American Winter Page #6

economically, socially, and politically...

in helping poor people.

So there's going to be 3

rooms, and right now we have 5 rooms.

Somebody's going to have to share,

and it's either going to be you two

or you and Bella.

I was working

for Volkswagen Credit.

Company cars, new car every year,

you know, made every bonus.

But things changed.

- The baby comes along...

- And I got pregnant.

And she's got health problems.

And then, you know,

he lost his job.

We were already starting to get

a little bit behind

on our mortgage.

I called them, and he said that

"We can modify your loan and,

you know, get you

a lower payment. "

And he said, "But you're

not far enough behind yet.

You need to be 90 days behind

before we can

help you. "

And that, to me, sounded crazy.

I was like, "What?"

- No, take the whole box.

Get it into the U-Haul. - OK.

But they said,

you know, "Don't make any payments

until we can modify

this loan. "

Then, in September, they say,

"We're so sorry.

You don't qualify for anything,

And we need

$17,000 in 5 days. "

We came home

and we saw the foreclosure sign

on, like, in the front door.

That was really scary.

The kids are gonna

have that sense of unstableness.

I wanted better for them.

I feel like a failure.

I feel like I failed.

- Gunner, stay with me, please.

- I'm staying right here.

So it's going to be a little

rough the next couple days.

I'm going to be staying at the

shelter I don't know the name of.

This is our first night here.

Um, are they having

dinner tonight?

The food's right

in the kitchen.

OK, thanks.

- There's so many people here.

- Shh.

You know, people start crying

the minute you even use

the word "shelter. "

They say, "I can't.

I can't go there. "

No one wants

to go to a shelter.

It's not a wonderful environment

for you or for your children,

and yet it's a safe place you can

go and you can start working

with folks whose job it is to

help you get back on your feet.

I know there are people who would rather

sleep in their car than go to a shelter.

I think there's a lot

of people in that situation.

It's just temporary.

I promise, OK?

I'm not worried

about the stupid shelter.

Gunner...

you know Mommy will

fix this, right?

Oh, why do you...

why would I say something?

You're all, like,

"Ooh, don't worry. "

'Cause you look like you're

upset right now and...

I'm not upset.

I'm tired.

- Really?

- I'm tired.

I know you better

than that, son.

- I need you to stop.

- OK. Give...

I know you're upset,

but I'm sorry.

I'm not! Mmm!

Gunner?

Gunner.

Gunner.

Where did he go?

People asked

me where I lived at school,

but I just said I lived

in the same place

or by that place so, like,

they wouldn't, like,

make fun because my school

is very, like, judgmental.

They'll make fun of you

if you live somewhere

that isn't regular or normal.

- Gunner, stop.

- I'm tired! I want...

I know this is

a lot to take in.

When is this going to be over?

I don't know. When

it's over, it's over,

but in the meantime, you and I

have to figure this out, OK?

I promise, things will be

better in a real soon time.

Please, dear God,

let this be temporary.

Everybody

has a bump in the road.

Homeless people are people

who, in many instances,

have hit a rough stretch

in their life.

A series of things

have happened.

Someone's lost

their home, their job,

their healthcare;

and then they have some

traumatic personal experience

and they're on the street.

And I think the thing about

homelessness that I've learned

is it can happen to anybody;

that it could be your neighbor,

your friend, a family member.

And I think once you break down

those barriers and stereotypes,

and you see homeless individuals

as brothers and sisters,

friends, co-workers, others,

it changes one's attitude.

All right.

One more.

Geral, guess what.

These are the long ones.

It's tough when

you can't give your kid something.

He sits there and says,

"I want to watch a movie.

I want to get a movie.

You know, it's one dollar. "

"Sorry, kid. "

"Not tonight. "

"Why?"

"Can't afford it. "

Kids shouldn't even have to

worry about that kind of stuff.

It's not their fault, you know?

OK, Geral. Here we

go, Geral, right here.

Aim that ball.

Use your knees.

Here we go.

Oh, yeah.

- Yeah!

- Good job.

Yeah.

Without a job

and all that stuff,

the only thing that really

keeps my sanity

is the little boy,

the little guy.

He's always smiling.

When you see that smile

and the way his outlook

on life is, you know,

it gives you a feeling like, "You

know, the world isn't so bad. "

You know?

Whoa!

We have these trade policies

with other countries which have

been enormously beneficial

to the owners of companies

because it turns out

to be incredibly useful to be able

to relocate where we manufacture

or create our products to places

where workers have no power, right?

Where you don't have to pay them

anything and you don't have to worry

about pollution regulations or

anything like that.

What Congress hears about

is how fantastic that is

for business.

And it is fantastic

for the shareholders

in the near term

of the businesses.

But what it doesn't account for

is the long-term health

of the American economy.

The only people who suffer

are the workers,

and the only people

who benefit are the owners.

The sort of typical

American family

has been completely railroaded.

I would have never thought

that I would have had to move back home, ever.

And it's just extremely hard

and it's extremely frustrating,

and I don't even want

to tell people. I'm embarrassed.

My husband's embarrassed.

We don't want to tell people.

And people on Facebook...

"Hey, how you doing?"

"I'm doing good.

How are you?" You know?

And I mean, no, I'm going

to tell them? You know.

I mean I'm not going

to sit there and say,

"Oh, we're both not working.

We have no money.

We don't know how we're

going to pay our bills.

I'm living at home

with my mother,

and my mom's sleeping

on the couch. "

I mean, it breaks my heart.

I don't want to tell

people that. It's embarrassing.

- Hey, Mama?

- Yeah, son?

I just want to say thank you.

It is a hard day, and I

know this is a lot on you.

Thank you, son.

And you know what?

My pleasure.

I love you.

You're a good man.

You know, least

we can do is just

continue being the family

that we should be.

Yeah?

We're just one big

happy family.

Yeah, we are.

My last job interview,

I mean, I think

I nailed it to the tee.

- That's awesome.

- I think I did pretty good.

I mean, I've never done

an interview where,

towards the end of the interview,

we were pretty much done

and then they asked me

about football.

And I was like, "Oh, yeah,

big in football. "

When are you gonna hear

back on that interview?

This week.

We have to have a system

that can take that person whose

skills were perfectly fine

when they left high school

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