>> BILL MOYERS: Hello, and welcome to this special
edition of<i> Frontline.</i> We want to tell you the story
of two American families whose lives embody what's
happened to the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans
over the past 20 years. It's a story that begins
in Milwaukee, back in 1991, when we first met the Stanleys
and the Neumanns, families my mother,
rest her soul, would have called
"the salt of the earth." >> I want my kids to... >> Grow up to be good kids. >> Yeah, I want good children. >> I can tell you've been
down south a long time. You're saying, "Yes, ma'am." MOYERS: Hard workers, caring parents, faithful church-goers trying to secure a foothold
in the middle class. But as we came back to visit
them over the years, we watched their children grow
and their fortunes change. >> Now I'm putting longer hours
in, you're getting money, but it's not that much,
and you say, "What's the use?" >> MOYERS: We saw
their work lives upended by the powerful economic
and political forces that were altering
the American landscape. >> Here's my paycheck. $9,646.89. That's poverty. >> MOYERS: And as America
ushered in a new gilded age, in Milwaukee,
as in the rest of the country, working people found themselves
left behind, barely staying even at best. So now, 22 years in the making, the intimate and revealing story
of two American families. (choir singing) >> Tony and I
have known each other since we were probably
about two years old. His mother and my mother
went to school together at Pulaski High School, and our grandparents,
when our parents were younger, you know, they played cards, so
they were pretty good friends. I don't know, we just started
seeing each other, you know, spending a lot of time
at each other's houses and he just asked me out,
so I said okay. We were crazy about each other. We had to spend a lot of time
together, you know, and I could just picture myself spending the rest
of my life with him. And our expectations were,
I thought, you know, you find the man that
you like and get married and have a family, and get a house,
a little white picket fence, you know, all those little
fairy tale type things. Um, some of it came true, but some of it
as far as the bumpy roads, I didn't expect either. You know, I knew they weren't
gonna be all peaches and cream, but you don't think of all the
bad things when you're younger. >> MOYERS:
Once upon a time, Terry Neumann
and her husband Tony dreamed of a good,
simple life. >> When we got married, we had
started a family right away. He was working factory
and I stayed home. And he made pretty good money
when we were first married, you know, for a young couple
with one little one on the way. >> Grab a couple
and crack 'em in the pan. >> I don't know, we had
a good time with one child, so we had another one,
and there was Adam. You know, and then I got
pregnant with Karissa in '86 and he had lost his job. Then he got hired at Briggs
and we thought, "Okay, this is a very stable
job, we can start saving," and we bought the house. >> MOYERS: Buying a home was
a big step for a young couple. But Tony had a good job with the engine maker
Briggs and Stratton, then the largest employer
in the region. >> Years ago,
if you wanted a small engine, you got a Briggs and Stratton. >> MOYERS:
For decades, Briggs and dozens of other
stalwart Wisconsin manufacturers had helped make Milwaukee just about the American dream's
hometown, celebrated in sitcoms... >> ♪ Give us any chance,
we'll take it... ♪ >> MOYERS: And sentimentalized
in beer commercials. >> So when Miller time
rolls around tonight, we raise a glass to you,
Milwaukee. You've earned it. >> MOYERS: When we met
the Neumanns in the early '90s, American manufacturers
had already begun chasing cheap labor
to non-union states and Mexico. Of over 40,000 good-paying jobs lost from Milwaukee
in the preceding decade, about 4,000
were from Briggs and Stratton. One of them was Tony Neumann's. >> It sort of goes like this. Here and here. >> He gets into Briggs
and we think, "Oh, this is a good company,
we can buy a house." Now we have the house,
we have more bills. >> We gotta drill a hole. How big a hole do you want? >> Not that big. >> But it's either rent for
the rest of your life or own, and we prefer to own. I mean... >> MOYERS: That's supposed to be
the American Dream. >> That's supposed to be
the American Dream. Where is it? >> MOYERS: Tony had been making
up to $18 an hour plus benefits. Now the jobs available
to a laid-off union worker commonly paid
a fraction of that. >> I've applied over at grocery
stores, hardware stores... >> McDonald's. >> Hardee's, Super America,
Pizza Hut, Walmart, Sam's. Most of them will not pay
six dollars an hour. They're all less than
six dollars an hour. Little do they know
I need to live also. >> Thank you, have a nice day. >> Then one of these. And then you need a business
card to call Mommy up. >> MOYERS: While her husband
looked for work, Terry tried to bring in
some extra money. She bought skin care products and then tried reselling them
to her neighbors, door to door. >> Look in the mirror
and feel your face and say, well, you know,
it's softer... >> It's softer, yeah. >> The complexion, the color... And that's basically why
I wanted to share this with you. >> MOYERS: But she lost money
on the deal, and their troubles
just got worse. >> Are you gonna call him back? >> Am I gonna call him back? Yeah, I'm gonna have
to call him back. >> Well, you talked
to him before. >> MOYERS: How much is
your mortgage a month? >> I believe it's $820. >> $819? >> Yeah, $820
or something like that. >> MOYERS: And have you been
able to make all the payments? >> No, and we're behind. And today, the mortgage company
called me again. >> MOYERS: Again? >> Yes. >> MOYERS: What did they say? because I wanted to talk
to Tony, and he wasn't home. So I wanted to talk to him. >> MOYERS: You must dread it
when the phone rings. >> I do. I cringe. >> MOYERS: Long before the term
"foreclosure crisis" was on America's lips, laid-off working people
were learning what it meant. >> I did send
a thousand-dollar check in probably a few weeks back, but the check was sent back
to me with a letter stating, "We will not accept
a partial payment." I don't really think of that
as a partial payment. I think of that
as a basic payment and a good gesture on trying
to get, um, caught up. Right now we're going through
a hard time. My husband's out of work. He went to school
and he's looking for a job. And I'm basically just trying
to buy a little time so we can get on our feet again,
you know, so we can get caught up. I would think that this is just
going to be a temporary thing, not a permanent thing, and I really don't want
to lose my house. Are you just trying to tell me that you have to foreclose
on the house if I don't have that
full amount? You would recommend it. >> Is he putting this on paper? I want to know. Is he putting this on paper? Dear? >> It really bothers us that we
have to depend on other people. I just wanna get up
and do what I have to do, just go in the car
and go grocery shopping and have a normal life again. >> You get the peanut butter
and the honey... >> I don't like having to go
and ask and say, "I have no food in the house,
can you help me out?" Where when you would go and work
and get a paycheck and come home
and support yourself... >> You'd be giving this food
to other people. >> Well, now the shoe's
on the other foot. Makes me feel very
uncomfortable. I'd rather be on the giving side
than the receiving. >> They have peanut butter,
flour, some pork here. I understand that if you put it
over noodles or rice and maybe add a little onion
that it's quite palatable. >> Oh, what happened to his ear? He wants to go back
in his house? He doesn't like all you kids. >> He don't have no house. >> Can you reach that high,
