Two simple rules for surviving with a low income: Do not ever have children. Take care of your health.

You have to make $34,000 per year to survive in California. What a load of crap. Everything is so expensive in California. You have to make at least $70,000 per year to live in that state.

Too many people think it will never happen to them. It can happen to anyone.

$195k a year 23 years of experience. Looks like she didn't save for a rainy day.

At 3:00 Woman : I have a masters degree. Recruiter: Great, you are overqualified.

In DC, I kid you not, there are jobs here that pay $14 / hr and require you to have a bachelor's degree.

I am surprised someone who makes over $150K/year has limited savings and investments.

OMG!! her husband makes $54k parttime and she gets more in unemployment than i make at a full time job! I WANT THESE PROBLEMS, PLEASE

This was made 11 years ago. Now the situation is 10x worst with the COVID-19 outbreak.

Once you hit 50 it's a rap for you. Just like racial discrimination is real so is Age discrimination which affects everybody.

This was uploaded 11 bloody years ago and it's still FRESH!! Going through this for more than 10 years!?!?!?!?!? Who has any illusion that things will get better?

I never made more than $50k but I am now retired with about $1 million in assets + 2 houses. Here's an idea: Don't buy shit you can't pay for.

I dont agree the future is high tech jobs. Trade skills like plumbing, electrician, or appliance repair will be around forever because everyone needs these things. You want a job? Become plumber or electrician. Degrees arent for everyone.

I live in the San Diego area, and I am moving. I am downsizing. I am not interested being or competing with the Jones. I am ridiculed for my frugal ways here in California. For example, I grow vegetables in my small garden and pots, sew and crochet, have a food stockpile, and turn off the lights. This economy provides an opportunity to be resourceful and creative. I am very grateful. I have seen so many homeless and hungry people in the San Diego area. I am moving for a larger yard and inexpensive housing.

Sometimes we think we can face silent battles on our own. The truth is--we need each other!

Im looking at the 2nd lady who was making 195,000 a year and living in a shack. Move people Move. The rest of the country is not as expensive as california and new york

Wait!? He makes 54k a year (at 6:15ish) and they cannot survive on that? It is just the two of them and the house??? Those college kids can pull their own weight and support themselves. There is no reason two grown adults cannot survive on 54 THOUSAND DOLLARS a year. Sounds to me like they have too much debt and never thought the good times would end.

Passing out resumes in a mini skirt. She sure wants a job.

I had a friend who seriously struggled with his job search during the recession. He applied to fast food restaurants, despite having a Bachelor's in Science and a Master's in Mathematics. He was frequently told he was over qualified, though he kept saying he just wanted to work.

She states at 5:20 that she loves her weekends off....What a privileged individual....What if I offered her a clerk job on third shift? She'd say F-off...I have worked third shift 5 times in fourteen years through my promotions at my agency.She wants to PICK her job, not land a job....

So that woman working in pharmaceuticals for 20+ years at $195k/year did not manage to save a few million dollars and be financially independent? Who's to blame? Good times ain't gonna last forever.

I think people are too focused on college degrees. I have a bunch of them already, but I wish I had learned a skilled trade instead. Study to be a master electrician or plumber or HVAC technician or welder. Join a union or a company that pays well. No student loan debt and no shortage of work.

10 years later its still not any better

Sad to say is that about 40% of Americans can't afford to live ANYWHERE in the USA because of our growing Poverty Rate. Even those slightly above the "official" Poverty Rate are wretchedly Poor. I don't have the answers but we know that Welfare is a trap and we need to find a better way for people to EARN a decent living. Our problems seem systemic and handing out Welfare is only a temporary way to relieve people of homelessness and hunger but is NOT a cure. A cure is beyond me, and apparently beyond any of our current politicians whether Republican or Democrat. The USA of the 1950's was far superior for the average person than what we have now...

OMG $450 a week on unemployment! I wish I could go home to my big house and spend time gardening and not have to work 2 jobs and make time to study for the LSATS... I barely make that much a week and I work 40+ hours a week. But then again... it's 2018.. the hustle nowadays is HARD.... P.S. I still live with my mom.

If you're over-educated, middle-age and middle-class and you lose or naively quit your job without first getting another, be warned: Employers may see you as past your use-by date!

Jenny Carroll-Powers was totally not dressed properly for a job fair. She looked like she was going shopping at Walmart. A professional image is crucial.

