Lose your job in Australia and there’s a good chance there will be a
safety net to catch you. The Newstart allowance, Medicare benefits,
along with other programs provide help. But it’s a very different story
in the United States.
It may be the wealthiest country in the world but as documentary
maker Philippe Levasseur shows in America’s Broken Dreams, when you lose
your job in the US there is very little to protect you. In 2008 the
global financial crisis hit the poor first, but now America’s middle
class is being devastated.
Larry, 52, used to manage a large customer service department. But
two years ago he lost his job and house. Today he lives in a motel room
with his wife and two children and scrapes by on $820 dollars a month,
welcoming tourists to Disney World. After he has paid the motel fees,
he’s left with just $70 a week for food and other necessities.
Terry used to be a sales manager and enjoyed a good life until he was
made redundant. He ended up roaming from motel to motel in Florida in
his car and eventually was judged ‘economically incapable’ of raising
his six children. The three eldest were placed in foster care.
There are currently 1,800 children growing up in the motels around
Disney World. They move from school to school as their parents are
forced to find cheaper accommodation.
Amber and Daniel are married but are forced to live on different
sides of the United States. Why? It’s the only way they can honestly
make enough money to stop themselves and their children going hungry.
Three unique stories, but all have one thing in common: they are
America’s new poor, who struggle for work but can barely survive.
Filmmaker Philippe Levasseur takes his camera into car parks, trailer
homes and motels across the country as middle class families try to
regain the American dream. What he found is simply shocking.
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