or you want me to do it? >> I wanna hold him
all the way over there. >> Okay, you can hold him
all the way over there. >> They've made comments too, like, "Mom,
let's sell the bookshelf." They've got little baseball
cards, "Mom, I'll sell these," and that hurts, because they're willing
to sell their baseball cards to help their parents out. >> I've been getting
very angry lately. I've been losing my temper
quite a bit. I've tried doing things. I work in the garage
on woodworking things when I get angry,
and that helps once in a while. I'm having a hard time
dealing with this. (TV voices) >> What are you doing today? >> MOYERS: How do you deal
with this pressure, the anger and the... >> I can't. It's very difficult. >> Yeah, our marriage
is really on the rocks. This is really difficult time... this is a real difficult time. I've been thinking about divorce
now for a while. >> MOYERS: Why? >> I can't deal
with the situation. I'm just having a real hard time
dealing with it. >> MOYERS: You feel guilty? >> Yeah, I do. I feel I should be
supporting my family. >> MOYERS: You think he really
wants a divorce, or is this just an escape? >> I think it's an escape and I just think he figures
it's an easy way out. But really the problems are
still going to be there because he's still going to have
to support us and I feel it's going
to be worse. I just feel it's just
a tough time and if we can just get
through this, you know, then we'll be back
to the life that we had before. (choir singing) (choir finishes hymn) >> Good morning, everybody. >> Good morning, Father. >> We gather on this Sunday
morning in faith to praise our triune God, in the name of the Father
and of the Son... >> MOYERS: As Tony and Terry
prayed for better times, across town, in Milwaukee's
central city, a second hard-working family
found their faith being tested. Like Tony Neumann, Claude
Stanley had also been laid off. He lost his assembly line job
with big manufacturer A.O. Smith. >> When I got laid off
they wanted me to go on welfare, but I could not stand
in that line. I just said, "It's not me. This is not me." They want to give me food
stamps, I say, "This ain't me, I don't want no food stamps." I say, "I got my strength,
my health, I'm gonna find me a job,"
and I found me a job. >> MOYERS: He found a job
waterproofing basements for less than seven dollars
an hour, not even half of what
he had been making. >> You got to look at it
on the real side. I cannot live like I was making
$20 an hour. Okay, that money is not there. So you might as well get it
in your mind, it's not there no more. So okay, bring yourself down. >> MOYERS: Claude and his wife
Jackie were raising five kids: their daughter Nicole, about to
enter college when we met her, the oldest son, Keith, the twins
Klaudale and Claude Jr., and the youngest, Omega. >> I think the hardest time is when you have to worry
about coming home, like I say,
always coming home, and then there's a bill
on the door saying the water's cut off,
or there's a... The guy just called saying
he's gonna cut off the phone, or the electricity's off. And you have to wait
for a couple of days until Mom and Dad can get enough
money to put it back on. >> MOYERS: Their neighborhood,
Sherman Park, was mostly African American and had once thrived
on factory jobs that paid enough
to support a family. Now those jobs
were disappearing, and people here were trying
to figure out what to do next. People like Jackie Stanley,
who had lost her job at Briggs. >> Do you have any houses
in the immediate area that we could show? >> While I was on the motor line
at Briggs, I began to study my real estate. I went ten times
for my real estate license. The tenth time, I passed. And I promised that as soon as
Briggs did close the door, I was going to go on
and do real estate. And that's exactly what I did. >> Hi, Joe. This is Jacqueline Stanley
from Homestead. >> It's just like anything else. It's really unsure. >> Okay, I just got in
and it says, "ASAP." >> You only get excited when
you're sitting at the closing and have the check in your hand. You never get overexuberant. And I'm learning that every day. >> Mom's real estate
is tough on her. I've seen her try
to wheel and deal deals. They seem so good and at the last minute,
they fall apart. >> The listing is for September. It's already October... >> And that falling apart
is our mortgage, that falling apart
is the car notes. And to someone else
it might not seem important that they decide not
to buy the house, but for us, it's a matter
of not life and death, but it's a matter of light
and gas. And that's scary. >> MOYERS: As good jobs
left town, the number of African Americans
in poverty increased from about 25% in the 1970s
to over 40% in the early '90s. The Stanleys vowed
it wouldn't happen to them. But as property values fell
in the central city, so did real estate commissions. And when Jackie tried to sell
in other neighborhoods, she met resistance. >> It was on the market
for a year and didn't sell. >> It's because they didn't have
somebody as good as you. >> (laughs): Okay. >> People of color really have a much more difficult time
in our business making a living than white people. It may be a situation where
she may call for a showing and not get the courtesy
of a call back. Maybe her client that she takes
in to a mortgage lender has a much more difficult time,
even if their credit is good, getting the mortgage. >> All right, fax it to me. >> I can't sell suburbs. I can't sell the most
affluent areas here. And that hurts. But they'll call me
for Central City. >> You talk to your friends,
they always say, "Well, I'm going to be
doing this this summer. Well, how about you?" And you're like, "Well,
I'm doing, uh, working." That's all you can say right now
is, "I'm working." They always ask me,
"Why you working? "Why don't you go out there
and have fun like the rest of the kids do?" You say you can't,
you just can't do it. You have to go out there
and help your Mom and Dad. >> MOYERS: To help out,
Keith Stanley and the twins, Claude Jr. and Klaudale,
started a business. They called it the Three Sons
lawn care service. >> How much money
would you like to make when you grow up? >> Probably about
a hundred million. Something like that. Three hundred million,
something like that. >> Do you think you will? >> Yeah. >> I've seen my mom on the phone
talking to the bill collectors asking them when they would
take-- the mortgage company-- when they were about
to take our house. She was pleading
with the mortgage company. She asked the bill collectors
to keep the light and sometimes the gas on, and that makes me want
to do more, a lot more. >> MOYERS: The country was deep
in recession in 1991. The president predicted
it wouldn't last. >> We will get this recession
behind us and return to growth soon. (applause) We will get on our way
to a new record of expansion and achieve the competitive
strength that will carry us into the next
American century. >> MOYERS: But the problem
was bigger than recession. By 1991, Milwaukee's new economy depended on non-union
manufacturing and service jobs, the vast majority of them
offering lower pay and fewer benefits. That was still the case when we returned to the city
two years later. But by the beginning of 1993,
there were expectations that things were
about to turn around. >> I, William Jefferson Clinton,
do solemnly swear, and will to the best
of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States, so help me God. >> Congratulations. (applause) >> From the way
he ran his campaign, it was more like he would
concentrate on America... than Mexico, Europe,
Africa, Asia. He wasn't going to send
more jobs or factories out of the country,
and bring more in. And I guess that