I have to laugh. You can't expect a degree to launch you into a high paying job. The generation before us sure had it good!

How in the hell can you be over qualified? It's like you're damn if you do and you're if u don't.

Carol Powers has a loving family. Even if they lose everything, she's got it all.

I feel for these folks. Here we are, 11 years later, and times are still tough for the working class and the middle class. My sister got laid off from 2 different jobs over the span of 3 years. The 2nd job had her uprooting her life and moving across the country, only to be laid off within 6 months, because the company had not been forthright about its financial difficulties.

It is time to loose greed, envy and gluttony. Many of us are not able to spend as the 80's and 90's allowed people to-money is wasted on first world ridiculousness that many of us would be embarrassed to share to someone out there in a country who has one pair of shoes a year.

As a second generation native San Diegan, I am very distressed how the county has let itself overbuild, letting too many people move in, and not creating an environment that would provide enough jobs and reasonably priced living availability. My relatives and myself are the last to have been able to enjoy the best of SanDiego from the 40s thru the early 90s. My grandparents and parents lived in modest homes and raised their families in the middle of the growing city limits. I grew up in a family of 4 in El Cajon which was a wonderful community to grow up in. I never had a problem finding a job and enjoyed a nice life in my 20s and 30s. I moved to Riverside county in '93 and now live in Texas. Sadly, I will never be able to return to my favorite town due to SanDiego not thinking of how the overgrowth would ruin what the city had to offer to those who moved and lived there originally.

I heard what she said. I also don't have enough income to live in San Diego. That's why I live in North Carolina. It's great here! Come and visit.

I used to live in San Diego county, so this really hit home for me. San Diego is a very expensive state to live in. The cost of living is very high, which is one of the reasons why I left. I empathize with everyone in this broadcast. Since the cost of living is so high in citites like San Diego, scrapping by gets harder and harder to do. I know that this is from 2008, but I think that a lot of what is in the broadcast is still true today.

She says she does not want to be rich take a look at that house do they think their poor.

193,000K a year...... and you don't have 6 months of living expenses saved? like srsly?

When FDR signed the living wage, republicans said it would destroy the economy. Every time the minimum wage was raised republicans said it would destroy the economy. He law was written to go up with the rate of production. If it had, the minimum wage would be over $23.00 an hour. Republicans have stopped raising the minimum wage since the 70’s. Reagan shifted the tax burden from the top wage earners to the middle class. Reagan’s voodoo trickle down economics destroyed the middle class. We now have the working poor where we once had a middle class.

Jane, you have a beautiful home! And a beautiful family! You are blessed.

what really scares me is how many people work at REAL jobs for less than $12 an hour. We need more people that can do blue collar jobs, plumber,electrician,mechanic. those people can make some serious trash. I recently found out the lady that trims my hair at the mail makes on average $200 a day . Shes the one whose smart

We should all be so lucky as this first couple! They make over $4,000 a month with the wife on unemployment. I have a nice college education and only earn a little under $900 a month. Poor my @$$!

I was in lending for 30 years, now own my own business; lending has become very corrupt and political.

I would be interesting to have a follow up report on these people and San Diego county realities.

PLEASE make an updated version/review of the siruation

5:45 "and now works part time earning $54,000 dollars a year" WHAT! HOW!

These people had incredible foresight. It went all the way down after 2008.

Seems like the reason the middle class is disappearing is our lack of savings...that causes desperation in the job market. We all need to spend less and save more removing that smell of desperation and giving us some control back. I thank Dave Ramsey for showing me this. Borrow his book, Total Money Makeover, from the local library it will change your life. If all Americans did this it would change the market! When you carry no debt and know you have a saftey net the world can see you walk taller.

Insufficient incomes aren't the main crux of the problem. Excessive spending is. I can't put much stock in someone complaining about their income when they hit the bars every weekend, smoke a pack a day, eat out four times a week and have to go to Starbucks every morning.

Online shopping killed retail stores

If you voted for a democrat or a republican, you voted for this.

Ha! Tell em to get out. Man, I've been to San Diego on several occasions and I'm glad to hear that there's finally some excitement.

That Chris dude is delusional, how are you over qualify when you are a recent graduate with no work experience just book theory knowledge from a university.

@10:54 She made $195,000 a year and she is broke?

