Poverty after the Pandemic: Americans in Corona-Fueled Economic Crisis | Poverty in US Documentary

[Music] california is one of the richest states in the usa [Music] however it's hard to believe what's happening in this northern suburb of los angeles every week in this parking lot 3 000 cars are waiting in line for food to be handed out millions of americans have lost their jobs as a result of the health crisis and are struggling to make ends meet keep up the trunk thank you the food bank is open to everyone regardless of their income each family receives three boxes of food just enough to last a week between four people amy's in charge of logistics with every last detail organized so what we have here uh the fruit that we're giving are plums grapes oranges and then here we have frozen chicken items and it's 20 pounds what they're getting today too is a box of masks low-income households don't have the funding to purchase these masks how many households how many families just one these middle class americans have fallen into poverty overnight [Music] we heard might be you know like they've been cut off their employment and everything and so we might as well just be prepared even more surprising we come across luxury cars like this mustang bmw and tesla worth almost sixty thousand dollars like many others this executive hasn't been spared by the crisis we are uh surprised because you drive a tesla which is the car everyone want to drive and steve you're here like everyone i lost my job what do you do i work for an import distribution company and i've been with a company for 11 years but the company is having very difficult time so i may be called back in several months not sure very uncertain at this point in california alone two and a half million workers lost their jobs at the height of the pandemic amy has never seen so many recipients just last week they were able to make that car payment they were able to make that house payment and now really it's everyone across the board is going through some sort of challenge at home amy is supported by around a hundred volunteers a lot of them have found themselves unemployed due to covid leslie was a sports coach you need to do good things for others to feel good about yourself even volunteering a long time for us you know how could this be never in my lifetime did i ever think that we would be in this situation this is america i'm actually angry that the person in the oval office didn't act sooner and make some right choices according to the organization feeding america one american in six could struggle to feed themselves by the end of the year [Music] in the u.s the pandemic has already caused 200 000 deaths and it has led to the worst recession the country has seen since the 30s i want every american to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead after years of spectacular growth this unprecedented economic crisis has caught america off guard in just a few months the usa's gdp recorded a historic drop of 33 per cent new york and its 8 million inhabitants are at a standstill las vegas now a ghost town factories closed down deserted malls [Music] empty airports [Music] american giants like disney or american airlines have made hundreds of thousands of people redundant joe biden fears the looming social crisis enough each day the pandemic death toll grows and each day too many american workers are still out of work and losing hope more than 11 million americans have lost their job over the past few months the government introduced federal aid for the unemployed six hundred dollars a week for four months today i signed the paycheck protection program and healthcare enhancement act providing 320 billion dollars to keep american workers on the payroll but this didn't stop millions of workers falling under the poverty line mark and celine closed their restaurant overnight due to covid without any income or health insurance they don't know how they're going to pay their son's hospital fees to fix his arm 11 000 unable to pay their rent 40 million tenants will have been threatened with an eviction notice between now and the end of the year cursing waits every day for the sheriff to come and throw her out onto the street middle class themselves homeless steven and anita were earning more than a hundred thousand dollars a year now they live in their car one of our old blankets from the house and put that on top of my clean clothes even oil millionaires have been affected by the recession carl has had to sell his oil wells the covid and lack of demand for fuels has made it worse than ever some people still manage to make it through in the midst of a pandemic toma and artur two french nationals based in california have started manufacturing antibacterial and anti-coveted masks will the american dream survive this crisis after biden has been elected president from texas to california via the rural landscapes of the midwest we travel through an america on the brink of a depression wisconsin in the north west of america is nicknamed america's dairy farm but these farms have recently become symbols of the economic crisis due to lack of demand the price of milk has collapsed not a week goes by without a farmer going bankrupt this morning a public auction has been organized on this farm farmers from all over wisconsin are ready for a bidding war all the dairy equipment on this farm is for sale [Music] but also owners of larger farms who are looking for a good deal the cow brushes will sell all that in there among the most prized goods are agricultural machinery this is an old truck that's 50 years old it's not worth a lot paul the owner of this 250 hectare family run farm is the one selling all this material with the pandemic he has lost almost 40 percent of his revenue he has therefore decided to stop working and to take early retirement however the business was flourishing before covid hit paul had seven employees this is where we melt and was producing six thousand gallons of milk a day my dad used to milk 20 cows in here and we were milking 450 three times a day but last march the price of milk crashed with