in the next four years, maybe we might have openings and maybe you might not have to
film as many people in your... More people will have jobs, and things'll probably
work out. >> Ladies and gentlemen, the President
of the United States of America, William Jefferson Clinton. >> This president,
I think I can trust and relate to somehow. >> Four more years,
four more years, buddy. You need to grow up
a little bit. >> Today, we celebrate
the mystery of American renewal. >> I've been there with Reagan,
Bush and now Clinton. I'm not saying
I don't trust presidents. It's that you say a lot of stuff
to get on top. Even if I was running for
something, I'd say, I'd be like, "Everybody get free candy
and everything," you know. So you say a lot of stuff
to get on top. >> We inherit an economy that is
still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business
failures, stagnant wages... >> I think if they work
on jobs first, a lot of people will probably
be more energized, you know? Give people something to wake up
to every morning, you know? A purpose! >> A purpose
and a lot more self-respect. >> Right. I think that will change
a lot of people's attitudes. >> Changed mine. >> I invited the Neumanns
around the Lord's table because a year ago, they may not have had as
much to be thankful for, right? You didn't have a steady job
then, did you? >> That's a fact. >> That's a fact. What is the fact today? >> I have more than enough work. >> More than enough work! >> MOYERS: Tony Neumann
had found a job making engine parts
in a small factory. (organ playing) ♪ Amen, amen... ♪ >> MOYERS: Like many in the new
light manufacturing sector, the job was non-union. It paid $8.25 an hour,
with no benefits. It got the Neumanns
back on their feet, but it wouldn't balance
their books. >> Just with the mortgage we
got, well, three months behind. And it will take us two years
to pay that back because they tack on interest
and penalty charges and whatever else. So that three months
takes two years. That's a long time. So whatever extra money we have,
we send it because we want to make sure
that in the next year, we have it paid off
so they don't take the house. >> MOYERS: To make ends meet,
they needed more money. >> Guess what? I'm on the honor roll. >> That's great. >> MOYERS: And Terry,
like so many of her generation, realized she would have
to go to work despite needing to be home
for the kids. She began taking a series of
low-wage, part-time day jobs. >> Anyone for peas? >> Nope. >> MOYERS: Meanwhile,
her husband Tony worked the night shift
full-time. >> One nation, under God,
indivisible with liberty and justice
for all. >> Tonight is Boy Scouts. They have a pack meeting
once a month where all of the dens get
all together, and they come. >> Adam Neumann has passed
uniform inspection. >> Congratulations, Adam. >> They have their awards being
passed out on that night, so this is kind of like
a big night. >> Daniel Neumann, please come
up with your mom or dad or both. >> That's one thing Tony misses, because he used to be very
involved in scouts. So he had to give that up. >> Good job, Daniel! >> Can I have this? >> Sure you can. >> Daniel! >> Daniel! >> Daniel, look for your
homework. >> Get in here! >> And your backpack! >> And shut the door! >> With me working and Tony
working, we had different shifts and we weren't all together
all the time at the same time. >> Karissa, where is it? >> How can he lose a backpack? >> In the room. >> Daniel started getting
very quiet and he kept to himself a lot. His attitude just changed
a little bit. You know, he got really distant. >> Daniel, he's still having
problems with his homework. >> I'm sure that Daniel
is dealing with the stress of your relationship with Tony, and the work issue,
you're working. Some kids almost blame
themselves for what's going on in a family, you know, and they have to realize
this is a situation that's a tough situation
for the whole family. Everybody's doing
the best they can. You love him,
you're there for him and you'll always be there
for him. >> Right. >> A lot of our children here
at school are getting themselves up
in the morning, coming home to an empty house
at night. Ideally, we would have a parent
there to get a kid off and someone there
to receive them when they come home at night. But that's, you know,
in the fairyland world, I guess, and you know, we do what
we have to do to survive. >> Danny Neumann. >> Period at the end. >> Period at the end. >> MOYERS: Even as working
people like the Neumanns were just hanging on, the new economy
was on the upswing, the stock market was
on the rise, and for investors, the good
times were roaring back. >> Thank you, hallelujah. Yes, Lord,
we thank you this morning. Lord, we thank you,
how you provide for us, how you make ways
out of no way. Lord, we thank you
this morning. >> MOYERS: Claude Stanley served
his church as a lay minister on Sundays. >> We thank you, Lord,
for your goodness and we thank you
for your kindness, Lord. >> MOYERS:
But the rest of the week, he was on his
hands and knees. By 1993,
Claude had been promoted to foreman
of the waterproofing crew, which paid him less than
a dollar more an hour. >> Factory job,
you're making $14 an hour. This job,
you're cutting that in half. You're only making about seven. Yeah, you might get some bonuses
here and there, incentives, but ain't that great. >> I think he made about
$35,000, $40,000 at Smith. >> At Smith, yeah. >> And I made $35,000
and $40,000. >> At Briggs, mm-hmm. >> And that's... so we're out half of that. If we made what we made
at Briggs and Smith right now, we would be really well off. House would be paid for,
car paid for, kids at least would have some
kind of college funds built up. >> But we look on each other
for our strength. You know, some days she has bad
days, some days I have bad days, but like, if I'm not producing,
she's producing. You know, when I can't,
you know, I do, she do, I do. We try to find a way
to make ends meet. You got some families probably
say how do we make it, you know, how do we make it? >> We don't even know. >> How do you make it? >> We just keep holding on. You know, we shop, we shop. I found out that there are
grocery stores here that have food half-price
on Mondays. We rummage. >> Oh, my goodness,
some Guess Jeans. Omega! These are $70 in the store,
look at that! >> I come here because I work
with a lot of people every day, they come in the offices. From the cologne to the shoes,
they look gorgeous. And I can't afford
what they wear. >> For $24, this one I want. This is for work. My accessories that I wear, they're, like, five,
ten to twenty dollar earrings, I pay 99 cents. >> This is something
you would wear, probably. >> Something I would wear? No, I think Elvis Presley
would wear it. (laughing) No, I wouldn't wear that. >> Nobody wants to be
around somebody that doesn't have
theirselves together. Even if you have to, as one
broker wrote me and said, "Fake it 'til you make it." And that's what we do
in the Stanley household. We wear exactly what the people
on Lake Drive wear. >> $63.03. >> That's the very same house. Are you planning on keeping
the hedges on there? >> MOYERS: For Jackie, the home
sales came frequently enough. It was the pay
that was the problem. >> And with my kind of work
that I do, which is real estate, I get paid on commission,
it goes up and down. And it's rough. >> MOYERS: Jackie was just
one of the agents handling this sale, and had
to split the commission. >> Don't go in the back hallway,
the dog's there. >> MOYERS: After also paying
a percentage of her share to her employer, she figured to
clear about a thousand dollars. >> If we're going to do
the taxes too, then you also have to remember they take the 28% out of the
thousand that you make, so you're down again. >> MOYERS: She reckoned that if