How can so many defend the system? It's like being friendly with a spider. It may nor bite you first, but it will bite you. NAFTA sent our jobs overseas, and anyone that doesn't believe that is willfully blind and ignorant. Also a tad arrogant if you don't believe that it can happen to you. It doesn't matter how much you have saved up if your source of income dries up on you, and you have to dip into your savings eventually you will spend until there is no more savings left. The only exception is for the independently wealthy. Most people don't have that luxury. It's wrong to imply that anyone that has fallen on hard times is somehow beneath you. I don't understand where all of the nastiness comes from, but I've sure seen it in many of the comments posted on this video. You can presuppose all you like, but unless you've walked in another person's shoes there is no way to know what they are going through.

would of liked an update on them

Middle class jobs are disappearing because they were outsourced to India and Philippines as they speak English. That needs to stop.

My first "permanent" position (as opposed to part-time "gigs" at the university in which I completed my graduate study) looked promising, but the company downsized after I was there almost 2 years, and I and half the others became unemployed. It took me 17 months to obtain another job, in another state. (I envy people who are only unemployed 6 months!). I was thrifty, and with my unemployment I was able to get along until moving for the new job. However, I decided I would never be at the mercy of a paycheck, so I lived below my means, stayed single and only rented inexpensive apartments (sharing one during much of this time) and bought used cars which I kept for a long time, so I ended up being able to retire at 60 with a healthy portfolio. I worked continuously after finding the job after unemployment, changing only once during that time because the first job was funded by "soft money".

Making 200K a year is not as important as, did she live "below" her means by saving every a lot of her paycheck - not listen to professional salespeople (brokers lie all the time) and putting MOST of her money in cash, stay out of debt, stop shopping for nonsense. I'm a retired lawyer, drive a VW Bug - almost 10 years old, house paid off, save everything by living well below my "assets". There are too many lawyers - some get paid 10 dollars and hour and take the job. Never have more than 2 kids. Never take a humanities college degree - worthless in a math/tech World. I would never recommend law school unless you get into a top one. I would say, math, math, physics, or medicine - they can't outsource those careers yet. Remember, you are competing globally now. I was a maritime lawyer and saw the destruction of shipbuilding - all foreign built now - except military (U.S. Flag) crew labor - all foreign flag (no Americans needed!) even scrapping ships is done where there are not EPA rules. Only maritime jobs are from the Jones Act (protectionist laws) Trades. We don't build commercial ships anymore, no U.S. union labor, but we are the tourists that go on these ships. Sorry for the essay. Job counselors should only be paid when you land a job. San Diego is a Navy town - I lived there for a year. I lived in a closet but was young. Rainy day is now rainy century for American middle-class. Take that 10 an hour job if you must.

Ianthia, hi there :) in some way, you're right, a certain degree, won't bring much, when you aim for what many called much.Look and reach, persevere for not of the "much" but always of the plenty for many shall be derived from being plenty.

i am touched listening to what she said at 11:49 that she missed to be with people.

$195,000 a year, more than 20 years employed and worried that if she remains unemployed for 6 months, she doesn't have money to pay the bills? Not that I'm blaming her but this is telling that she made wrong decisions along the way.

being a lifelong learner is so important.

This is great.

I am 34 years old I don't have children and still in the struggle. I've stopped going to school. I totally give up. Mathematian, actuarial science.

Looks like that tax cut stimulus plan of Dubya's worked like a charm.

WTF? $11/hr in unemployment for doing nothing! Wow, i could live on that lol

So sweet together it will go a long way

force the rich to pay their fair share of taxes and fair wages, it has been done before, 1940s-1980.

Rome 2.0, have any of you guys ever studied the last days of the Roman Empire? The policies, decadence, characteristics, and moral decay are very familiar to what is happening in all of the Western Countries today? Its creepy! If we don't take heed and change the Path we are walking down we will have not learned anything from History. Is it by design? How can all of them be doing the exact same thing? I looked at the Upload Date of this Vid, and said, " little did we know what kind of Leadership, and Corruption would come and what it would do to us after the 2008 Election in America." Much love.

190k Per year? and shes worked for 23 years? Where did she spend all that money?even 5 years worth of that salary would put may people in a position to retire comfortably?

THX

Started viewing this in 2023. I guess this is more than actual today than it was 15 years ago when this video was uploaded.