lockdown it was impossible to sell the farm's produce my milk goes to pizza a lot of it went to new york so the cheese for the pizzas and in chicago and just well they shut all the restaurants down so they don't need the cheese you don't need the cheese they don't want the milk so the milk went in there six thousand gallons truckload so that was figured out to around oh nine thousand dollars worth of milk millions of farmers like paul have had to throw away their milk more than 25 million gallons were also poured away in april this is what paul's barn looks like now he has sold his 450 cows over the past few years dairy farmers in the region have already been affected by a serious crisis there's used to be hundreds of dairies in mchenry county and now there's all harvard was the milk center of the world yeah it ain't now there's nothing left for these farmers covid was fatal well when you get paid 12 and 13 100 it takes 17 dollars to produce it it's kind of a backward trend paul has a lot riding on this auction in order to pay off his debts hey sunshine make money yeah big money you're here no i'm here to bid it out a couple green tractors off the bus yeah to seduce buyers paul is presenting the goods himself 1973 ford only 12 000 miles on rebuilt detroit diesel all right real good truck ready to go to work here what do you want to get here 34.85 84 now 8984 now 8 584 now 8500 the bidding starts well it's now on to the main event [Music] a six-wheeled monster very popular with farmers it's paul's favorite machine the price is rising quickly several buyers bid against one another two farmers won this auction in the end [Music] now no 65 no 65 and a half now 65 now 65. around 25 000 more than the starting bid good job straight after the sale the new owners head off with their tractor paul should have made around three hundred thousand dollars just enough to pay off his last debts pretty good i wish i got more what do you do that's when auction goes you know so one-third of independent farmers could go bankrupt in the u.s by the end of the year in the face of this crisis it's only the large dairy farms that are doing well on the other side of the country texas the land of black gold is also suffering the full force of the economic crisis workers and engineers were arriving from all over the country before the pandemic attracted by oil money in recent years midland's population has grown by 30 percent with its 150 000 inhabitants it had become the american black gold capital but now midland seems like a ghost town the town center is still empty months after the lockdown construction is at a standstill shops and restaurants are closed covet has paralyzed the local economy [Music] for those who haven't left town times have become difficult [Music] this is mark and celine two mexican-born restaurant owners who live in this house with their six children the couple ran a mexican restaurant in midland before covid after being open for only six months when the business had only just started to make money the pandemic forced them to close their premises a few weeks later they declared themselves bankrupt there was catering we got catering dinero review mark has been anxiously checking his emails every morning since he's hoping to be called for a catering job but during a crisis events are scarce you know we this is why we do it mark and celine live with their four young children the two oldest are no longer at home only jesse is awake this morning to eat breakfast with his parents you gonna pray no me okay heavenly father we thank you for the flu i asked lord to bless it to our bodies and our bodies to service amen like many others they believed in the american dream success in their careers their restaurant is located in the center of town it was mark and celine's lifelong dream they had invested 120 000 dollars after saving for months [Music] overnight they found themselves without income a humiliating failure that mark has almost never recovered from i tried to commit suicide three or four times actually i hate to say it but you know you there's times in your moment you you get inside your mind and then you feel like there's no hope and then you think look i mean i'm worthless you think my my family would be better off without me because i let them down [Music] twenty thousand restaurants have already shut down in the us for those bankrupt owners the consequences extend far beyond their business mark and celine have just received a letter from their landlord threatening them with eviction they are two months behind on the rent more than four thousand dollars in debt [Music] this is the the texas property code that they say that if you if i cannot pay that amount then i have 2 after the 20 days then they can kick me out we can't we have to hit at six thousand dollars a month i mean it's all included for our cost of living the situation is now critical for the couple mark is willing to try anything so he asks for help via social media yeah we are we are being evicted in three days coed is hitting west texas in more ways of just being sick but god is still with us mark will know in a few days if his cry for help has been heard and if the family can escape eviction at the start of the pandemic most of the states introduced a standstill period to prevent tenants from ending up on the streets but since the summer a dozen states have started evicting people like here in ohio the court is overwhelmed here in the city of columbus this information they put it on my door they're trying to get me out 100 tenants a day are summoned to be evicted during the pandemic tonic is waiting to go before the judge this mom owes her landlord six months rent almost five thousand dollars my field of employment is customer service and customer care once the pandemic hit everything froze so for the past four months i have literally spent every day calling unemployment to get some assistance i hate that i'm even in this situation it's horrible tonic will be pleading her case in the courtroom in just a few minutes the stack of files is piling up on judge gene edwards desk he only has a few minutes to