she opened her own office, she could keep a larger share
of the commissions. >> I've set goals
at what I want to do, and I plan on going
all the way with it because I've got to come out
of the hole somewhere. That's it. >> Are you happy? >> And there's something
that I always say: "So a man thinketh,
so is he." If I think poverty
all the time I'll act that way. I can't afford to talk negative and then allow my children
to see me that way, down or depressed. >> MOYERS: As she persevered
in 1993, her neighborhood seemed to be
coming apart at the seams. >> Even on this street,
one block west of my house, just about every door here
has the steel doors. I wanted you to see here. There was "Kill you" written
on the back of my fence, if you don't join the gangs,
to my oldest son, Keith. >> MOYERS: Just blocks
from her house, Jackie's uncle was murdered
by an intruder. >> All I can tell them
is keep trying. Every day,
I have to encourage myself and I have to encourage them. Many times Keith has said to me,
"What's the use, Mom?" He did a 3.5. "What does it matter?" And I said
you gotta keep going. >> Watch out! >> The other day we was... the snow was heavy
and we were out shoveling snow. And someone stood at the window
and said, "Look at your family,
it's perfect." And they called us
the Beaver family. I know they meant to say
Cleaver. And they said, "We see
you together all the time, it looks good." But it<i> looks</i> good. >> MOYERS: Two years later,
in 1995, getting a job wasn't the problem
anymore in Milwaukee. There was even a shortage
of skilled labor. >> Employers in some parts
of the state say they can't find enough
qualified workers and Governor Thompson announced
what he calls "Operation Hire" to address those shortages. >> MOYERS: The problem, still, was that jobs
often didn't pay enough. Like millions of others, the Neumann family
now had to have a second full-time income
to make it, and Terry Neumann
was pulling one in and proud to be doing so. >> I have a new job. I'm a driver and a guard. And a messenger. My hourly pay right now
is $7.50. To start. It has very good
insurance benefits, which my husband doesn't have. He gets more money
and less benefits, and I've got less money
and better benefits, so hopefully
between the two of us... >> It kind of works out. >> I get a lot of looks
from a lot of truck drivers. A lot of double takes, that,
"Wow, look at that," yeah. I love it. I think it's great. You know? >> MOYERS: Working? >> Working, yeah. And having the power behind
the big truck, you know. I like it. >> MOYERS: The power
behind the big truck? >> Yeah, I get a lot more looks than sitting in the kitchen
cooking muffins. (laughing) >> Good morning! >> MOYERS: I remember your
telling us a couple of years ago how important it was that
as a mother, you were home with the kids. Daniel was having a few
difficulties then, approaching teenage years. You just felt it was best
if you could be here. >> Right, I still feel that way,
but under the circumstances, we're put into a situation,
we don't have a choice. >> You got any homework? >> Yeah, I got a lot. I got this little worksheet. I got a couple other things,
I think. >> MOYERS: The Neumanns
now made enough from their combined income
to meet their expenses. But the kids were coming home
to an empty house. >> She probably thinks about us
and stuff, how we're doing at home. Gets a little worried
if we're okay, and if we made it home. >> MOYERS:
What about the neighborhood? You're not the only
family around, I guess, where both husband and wife
are working? Or kids are coming home
by themselves? >> There's a lot of kids
around here that are like that. There's quite a bit of commotion as far as the kids
that are around here doing pretty much
what they want. >> Because they're not
supervised. >> Yeah, they're never
supervised. >> The parents aren't here
to supervise them and that's the reason why you have so much teenage
shenanigans. >> Yeah, violence. >> That's what I'm worried
about. I want my kids to... >> Grow up to be good kids. >> Yeah, I want good children. >> MOYERS: So you're betting
on the fact that the kids will come through
without you being here? >> I've tried
to bring them up right and to teach them right
from wrong. And I'm just hoping that
they will carry these values through all of this. I hope they've learned
something from this: how hard it is
and how difficult it is and how everybody needs to make
sacrifices, including them. This is how it is
and this is what we have to do in order to get through this
and make it. >> MOYERS: In the Stanley
household in 1995, oldest son Keith
reached a milestone: becoming the first man
on either side of his family to graduate high school. >> Aw, Mommy! (Jackie crying) >> I've been talking for years
and I can't talk now. You're the first one. >> Keith Kenyatta Stanley. (applause and cheers) >> That's my boy! >> MOYERS: He was heading
into an uncertain economy, but Keith was determined
to make it. That meant college. And in the fall, he enrolled
at Alabama State University. >> MOYERS: How do you afford
to keep Keith in college? >> I negotiated two transactions and closed them
the day before he left. And you're talking
about a prayer. >> MOYERS:
Jackie's commissions only paid for part
of the tuition. They would have to find
the balance somehow. >> MOYERS: What does it take
you, a year down there for him? >> It's $7,000 a year. Keith? Hi. How you doing? >> MOYERS: Is he gonna be able
to make it this year? >> I just received a letter that
I have to pay $1,300 now or Keith will have to be put out
in 48 hours. We were concerned
about this letter that came from your school. But again,
God came through again! Keith had applied for a lot
of charge cards before he left. We came up with something. Oh, that's so sweet. I can tell you've been
down south a long time. You're saying, "Yes, ma'am." Your Discover card came in. I called the Discover card
people and I told them we wanted
a cash advance. >> MOYERS:
Most people, when they pray, expect God to give them
a miracle. What you got was a $1,000 credit
with 18% interest rate. >> But it'll tide me over
until I can get the miracle. So then this semester
is taken care of. You hear me? All right, I love you. It's called,
rob Peter to pay Paul. And I'm robbing Peter so much that Peter is just
standing there. Send it to the bank. >> MOYERS: The Stanleys
were like millions of others trying to survive the good times
of the '90s. Living on credit
became a way of life. Over that decade,
credit card debt for the average American family
increased by 53%. For low-income families,
it was 184%. And the paychecks
weren't getting any bigger. Claude Stanley was making
about the same in '95 as he had been
two years earlier. As a supervisor, he did have
modest health benefits. Those he supervised? They weren't so lucky. >> MOYERS: What do these guys do
for health care? >> There's no benefits. That's the main thing,
no benefits. >> MOYERS:
When crisis hit, Claude's benefits proved
insufficient. A serious lung infection required an extended stay
in the hospital and kept him out of work
for two months. When we next saw him,
it was 1998. He told us the family faced
uncovered medical bills approaching some $30,000-- $30,000 they didn't have. >> It will be rough, you know. It'll hit us financially,
but all we do is just... you know, we depend on the Lord
to make a way for us, but we ain't going
to stop living, you know. We gotta keep moving,
keep going. >> Welcome to Burger King. Can I take your order, sir? >> Could I have
two small Diet Cokes? >> MOYERS:
The growing family debt meant that paying for college
for their younger children was out of the question. >> Let's see that pose again. >> MOYERS:
Omega was still in high school, but the twins had graduated. Claude, Jr.