Wth $10/hour and it calls for a college degree 😯 I work as a home health aide making $12/hour without a college degree.

@17:30 She made $195k recently and has been working for 23 years. No she is not struggling financially.

The problem with a degreed person applying for lower level employment is that most employers know you will leave them when something better comes along. Some employers will actually demand a degreed person in their ads for clerk positions, but this will hurt them later.

This was at the beginning of the economic melt down, and the first lady worked for one of the first banks to get shut down. She was in an industry that tanked for several years later... This is why it's vital to live in an area where you can live, live debt free (in your 50's), have cash set aside for rainy days and have a retirement account that's very well funded at this point of your life. BTW, her husband is a attorney who ELECTED to be a public defender... his choice, and makes less than $60,000 at the peak of his career. CHOICES matter...

In order to accomplish shit you will often have to give years of effort to the process, but your life can still fall apart in 1 second

This documentary only looks at San Diego. The cost of living is rising in California due to housing demand exceeding supply, causing a shortage. This problem is especially bad in the bay area where the tech industry caused demand to skyrocket to a point where it's become a crisis. The Northeast and West Coast are generally expensive places to live. What I'm trying to say is that if you live in California and feel that you are paying too much money for what was much more affordable in your parents' heyday, it's best to move to another city like Phoenix, Boise, or Las Vegas.

Looking good Canelo.

I want to see an update to this story

Here in Central/Coastal California you need over $70K to live in the "middle Class", and I should say LOWER middle class because you can't own a home if you make less than $100K, and that is just an older smaller home. My son in-law makes $75K and my daughter is a teacher and makes close to $50K. The two of them have 3 kids and must rent because the lowest priced homes would take up the majority of their income to pay the mortgage. I make about $73K and must rent an apartment so I can save for retirement. My son and his wife and 2 kids live near the SF bay area and they do ok because he is a Mechanical Engineer and makes $67 an hour and my daughter in-law is a Biologist and makes about $50K (part time). For the poor bastards that make $20 an hour and have kids I don't know how they even get by...

11 years nothing has changed. That's sad that when another recession happens same cycle will happen an infinite loop.

11:50... amen sister.. i miss interacting with people too... i've been working from home since 2/27/2020 till today... 10/23/2020... i miss my coworkers.. i actually enjoy my job and the people i work with.. im just a single hermit living in a cave going on a year... like wtf is this life...?

Gandhi in India started disobedient movement to get freedom. Unemployed ,underemployed around the world ,start disobedient movement to win employment issues. Problem is 30 years old.

And Ten Years later ...it is way worse! The top squeezing the middle to make .01% more...problem is...when the middle class are the consumer engine that drives sales and they can't spend like they used too, then the sales figures drop. This leads to a cycle - dropping middle class leads to fewer middle class jobs leading to lower sales...

When being white just don't cut it

What the? Looked for the middle class for years, 1975 to the 2000. Strived to get into the middle class in the 80s!

How do some of these people have these jobs and a strong income and yet NO FINANCIAL PLANING!!!

one of the problems is that the areas where the jobs are, also have the highest prices, because the businesses bring with them wealth, driving up housing prices and prices in general. New york is a great example of this. all the wealth being brought to the city skyrockets prices to the point where employees with modest wages cant afford to live where the jobs are. normally, in a market system this would cause prices to lower, as demand falls, but americans have borrowed trillions of dollars in order to remain in these affluent areas. i find it funny when so many are concerned with the public debt, which is now 20 trillion dollars, but ignores the 35-38 trillion dollars of private debt. sooner or later, the credit is going to run out...

Americans traded freedom for security by choosing to work for some employer.

What are some ways i can learn to chew my food before i swallow it?

Try some of the online apps to work daily.

Maybe they don't choose overly qualified people because they know that they will quit when they find a job.

You need to be a life-long learner.

So she is working $190k per year, for the past 23 years, and she does not have at least 4 million saved,. SAD

You should see it now!!!!

The lady who washed out of WAMU mortgage had a hand in the mortgage fraud leading to the collapse of the bank and then the economy as a whole. How you like that karma?

Girl, put on some clothes and look professional. That is, if you want a JOB.

It's crazy watching this in 2019, It's sad, it's so crazy how much worse things are💔 someone below said their father foreseen this in the 80's.... well he was right.. so crazy.

who else is watching this in while quarantine and on un employment