judge each case um is it correct that this tenant was owing to the landlord on june 9th yes and is this tenant to the best you're not still living at that address yeah uh thank you sir i'm in favor of the plaintiff here the law first protects the owners it only takes 10 days to evict a tenant based on your testimony i'll find today i'm going to finally care about the picture it's now tonight's turn to get called up to the bar at the next desk the owner of her apartment and her you please raise your right lawyer uh do you swear to tell the truth this morning do you agree or disagree that you owed something to the landlord as in basics okay and now is there anything else you wanted to tell me about the case itself well if she doesn't want to go through the division that's fine so what that means first of all is that they're getting the option to place this red tag in your door they're not required to do this but they are just like i said getting the option um if they chose to do that you'd have five days to move out of the property but as i said they don't have to do that um they could choose to talk with you potentially even here this morning and they're just now telling me that they are interested at least talking to you but you'll have to deal with them because at this point it's just entirely up to them the judge suggests an amicable agreement between both parties within the confines of the court tenants can appeal to associations financed by public funds and private donations americans are generous they donate more than one billion dollars a day to charities tonic is seen by a social worker her landlady joins her the head of the association can re-house her or offer her financial assistance this is tonica's last chance [Music] you have to put everything she owes the social worker and the landlady do their calculations in just a few minutes an agreement is reached the association is going to take care of most of tonica's rent debts so then today you need to pay 8 50 22. okay and that way you'll be able to pay your your september rent tonica is stunned [Music] she has just avoided eviction a miracle the landlady is relieved too they need a place to live and the owner needs their money and if all that works then she's back employed she's actually been my tenant for a long time and i know that when she's working the rent is paid so with the resources we're able to keep her in her house this is a new start for tonica i was in a stuck situation this morning when i woke up and i got up meditated i prayed drank my juice so let me just go down here and see you know what happens and i'm glad i did on this day 32 evictions were ordered by the judge and 15 cases will be resolved amicably amongst the 108 million tenants in the u.s 40 million will be threatened with eviction by the end of the year in the neighboring state of missouri americans in kansas city are being thrown out onto the streets with barely any warning cursing has just received an eviction notice distraught she has reached out to local media to inform them of her situation by telling her story on camera she hopes to delay the sheriff's arrival who is responsible for throwing her out basically living a nice normal life and then what happened after that because of covid kirsten lost her job as an assistant in the construction industry her new job only pays 800 a month this isn't even enough to pay her 1 200 of rent and i don't really have friends and family that are able to help so it's just what if at this moment there's not really a whole lot of time to think about kirsten hasn't paid her last two months of rent the judge gave her 10 days to leave the premises on the 13th day she is gathering her last belongings [Music] in prepping for being homeless this is just my bathroom necessities you know that i would have to take if i was in a shelter or if i needed to take a shower at the friend's house or to wash my clothes kirsten was living in this house with her two daughters to prevent them from witnessing her eviction she sent them to stay with her ex-husband in their old room she's removing the last memories [Music] what's left jacket that was too small and some broken toys she'll leave the rest of her things in a storage unit a few miles away she pays 115 a month for this hoping it will be a temporary solution this is my life um well like i have everything that i might need like now like extra clothes you know if it gets cold jackets um tools if my car breaks down you know the kids clothes and stuff like that if you know i need to get to it i don't even know what's in here yeah kids clothes shoes cursing is now listed as a bad tenant she will be blacklisted as a bad tenant for years as a result of this eviction an eviction in missouri in missouri i think is seven years it stays on your record so like they i mean most places will turn you down because of it she won't sleep in the street tonight however it's a relief for cursing but this will be the last night she spends here the next morning a car was parked in front of the house the sheriff had arrived contacted by cursing the head of a tenants association arrives she films the eviction using her cell phone [Music] so what's going on are you here to evict lieutenant kirsten has no other choice she has to leave the premises as soon as possible with her last belongings it seems really violent to to make people homeless in the middle of a pandemic you need to talk somebody else not me yeah yeah gosh it must be a really hard job it's not easy i don't enjoy it yeah the landlord has sent a locksmith the man is armed and has no sympathy she hasn't paid rent or she's going to go someplace else where screw somebody else out of them i mean people have lost their jobs i bet you go in there you'll find a brand new flat screen that's where her money went all right every house we closed on was a brand new flat screen in the living room that's where their stimulus money went they can go to rent and go to food like the flash creams wow i don't have any feelings for these no kirsten's last minutes in the house are over the locksmith enters the house to evict the tenant