was working odd jobs, including doing some modeling. His twin Klaudale took
a different route. (officer shouting) He joined the Navy. >> I, Klaudale Lamar Stanley, do solemnly swear that I will
support and defend... >> MOYERS: He went through
basic training in Illinois... >> Six more days
and we'll be through! >> MOYERS: And would soon be
stationed in Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon. >> Navy Washington operator #30,
how may I assist you? >> MOYERS: Older brother Keith,
meanwhile, was now a senior
at Alabama State and on his own financially. He had some aid
and worked two jobs: as a resident assistant
in his dorm and the organist at his church. But when we visited in 1999, we found him on the verge of
being kicked out for nonpayment. >> So what I do usually is, I just have to go
inside the credit card and pay for it
through credit cards, and that's the only way
I can do it. And if that's what it takes
to stay in school, that's what I'm going to do
to stay in school. My current balance for this
credit card is $2,574.68. The interest on this is, I
believe, it's 23%, close to 24%. "No fee first year. Apply now." They're everywhere. >> MOYERS:
Back home in Milwaukee, Keith's parents had decided
to strike out on their own to become entrepreneurs. Borrowing against their home, they bought a Central City
office building where Jackie could start
her own real estate firm and Claude could set up shop
as a home inspector. >> We're talking
about those, amen, that's so quick to get rich
and quick to prosper and quick to go somewhere. >> MOYERS: They would use it
on Sundays as a church. Claude had become
an ordained pastor. Their faith remained as strong as their future seemed
uncertain. >> God is good, he's good,
he's good, he's good! >> I got an article from<i>
USA Today</i> where they said, "Every person
that's going to retire is going to need at least
a million dollars." (laughs) >> MOYERS: Across town,
the Neumanns were trying to cope with the toll on family life exacted by their different hours
and demands at work, especially since Tony was still
mostly working the night shift. >> It takes a little
getting used to. It seems like you only get somewhere between four
and six hours of real sleep and you have to be able
to live off of that. >> Sometimes I like him
to help me on homework, but since he's on third shift, he can't really help me
a whole lot because he's normally sleeping
and when we wake him up, he gets really irritable
and kind of crabby. >> I already told you, food is going to be off limits
in your room if I see this! >> The only time
I get to see him is towards the time
I'm going to bed, and that's it. That's when I have to ask him
all my quick questions on if I can do stuff or I need him to sign papers
for school, and then I normally go to bed
right after that. >> Actually, I would prefer to
have a real life on first shift. I would really like to sit down and have a nice dinner
with the family every day. I would really enjoy that. Terry and I are never really
together for any period of time. We're not really getting along
like we used to. We don't sleep together anymore. It's really... It stinks. >> MOYERS: The Neumanns began
to see a family therapist. >> I don't like going
to counseling because I don't want
to tell him my problems. >> It's like he's, "Hello,
what are your problems?" (laughing) He never laughs,
it's so funny. >> Well, he's serious. He wants to get to the root
of the problem. >> And Dad even said that
we weren't gonna go anymore, and then you guys scheduled
another one, and I told the boys that
we weren't gonna have any more and they got all happy. Because the boys don't like
coming to these things either. >> MOYERS: At decade's end, Daniel, now 17, and Adam, 15,
were in high school, but having trouble focusing
on their studies. >> Goodbye! Behave, be in by curfew. >> Okay. >> Okay, I'm going to work now. >> MOYERS:
Terry left the armored car job for one that paid more:
$15 an hour instead of nine. But her schedule was
utterly unpredictable. Sometimes she worked from 4:00
in the morning to noon, and might have to come back
the same evening and work the overnight. She was always on call
to report to work on just two hours' notice. >> By the time I get home,
I'm, like, zonked out. I get tired. >> MOYERS: Terry and Tony
finally made more combined than he had made working
at Briggs a decade earlier. But despite all the hard work, these two American families
had barely survived one of the most prosperous
decades in our history. >> We began the new century
with over 20 million new jobs, the fastest economic growth
in more than 30 years, the lowest unemployment rates
in 30 years. We have built a new economy. >> MOYERS:
It was 12 years before we came back
to Milwaukee. We found a city
still struggling, with over a quarter of its
people living in poverty. Some people had done very well. Parts of the city
had been splendidly rebuilt. And over the previous decade,
more promises had been made. >> A future of hope
and opportunity begins with a growing economy. And that is what we have. Unemployment is low, inflation
is low, wages are rising. This economy is on the move. >> MOYERS: But the promises
had come with a price: two costly wars,
a soaring deficit and a housing market
boom and bust. >> The Obama administration says
it will spend billions to keep struggling homeowners
in their homes. >> MOYERS: American families
had been hit by the greatest economic
downturn since the Great Depression. >> We're raised to believe that each generation can and
will do better than the last. But is that really true? >> MOYERS: We wanted to know
what had happened to the two American families
we knew. We found Jackie Stanley
outside her church. How are you? >> The graduate! >> MOYERS: Along with a grown-up
Keith, now 35. >> I never would have
made it to college, never would have made it
to college, without Mom. >> MOYERS: But Jackie quickly
confided that when we called her to see
about filming again, she almost said no. >> MOYERS: She said that after
suffering some health problems, she had quit doing real estate
altogether, that her dream of having her own
office had come to nothing, that she hadn't done enough
to make it happen. >> Sometimes we gonna go through
some things, praise God, and God ain't gonna bring it out like you think
it ought to come out, the way you want it to come out. >> MOYERS: Turns out Claude's
entrepreneurial efforts hadn't worked out either. >> You might be
on your job sometime and you hear about
a lay-off gonna happen, and you might go home
and pray all week, saying, "Lord, don't let that happen
to this place, I want to keep my job." And guess what? Guess what? You get laid off anyhow
and the place close down. Guess what? You got to praise God anyhow. Glory to God,
hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. God is good. >> MOYERS: Now the couple
was surviving on a job Claude had taken
with the city of Milwaukee. >> MOYERS: How did you find
the work with the city? >> I was looking
through the newspaper, and it said something
about the forestry department. >> MOYERS: Forestry? >> During the summertime
I do forestry. I do work with the boulevards, all the boulevards
you see out here, with the flowers,
we keep the flowers intact, the grass being cut. >> MOYERS: And the winter? >> Right now I'm in sanitation,
okay, collecting garbage. >> MOYERS:
That's hard work. >> Yes it is, Bill,
yeah, it ain't easy. >> I think one of the biggest
things I can say for my dad is just his work ethic. I remember he helped me install
a tile floor in my kitchen. I was tired by the end
of the first day. My dad is on the ground,
putting the tile in and showing me how to put
the cement on the tile. And I was like, "Man, this guy,
he has all this strength." >> MOYERS:
And you're how old now? >> I'm almost 60 years old. >> MOYERS: How long do you think
you can keep that up? >> Not too long. (laughing):
Not too long. >> MOYERS: Claude is a member
of a public union. He makes about $26,000 a year,
plus some benefits. It's one of a series of jobs
he has had since we last saw him
waterproofing basements and inspecting homes. >> And you talking about doing
other things in between, I had to work at the airport
for two years. >> MOYERS:
Doing what? >> I worked on the runway, directing the planes to come in,
flag them down, stop, take the luggage to the tunnel,
lifting baggage... It was all kinds of stuff
at the airport I was doing. >> MOYERS:
Was that a minimum wage job? >> Definitely was minimum wage. When I worked out there, they cut our salary,
