it like about two months ago I bought it for 55,000 the people that had it I guess they wasn't paying the mortgage they were like 7 months behind the mortgage and they kicked them out and they threw all their stuff out on the street and then they put the house out for foreclosure so me and my wife we came across the street we grabbed the number we called them up and we bought the house and me and my wife going to rent it out probably when the economy gets better five or 6 years from now then we'll turn around and sell it for a profit but for right now we're just going to rent it to try to get the money we put into the house try to get it back do you feel that on the hall it was a good buy yes I think it is I it's a real good bargain yeah you can't never go wrong with real estate you know I didn't [Music] argue Barbara is back in New York helping de Bor while waiting for some news from the bank friends and family drop by Vince Barbara and deora's nephew son of their late sister is a medical secretary who barely gets by bills I mean I live in a studio apartment with basically no windows I pay $ 850 a month you know so you can you you start to do the math and it's you my my meager paycheck ises not you know you know so Vincent has always counted on the Bor that's why you know I'm lucky to have her you know the whole family's like to have her she was always the inspiration she was somebody that made it so we had someone to look up to you know that aspired to to do a small business and actually achieve their dreams you know so if we had tough times we always had someone to go to debor knows it and she is worried she tells us what she doesn't tell them business started slowing up for quite a while now I could be forced to close it if I don't have enough customers you know so what do I worry about at night I worry about my family I worry about my customers I worry about everything my business first and foremost because that's that's what helps me make everything else run you know she's worried and like many people she's angry she's angry at the banks she's angry at the big companies she's angry at the bailout and she's angry at the Big Wall Street bonuses nobody turns around gives me a check for failing these people failed at what they did yeah they shouldn't be getting anything they should be getting fired that's what would happen to me if I gave you a bad haircut a manual would you come back I still come back cuz I love you I love you too you're my boy everyone deserves a second chance you know haircut is not a life and death situation I'm not losing a house you know it'll still grow [Music] next time on front line everywhere we looked it was take meds take meds take meds 6 million American children are taking psychiatric drugs we have no idea how we got on as many meds as he was on but most have not been tested on children I don't know what the long-term side effects are going to be for him is this good medicine or an uncontrolled experiment taking my medication makes me more like I'm supposed to be the medicated [Music] child front lines close to home is available on DVD D to order visit shop pbs.org or call 1800 play PBS front line is made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you thank you with major funding from the John D and Katherine T MacArthur Foundation committed to building a more just verdant and peaceful world with additional funding from the park Foundation [Music]