can you show me at 41.92 yes i got my phone oh your air conditioner yeah my air conditioner [Music] for you yeah i hope you throw some more people out good luck gotta go that's it all right thanks to the charity kirsten will be re-housed in a hotel while waiting for a room in an emergency shelter since our filming donald trump has suspended evictions but they should resume at the end of the year [Music] the health crisis hasn't only hit the american middle class here in texas it has even impacted oil giants like shell or exxon it has also hit independent producers who represent 83 percent of american oil production like 67 year old karl beach black gold is his whole life i am a third generation oil and gas producer like i can remember going out there with my dad when i was 12 and 13 started drilling wells and created a little a family oil and gas company it is somewhere around 150 to 200 wells so we've been there for a long time and have well scattered all over the permian basin flights grounded road traffic in slow motion the pandemic has reduced the demand for energy last april the price per barrel fell to its lowest level ever carl had to shut down all of his oil wells something this texan had never done before in his life with oil price went way down with opec and then dumped the market and the oil went from 65 or 70 dollars a barrel to zero you know in a matter of months so that coupled with the covid and lack of demand for fuels has made it worse than ever but carl can't leave his oil business idle for too long if left unused the extraction equipment deteriorates so he has reopened some of his pits of tubing carl has come to meet his business partner on site uh this lease was actually down we didn't have any production so i think we went on to keep the leasing yeah have to put one back on production to keep the lease the oil is always extracted the old-fashioned way by small producers like carl virtually unchanged not much of the process has changed in these shallow wells from when they were drilled in the 70s what does it cost you to drill a well with your equipment um one of these shallow wells about 65 000. before the pandemic this business was producing 500 barrels a day it's now practically at a standstill carl and walker had to make almost all of their employees redundant in texas 100 thousand oil workers have lost their job uh we had about 15 employees we cut down to four and this crew right now they're back just on a contract labor basis i haven't been able to hire them back on full time just as we get work or jobs i'll call them in and have them come in for a day's worth of work but we just can't afford to have them on full time right now on the day of filming the barrel price had risen to 37 but to make any profit from production american black gold must be worth around 50 dollars a barrel so while waiting for better days ahead carl and his partner store the oil in these tanks [Music] we aren't making any profit right now we don't want to sell it at a loss so we're selling enough just to get by but we anticipate the price coming back up and like right now we're holding onto oil i have a lot of barrels oil money has made texas the second largest economy in the country upmarket suburbs have sprung up all over the state like here in northern san antonio carl and his wife live here in this stately home this evening the couple invited their neighbors around for a drink [Music] yeah we vacation in new mexico quite often before all this and where do y'all go in new mexico santa fe and towns while they wait for the next holiday these texans know how to have a good time first taste all right sample that but the conversation quickly turns back to business we've been more focused on this gtl because i think i can make a lot more money of it they project us to make 100 million dollars in five less than five years carl is currently working on a big liquefied gas project but the election could well cause the whole thing to fail they're scared to invest now they do it they want to see what happens in elections they're scared if biden gets elected they don't know what what they're going to do for these hardcore republicans they already know who they're voting for who would take the presidency job in the united states of america because that's the worst job how does he not just walk away he doesn't need it he doesn't need that job that's right how many other people do you country if we get to this election successfully with trump the country will recover quickly quickly you're right yeah that's true that is yes i believe he's done everything that he could possibly do yes what is worrying carl at the moment is the price of an oil barrel which is still far too low the producer is losing around ten thousand dollars a month so this texan thinks it's time to sell some of his wells [Music] this morning he has a meeting with a trader to see how much he can get to where are your properties located we're in anderson county it's a difficult decision for carl his family have never sold a single oil well but with the pandemic the market is not conducive to doing business i think we've lost 50 percent of our value today and we've probably spent you know over 2 million dollars on that field and you know don would have to evaluate it but i i would feel like if we could get half our money back we would be very lucky comey's been brutal the oil and gas industry you know it has been you know it's it's you know it's affected all up and down the supply chain carr will go on to sell 48 wells for nearly one million dollars enough to have a bright future ahead of him despite everything [Music] further north in texas we return to midland mark and celine are still looking for work to pay their rent [Music] but an accident has further complicated their situation their six-year-old son how's your arm puppy has broken his elbow while playing basketball remember the doctor wants you to keep it up jesse will have his operation in four days it's good when we when i heard he broke his arm i was like oh what are we gonna do unlike france the us doesn't have accessible health care we had