I mean, down to nothing. >> He carried dead bodies, too. He worked at the hospital. >> I was a security guard
at Columbus Hospital, and at nighttime,
if it was like third shift, if anybody passed away, or died, we had to carry,
put them on the elevator, and carry them down
to the refrigerator. >> MOYERS: The third shift is
from when to when? >> Graveyard. >> From 11:00, 12:00 at night
to 7:00 in the morning. >> MOYERS: Once upon a time
when people got your age, and you're much younger
than I am, you're almost 60, they started thinking seriously
about retiring, but you're not. >> I can't do that,
because the reason is, Bill, you can't stay on a job
long enough to retire. You know, every job I have,
I work seven years, okay, the place close down. You work somewhere else
for another five years, they lay you off,
they shut down. All the years I've been working,
Bill, I could've retired. Right now. >> MOYERS:
If you had... >> Stayed at one job. >> He will not be able to see
the retirement, you know, that he probably would hope for when he was working
at A.O. Smith. That's just not a reality. My heart goes out
to that generation that was promised something
from America, by America, that they would have
a better life, and that's not the case anymore. >> I need to fill out
my timesheet. I can do that. >> When I look at him
early in the morning, he's still doing it. He's got that pretty,
young smile on his face and acting like
nothing's wrong and every now and then,
you'll catch him exercising and humping his back
and rubbing it. One day he told me... Oh God, here goes the tears. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna cry. Here's what he said. He had come in from work,
and it was kind of cold, and he said,
"By the time I get up, "I'm just thawing out. "My bones haven't finished
getting warm. I can't keep doing this." >> Hey, Dyl,
are you in a good mood today? Dylan! He's not in a very good mood. I think his bus drive
was too long, he's getting antsy
and he has to go potty. >> MOYERS: When we next met
Terry Neumann, we found she had lost
her warehouse job some five years before. She had searched unsuccessfully for a new warehouse
or manufacturing position, but couldn't find one. So in 2008, she had retrained
to become a nurse's assistant and home health care aid. Now 49 years old, she was
working part-time in a suburb just west of Milwaukee... >> Ready? One, two, three! There you are. >> MOYERS: Taking care
of a 16-year-old, Dylan Solper. >> Oh, I've been probably
doing this for probably 19 months
I've been here. >> (laughing) >> What? Do you think that's funny? What's so funny, Dyl? He thinks he's funny sometimes. He'll put his feet up on me
and I'll say, "I don't want those stinky feet,
I don't want those stinky feet. I don't want those stinky feet." >> The job paid, when I first
started, eight dollars an hour, and now I'm getting
nine dollars an hour. I'm at 24 hours a week. >> Where's Dylan? >> MOYERS: How do you survive
on nine dollars an hour? >> You can't. If you want a house and if
you want that American dream, it's impossible. >> Here's my paycheck. This is a two-week paycheck. So year to date,
what are we talking here? November? That's what I made,
$9,646.89. That's poverty. >> MOYERS:
For Terry Neumann, survival has been difficult
since last time we saw her, and not just because
of her paycheck. These days,
she's also going it alone. >> MOYERS: What happened to you
and your husband? >> I think we just grew apart
and went separate ways. And the love
wasn't there anymore, the trust wasn't there anymore. It was just gone and dead. It was like a death. >> MOYERS: Tony Neumann told us
he had lost his factory job and had been doing construction
and handyman work in and out of Milwaukee. He declined to talk on camera. Terry, meanwhile,
said she never gave up searching for a full-time job. >> I need more hours. That's what I need. And I'm working on that. >> Dylan, we're getting
into our chair. Back up! Good job! >> MOYERS: Terry was working
for a for-profit agency receiving money from Medicaid
for Dylan's care. Positions like hers are often
part-time or temporary. >> Are you ready? Are you ready? >> MOYERS:
You're part-time. >> Yes. So they don't have to pay
for the benefits, vacation time, sick time,
or health. >> Drink, drink. >> The amount of money
that these caregivers make, it's just sad. It's sad. I don't know
how they live on it. And the only thing I can tell
them is they're angels. >> Get that noodle! >> MOYERS: You kept the house
at the time of the divorce, you were able to keep the house. >> Yes. >> MOYERS: You were determined
to hold on to that house. That was your home. >> Oh, yeah. But I didn't feel safe
after a while. >> MOYERS:
I remember when we were there you were concerned
about the growing rowdiness and violence
in the neighborhood. >> It just got worse. I was waking up, let's see,
2:00 in the morning with gunfire rounds going
through the neighbor's house. >> MOYERS: But you had
nowhere else to go. >> Right. >> MOYERS: Terry had survived
the wave of home foreclosures that hit some 16,000 Milwaukee
property owners between 2008 and 2010. But by 2011, divorced
and working part-time, she simply couldn't afford to
make her home payments anymore. >> She was real quiet and
I could tell that she was down. And I finally came to her,
and I said, "What's going on? "You know, you seem like
you're really down, "like you're really tired,
like you're exhausted, "like you just have
a really heavy... something's heavy on your mind." I said, "Is everything okay
with your family?" I think she felt embarrassed,
which she shouldn't have. I think that
she didn't feel like she wanted to talk about it. But as the summer went on... It was a horrible time
for Terry. >> "Dear occupant, "Please take notice, "judgment foreclosure entered
March 15, 2011 in the amount of $96,619.12." "You are hereby notified
that possession is demanded by J.P. Morgan Chase Bank,
which now owns your property." >> MOYERS: How long did you
stay in the house? >> I lived there for 24 years. They wanted $120,000
for the buyout of it, and I'm like, "Where am I
supposed to find that?" You know, so it goes
into foreclosure and you can sell it
for, what, $30,000? I was like, "Are you serious? "You can't lower my payments
or my interest rates "so I can stay in my house,
but you'll foreclose on it and sell it for $30,000
or $40,000 or whatever it was?" >> MOYERS:
With nowhere else to go, Terry moved in first with a
relative, then with a friend. >> And I felt, like,
a sense of failure because I've always been able
to get back up on my feet. I've always found a way
or the money to fix it. And I just couldn't
fix it anymore. >> MOYERS: At the time
Terry lost her home, both her grown sons, Daniel
and Adam, were living with her. Do you think they are going
to get their feet on the ground one day economically and be more secure
than you and Tony were? >> I have my doubts. >> I want to hold him
all the way over there! >> Okay, you can hold him. >> Adam Neumann has passed
uniform inspection. >> MOYERS: Adam Neumann,
Terry's middle son, is now 28. We found him working
for a lawn care company. >> I've been doing it
for about a year now and, uh, I like this job. It's nice. I like being outside. Keeps me in shape. I get paid, uh,
like nine bucks an hour. It's usually
40 hours a week. Right now, there's
no benefits or insurance, so that's the downfall
of the job. That's Piggy! >> MOYERS: Adam, we learned, had dropped out of school
in the 10th grade after fathering a daughter
who now lives with her mother. >> I wish I would have,
you know, stayed in school and, you know, found something
that I was good at, you know, for a stable job
in that sense, but after I had my kid
at a young age, I had to work, and I couldn't work and go
to school at the same time. >> MOYERS: He lives just south
of Milwaukee, in an apartment complex where
he met his current girlfriend. They are expecting a child. >> MOYERS:
This is your second child. How old is the first one now? >> Eleven. And I live paycheck to paycheck, child support, rent,
electric, food, but they still call me
middle class. But I don't see that. >> MOYERS:
Adam's brother Daniel, Terry's oldest, is now 29. He's an auto mechanic,
currently unemployed. >> I've seen it
done before, too, where you fill up the syringe
with brake fluid. >> MOYERS: Like so many
Milwaukeeans of the past few decades,
including his father, Daniel was looking to upgrade
his skills to help him get work. So he went back to school
for retraining at one of the region's
many technical colleges... >> How we doing here, young man?
>> All right. >> MOYERS: ... studying
automotive technology. >> Gotta take the crossmember
out in order to get this out. >> Very good. >> Daniel! >> Daniel! >> Daniel,
look for your homework. >> MOYERS: We asked Daniel
about the past, about the difficulties
in his family that he had witnessed
growing up. >> I really wasn't paying
too much attention to it. I was busy with school
and being a kid. None of that stuff
really mattered to me because I didn't know. But now that I'm older
and all this, it makes sense because now I'm going
through the same thing. >> MOYERS: Daniel has three kids
of his own to help support. They live with their mothers. He gets by with unemployment
and state food assistance. He's had no home
since his mother lost the house and now lives with a friend. He says he will start his own
auto repair shop when he gets out of school, and he knows
how he'd like to run it. >> What I see is, you know, you keep your employees happy,
your company will grow. If you keep treating
your employees like crap and just keep taking from them just because you want to get
richer and richer and pay them less,
that's not the way to go. Because I mean, the economy
is so bad right now a lot of people
don't have money and stuff, and the world is just going
all downhill right now. All this stuff going on here
in Milwaukee and all these shootings
and all that... I mean, they just had
another shooting out there even in a nice neighborhood
over there in Brookfield. I have my concealed carry. I carry everywhere I go. You really don't have to want
to use it, but if you have to, you have something
to protect yourself and your family and friends
around you. >> MOYERS: With this kind
of economy that we have now-- low-wage, no-benefit jobs-- do you think that Dan and Adam
have a shot at raising a family,
having a home... >> I don't see them
getting a home. Because they're making...
they're just... they're struggling
from paycheck to paycheck. You know, I had the home
before the job loss, but for them to try to save
to get a home now, I don't foresee that,
plus raising kids. >> MOYERS: How about Karissa,
how's she doing? And she's how old now? >> 26. >> Then one of these. And then you need a business
card to call Mommy up. >> When I was younger, I just
knew we didn't have money, and money is how
the world goes round. >> You can't buy anything yet. We don't have enough money! >> A lot of people have clothes
every school year, they have a new pair of shoes
or several pairs of shoes, and I decided
when I was younger that I wanted to be able to say
I have money in the bank. >> MOYERS: We found Karissa
working for a hospital in the large Aurora chain. It's one of the biggest
employers in the region in one of the biggest economic
growth sectors, health care. She has an associate's degree
and also recently took courses to get certified as a
professional insurance coder. >> I do the physician billing, so all the physician services,
I do those. >> MOYERS: She earns about
$15 an hour plus benefits. But she has to support her
husband, Anthony Lefebvre. He's got an associate's degree, but like so many others
is currently unemployed. He's trying to start his own
computer consulting business. >> Going in, too? >> Yeah, but he had to walk
in the garden. >> MOYERS: Because Karissa
doesn't earn enough for the two of them
to have a home of their own, they live with Anthony's
relatives. >> I think there's
a lot of people in the same boat as we are. My Uncle Jimmy down in Florida, he was into real estate, selling
million-dollar condos. I don't think
he's doing too well. >> No. I mean, he even lost the house
he was living in. Drive around any neighborhood, and see how many people
are living in the houses to try to help
support each other. There's a lot of vacant houses. A lot of people
lost their houses, you know, my mom
being one of them. >> MOYERS: We asked Terry to
take us back to her old house. >> So this is it. >> MOYERS: The people
living there invited us in. >> We recently just got
this place in early September, and so we just got it fixed up. We still need a lot of repairs. >> MOYERS: Khou Hang and Lu Lao
bought Terry's house in a foreclosure sale
for about $38,000. >> Can I take a look around? >> Go right ahead. >> This was my room. And this was my spare room. And this is where
my grandkids would sleep when they would come
to visit me. And then this was the other room that my granddaughter
would stay in when she would come visit me. >> Bless us, O Lord,
and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive
from Thy bounty through Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, amen. >> MOYERS:
Jackie Stanley, serious about her community role
as the pastor's wife, tries to remain upbeat. >> Everything free, my dear. >> MOYERS: On this day, there was a charitable giveaway
at their church. >> If anybody has a queen-size
bed, I have a down comforter. We got furniture coming
in just a bit. It just went crazy. We can't even finish
getting rid of everything because every time
we get rid of a table or two, another table comes in. Don't be standing around
looking, you better grab,
take this stuff. >> MOYERS: We went along to one
of her volunteer projects: a drug and alcohol
recovery group. The woman who had once told us you have to
"fake it till you make it" was still spreading that gospel. >> And I'm gonna show you
the 45-degree-angle walk, and women,
I want you to hear this: do not walk with your butt. When you want to be successful,
when you step out... And don't do those timid walks. That means it's like,
"Whichever way the wind..." No! I have somewhere to go
and my name is J. Renee. (audience agreeing) You see that? >> MOYERS: We also went
to school with her. She's taking classes to get back
into the real estate game. >> And I know I'm good. I can walk out here
and I could guarantee an Eskimo would buy some ice, even if I brought it
out of my refrigerator. They're going to buy it. >> MOYERS: But the private
Jackie was less self-assured. Do you feel like
a failure today? >> Yes. >> MOYERS: Claude, do you think
she's a failure? >> No, she's not a failure. >> He'll always say that. >> You're not a failure. In this day and age you raised
five kids-- that's success. Get jobs and make
their own decisions... >> But even the Bible says leave
heirs, you must leave something. You know... >> MOYERS:
Do you think your children feel that you're a failure? >> I don't think my children... I think they love me enough not to tell me
if they did feel it. >> I was young, about 14. >> MOYERS:
Did it scare you? >> MOYERS: The Stanley kids
are all grown up now. The oldest, Nicole,
is in Virginia, working for a county clerk's
office. The youngest daughter, Omega, a single mother
of a ten-year-old, recently lost her job
at a Milwaukee call center and is looking for another. >> How much money would you like
to make when you grow up? >> Probably about
a hundred million. Something like that. >> MOYERS:
One of the twins, Claude, is also looking for work. >> That makes me want to do
more, a lot more. >> MOYERS: The other, Klaudale,
left the Navy in 2011 and came back to Milwaukee
to look for a job. But he found that opportunities
were better elsewhere; he got a job with a private
contractor in Afghanistan. >> MOYERS: What does it say to
you that he can make more money employed by a military
contractor in Afghanistan than he can make here at home
in Milwaukee? >> It says something. >> It's sad. >> It says you gotta run
out of this country to go somewhere
to make some more money. That's crazy. And we're supposed to be
the richest country? That ain't... that don't sound
too good, Bill. >> The chair recognizes... >> Thank you, Mr. President. If I could speak to this,
as the lead sponsor... >> MOYERS: We went
to Milwaukee's city hall to find the family's
one college graduate. Keith Stanley earns
about $45,000 a year as an assistant to the common
council president, Alderman Willie Hines. >> He's been on staff now about a year and a half
or two or so, and he's highly respected. He's a man of integrity. >> MOYERS: Hines's district is
in Milwaukee's Central City, near where Keith grew up. >> Neil, how's everything
going with you? >> MOYERS: Despite government