no insurance we lost our insurance when we lost our business we lost everything you know i gotta do this at the moment is what we have at the moment that's all we have a church that donated to us to help us with with the expenses so this is four hundred dollars but to to fix his arm eleven thousand dollars now we have to make payments eleven thousand dollars are you gonna do that we might have to take four years to pay yeah or if we have a good catering yeah if work comes back you know we can make it but you know keep it like that okay i'm gonna go pay the doctor okay you okay papa [Music] mark heads to the clinic to try and negotiate the hospital fees in the u.s one in two workers are covered by private health insurance paid for by their employer so while millions of americans became unemployed overnight they also lost their health insurance it is common to negotiate rates in american hospitals [Music] you own a catering company yes we do we hire but we've lost like sixty thousand dollars in the last three months from people counseling because of covert mark didn't make much progress with negotiating at the clinic by the time he had to leave well they didn't tell me how much but my first quote was eleven thousand dollars so i think they're going to try to reduce it and then i've got a call today and make an arrangement so maybe we could talk then and we'll find out how much later on today we'll find out how much they they're gonna charge us so well if you don't have your insurance of course that's where it's going to have to work or you you live with your injury lots of people do that yeah it's not it's not uncommon but you know we have to we have to fix my kid's arm you know that's that's all we got to do the health system in the u.s is one of the most expensive in the world mark has experienced this first hand after breaking his collarbone in a car accident a year ago after seeing the price of the operation he decided not to be treated you know see this right here this is broken this is uh this has been separated and i can't do nothing about it unless you know if i if i grab some money like two thousand dollars or maybe three thousand dollars and go to mexico and get it fixed yeah here this surgery will cost fifteen thousand dollars if i want to cover my family it's 1500 for eight so you know you're like fifteen hundred dollars insurance monthly we probably died before we could get paid in insurance 28 million americans around 10 of the population do not have health insurance mark has no choice he'll have to go into debt to pay for his son's treatment [Music] a few days later things are looking up for mark and celine after several months without work they finally got a catering job it's for one of their friends who is organizing a small get-together so to help the couple out she's hired them for the evening [Music] the head of the household hello this woman runs an air conditioning business this is the first party she's organized since the end of lockdown we used to uh mark always catered for us um he's catered for basically every event we've ever had so thirty fifty fifty people wow for the baby shower well the baby shower you had quite a bit yeah that was probably our biggest one they are making the last preparations before the event starts but mark is especially worried about the children enjoy the water i don't want to be getting hurt you never know just the first guests start to arrive how are you you look nice [Music] they're just on the menu this evening a mexican buffet and some booze miriam's husband tim has come to help out [Music] this texan made his fortune in oil his hunting trophies are hung up in the living room but this rich oil entrepreneur has another passion his car collection is housed in the next room ferrari corvette plymouth luxury toys that tim loves to show his guests well i mean these days you know they're getting up to 1500 horde fire what are you gonna do with all that you know my friend i get pulled over every time huh first time i drove that one i got circled by five sheriff's cars yeah my friend's a car guy he would love this texans don't shy away from showing off their success but they also know how to be generous following mark's call for help on social media miriam organized a fundraiser she took advantage of the evening to tell the couple how much money they had raised i'm frozen [Music] okay now uh well mark i guess we it was a good fundraiser we were able to raise 6 546. 6 500 plus the 500 for the catering job are some they could never have dreamed of we now are we can pay our not be evicted we're about to be evicted you know so that's that's that helps out a whole lot we're very humbled actually thankful for everybody that helped us thank you related fundraisers in the us have raised 625 million dollars since the start of the pandemic most of this money has gone to family businesses like mark and celine's [Music] while the health crisis has left many americans in trouble for others covid has been an opportunity to make money 1500 miles away california here life almost seems normal even though wearing a mask remains mandatory in la some entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the crisis to manufacture anti-covet products 29 year old toma originally from france is visiting his production workshop this afternoon now if a in 2016 his business idea clothes that protect against radio waves generated by cell phones with the arrival of kovid he decided to also start making masks that protect against the virus tormach checks the quality of his products with the factory manager yeah this one looks good yeah it's nice to have extra protection uh the sales boom has been so large that the workshop is short of stuff production has been up like 60 80 dealing with china is a big risk all the factories and all the orders are coming domestically now so that's why we're more busy since the cove it hit these anti-radio wave masks sell at around 24 the young entrepreneur heads off with today's stock so we have 250 250 okay more coming tomorrow okay sounds good so yeah if you can uh delivery to santa monica we're going to