and private efforts to bring jobs back here, Milwaukee's jobless rate
among African-American men hovers at around 50%. >> Anyway, if you can,
give me a call. This is Keith Stanley, with
Alderman Willie Hines' office. >> We do get the calls
about jobs. They're looking for a job. "I need a job." Sometimes it's difficult
to have that conversation because I myself am
in no position to offer a job, and my boss, that's just... We're policy makers. My heart goes out to them because I know I can share
that same story with them. I can understand their pain. Now, they may not
want to hear that. A lot of times, you know,
they're all, "Oh, you're working at the city
and you don't understand." I get lots of those,
and I can stop and say, "No, I definitely understand." You know, I definitely
understand dealing with struggle when, you know, your parents
just don't have enough. >> My parents spent a lot
of time and energy in us and making us who we are. There are people that look like
me, that live where I live, and who are now dealing
with situations and struggles that I never have seen. I've never seen
the inside of a jail. I can't tell you
what a gun looks like. I don't know what drugs
or even alcohol looks like. And I have to give
all that credit to my dad along with my mom, and they put
the fear of God in us. You know,
you have to work hard, you have to look people
in the eye. >> MOYERS:
Tell me about Keith. >> He has gone far. He's beyond our expectations. But Keith has told me
a lot of times, "Mom, I don't want to be
like you and Dad." >> MOYERS:
Meaning? >> Bill, when it's time to eat,
they want to eat. They don't want to do
like Dad and I and start, you know, saying... making excuses
why you're not hungry. We're gonna keep
filling the racks. Go by color, not by size. >> I'm inspired by my parents, but that's also made me make
a lot of tough decisions where I say, "I'm not going
to make those decisions because I don't want that
to affect my life." >> Look for the blue,
look for the brown. >> MOYERS: One of the decisions
Keith has made is to hold off on getting married
and having kids. >> I want to make sure
I can control my destiny, and that's including not having
children at a certain age. I would love to say I want to
bring in a child in the world, but until I have myself
together, I'm confident and believe that
I have myself together... And people say there's no
perfect time to have a kid, I know that, but there's been
too many struggles I saw. And for me, it's like,
"Can I make that sacrifice?" And if I do, man, they...
maybe one kid. Maybe a dog right now. That's why I got Spike,
so that's it. >> MOYERS: Knowing what growing
up without money is like, Keith takes extra jobs to make
sure he's never in the same fix. He's a landlord, collecting
rents on this building he bought just up the street from his
parents' storefront church. He also works nights and
weekends as a videographer... >> If you can, kind of restate
the question in the answer. >> MOYERS: Shooting and editing
public and private events. And he does have a young person
to care for. >> This big guy is my nephew,
Kevin Joy. >> MOYERS: Kevin is the son
of Keith's older sister, Nicole. She sent Kevin
from Virginia to Milwaukee with the hope of giving him
a strong male role model. >> He's got a client. He's been cutting her grass,
watering her grass. It's kind of amazing to see. We've got a whole 'nother
generation from just 20 years ago
when I was doing this, and we had a business,
and we were cutting grass. So it's kind of passing on those
values, that same work ethic, making sure that he can get
to work on time. He can take authority,
he can do time management, that type of thing. KJ, now you know that's... you could be done with that
by now. >> MOYERS: But you do want
to be a dad someday? >> I think so. I think Kevin has given me
a little light... We're not going to water yet,
we're going to cut the grass. Don't water it. Yeah, try to pull it,
get the lawn... I can help you out,
pull the lawn mower out. So Kevin has given me
a little light to say, "Maybe I can pour
what little wisdom, what little nuggets I have"-- there's not much there,
but what I do have-- and put onto the next generation
and say, "Listen, this is what it takes
to survive." >> MOYERS: Kevin,
now it's your turn, right? You're how old? >> I'm 16. >> MOYERS:
And what are your ambitions, what do you want to do
with yourself? >> There's nothing else
I want to do but go to college. >> And what have you learned
about your grandparents? >> Man, they're just resilient. I mean, they're the people
that you look at and you can keep hitting them,
knocking them down, breaking them to pieces,
rip them apart, burn them, but they'll still be there,
they're kind of indestructible. >> Sometimes you're going
to go through some things to get where
you're trying to go. Do all that you can,
but still praise God. >> MOYERS: How much has your
faith been an anchor for you during this difficult time? >> That's a big anchor. (clapping to organ music) That's what gets me up
in the morning, Bill. That's what keeps me going. I believe that something
gonna happen. >> ♪ Can't nobody do me
like Jesus... ♪ >> ♪ Can't nobody
do me like Jesus... ♪ >> ♪ Can't nobody do me
like Jesus... ♪ >> ♪ Can't nobody
do me like Jesus... ♪ >> MOYER: But you've had so many
setbacks since I first met you. >> That's true. >> MOYERS:
You were fighting hard after you lost those
good-paying jobs and you've been fighting ever
since, and yet you still... >> Still, Bill,
still praise the Lord, I still believe there's
something for us. >> And I would interject
at saying, what else? We have no other choice. >> ♪ Can't nobody do me
like Jesus... ♪ >> MOYERS: In early 2013,
yet another American president set lofty goals for restoring
the middle class. >> We believe that
America's prosperity must rest upon
the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. When the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink
of hardship, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort
and determination of every single American. >> MOYERS:
What you've lost-- your home, your husband,
a livable, decent income-- people say to me,
"How does she keep going, where does she get that spirit,
how does she do it?" >> My grandfather always said
when I was 14, "You never let the devil win. Never let the devil win." I'm still determined. I'm not going to give up. >> MOYERS: Do you think you'll
ever be financially secure? >> Um, the way the economy
is going, no, I don't think anybody is
going to be financially secure, truthfully. >> MOYERS:
And you're... >> And we'll just work until we
collapse and keel over and die. >> MOYERS: There's a postscript
to Terry Neumann's story. She finally found herself a new
full-time job at a nursing home. She works the overnight shift, 11:00 p.m.
until 7:00 in the morning. She earns $11.50 an hour
plus benefits. It's not enough, she says, to ever think about buying
another house of her own. Her hope now is someday to buy herself a spot
in a trailer park. Captioned by<font color="#00FFFF"> Media Access Group
at WGBH access.wgbh.org</font> >><i> For more on this
and other</i> Frontline<i> programs,</i> <i> visit our website
at pbs.org/frontline.</i> Frontline's<i> "Two American
Families" is available on DVD.</i> <i> To order, visit shopPBS.org,
or call 1-800-play-pbs.</i> Frontline<i> is also available
for download on iTunes.</i>
Warning, prepare to be depressed.
I know I'm late, but I just got done watching this doc and damn, that was pretty heavy. I straight up teared up a little during the part where the mother sees her son in his graduation uniform. The parents of the African American family are tough as nails and the fact that they were able to hold the family together with everything that got thrown at them shows how strong that couple was. It was extremely disappointing too hear how the one son literally had a better job opportunity being a mercenary in Afghanistan than working here state side. If that doesn't show the tremendous failure of the US government/economy, I don't know what does. Anyways, I just really needed to put that out. Great doc and great post by the OP. Wish it got more attention.