santa monica awesome thank you okay thank you all right okay all right have a good day a few miles away in santa monica this is where the french startups offices are the workplace atmosphere has completely changed in recent months [Music] the building houses 20 or so american startups a co-working space where more than a hundred people were working pre-covered thomas and his partner artur moved to california two years ago they quickly found success with american customers the adventure began for these two with the anti-radio wave underwear from [Music] their clothing is a big hit and according to their american shareholder yes their small business could take them far artor needs to update him on sales if you could get from the beginning of the year we're like eight eggs that's amazing so it's kind of crazy james has invested a lot of money into tomah and ato's business and given the amount of sales they're making during kovid he doesn't regret funding their start-up it's interesting i mean there's there's definitely winners and losers right now um you know e-commerce in general has done relatively well throughout this crisis we'll see how that continues where health meets e-commerce is going to do particularly well we don't get into any business if we don't think it could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in in revenue [Music] security all right thanks james thank you awesome no problem thanks guys appreciate your feedback but even in wealthy california some people aren't making their fortunes with the health crisis there are more and more homeless people on the streets in front of buildings in parks poverty is everywhere the state of california already has 150 000 homeless this number could increase by 30 percent now even middle class families are finding themselves out on the street in san diego those who have a car at least have some sort of roof over their heads and can spend the night in secure parking lots [Music] this is the fifth night that stephen anita and their dog tucker are spending in this parking lot so many people are homeless on the streets every night here in san diego and across america so we're really grateful for our vehicle is our home right now but we're grateful for it stephen was in sales in his former life he was earning up to a hundred thousand dollars a month thanks to his commission anita worked in a research institute hi how are you are you guys new here for five nights now did you come from out of state are you from here we're from san diego me too look where we ended up huh because of kovid anita and steven lost both their jobs and their house after three months in a hotel they'd used up all their savings they now carry their old life on the roof of their car so here's here's my real clothes there's a couple ties i'm used to you know coming home to a house i never came home to a parking lot before so um yeah i just got to get back to my feet and who knows it could be very soon this parking lot is open for free in the evenings to help families who have recently become homeless it is managed by an association that pay a concierge and manage the facilities there is a shower block and a bathroom and also places for storing supplies you can store any frozen foods that you may have you know ice if you need ice for cold drinks and just anything in the refrigerator that you need to have stored there you can market your initials outside there's a dedicated space for cooking anita and stephen aren't the only ones to have been thrown out into the streets by the epidemic milo was the owner of a boxing club that closed due to covid uh well you know it's more secure than they you know they feed you uh military down there you got showers you got bathrooms you know so it's pretty accessible even though he lives in his car steven still enjoys the small pleasures of his former life he'll never miss a game when his favorite team are playing tonight around 20 people will spend the night in this parking lot other cars keep arriving late into the night [Music] the next day the couple are already up by sunrise it's seven am and eat and stephen are the last to leave the space [Music] thank you have a good day even though they're currently unemployed the couple still hope to find some accommodation every day they look at offers online and dream of finding an apartment but the rent is far too high [Music] what about that one bedroom one about 12.50 okay let's see studio apartment normally when i'm working i make six seven thousand a month um and then with this you know it's 1200 bucks that's that's you know it's it's a lifestyle change one thousand two hundred dollars that's how much the couple receive from the state every month a fund introduced during the coveted crisis but doesn't even cover the rent of a studio apartment in california and since both are behind on their bills there's no hope of getting a loan from the bank it's one of the biggest biggest things in america you have to have good credit your credit score is basically it's a reflection of how much how when you're on time every month paying your bills paying your debts if you're on time every month for you know for a couple years your credit number gets higher and then creditors you know places trust you more once you miss a bill that gets reported to the credit bureau and your number just drops you start ending up on the bad end of it and no one trusts you up there with uh buying stuff so a relentless system that hasn't even been relaxed during a crisis to forget their troubles anita and stephen spend their days walking along the beach one of the few places where you can relax for free the couple wants to keep hope that better days will come [Music] capitalism works it's all it has worked time and time again and it's it is the american dream is capitalism is only near a piece of the pot no no he'll never kill the american dream since filming stephen and anita have found work however they are still looking for somewhere permanent to live [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 51min 54sec (3114 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 16 2021