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Inside Man
Income Inequality in America
Aired June 01, 2014 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MORGAN SPURLOCK, CNN HOST: America -- the land of opportunity, a country built on hope and the chance of success, on the American dream. But is the dream as we once knew it dying? Are the middle- class vanishing and now the richest one percent of the population holds more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is the defining challenge of our time, making sure that our economy works for every working American.
SPURLOCK (voice-over): Maybe one day soon real change will actually be made in our nation's capitol, but what happens in the meantime? Is there something that we can do to help close the gap? Is there something that I can do to the prove that a little help goes a long way?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that the American dream is everybody having a chance to succeed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To educate your kids and hopefully for them to have a better life than you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not have to worrying about a place to live and something to eat at night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2.5 kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One chicken and two cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A golden retriever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A white picket fence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it is the opportunity to create the life that you want for yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And hopefully finding some sort of happiness while you do it.
SPURLOCK: Once upon a time, Americans thought that the hard work would be rewarded with success or at least a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, but these days the divide between rich or poor is greater than it has ever been. The question is, what is it going to take to change things?
To find out, I have come to one of my all-time favorite cities, New Orleans. The people who live here are among the most vibrant and the most resilient that I have ever met, but it is also a place where the rich and the poor live side by side. If any city in America can give us a window into income inequality, it is this one.
If we want to fix the problem of income inequality, first, we have to understand income inequality. So today, I will be working for TCA.
TCA stands for Total Community Action. It is a nonprofit that has been supporting low income families in New Orleans for 50 years. Thousands come through these doors for employment assistance, child care, tax filings, food stamp applications, food pantry supplies, utility bill assistance, and some come here just to use the computer. Their mission, to help move people from poverty to self-sufficiency.
It is a huge operation, and taking up an entire city block. Thelma French is the president and the CEO of TCA. And today, she is going to give me my marching orders.
SPURLOCK: Hey, how are you?
THELMA FRENCH, CEO, TOTAL COMMUNITY ACTION: Welcome to total community action.
SPURLOCK: I'm Morgan Spurlock.
FRENCH: Thelma French. Nice to meet you.
SPURLOCK: Pleasure to meet you. So kind of living and working down here every single day, how do you see the income inequality in America?
FRENCH: Unfortunately, I see the gap widening and the ability of people to close it even getting more difficult. But I don't believe that everyone starts with a equal chance. People should be able to be supported while they are moving up.
SPURLOCK: So, what can I do while I am here?
FRENCH: Today, you will be sitting at the front desk and you will meet clients as they come in.
SPURLOCK: OK.
FRENCH: And then I think that we are going to go down to employment services and try to connect some people who are underemployed with either a second job or full time employment.
SPURLOCK: Great. Here goes nothing. My first task is helping out at reception.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, you are going to work with Latesha. SPURLOCK: Is that my boss?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that is your boss.
SPURLOCK: Hey, I'm Morgan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I'm (INAUDIBLE). How are you been?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is not going to be too hard on you.
SPURLOCK: Hi, I'm Morgan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to TCA.
SPURLOCK: My job is to help (INAUDIBLE) check in clients and connect them with the services they needed TCA.
Don't let the tiny waiting room fool you. Last year alone, 62,000 people came through TCA at some point, and 40 percent of those were first-time clients.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.
SPURLOCK: What can we help you with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need to apply for food stamps.
SPURLOCK: OK. Are you working now, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not.
SPURLOCK: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But my wife works, and that is the income that I will have to go by.
SPURLOCK: Great. I'm Morgan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John.
SPURLOCK: John, nice to meet you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to meet you.
SPURLOCK: So you need to take a seat. So this is the application form.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
SPURLOCK: John has come to TCA today to sign up for the supplemental nutrition assistance program also known as snap or food stamps. Today, one in seven Americans rely on food stamps to keep from going hungry and in Louisiana, a whopping one in five depend on the program.
Have you signed up for assistance before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I have not.
SPURLOCK: So what brought you in for assistance today? What was the deciding factor?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, things are just getting tough, man, you know. I haven't been working in a while, and I stay at home, and I take care of our son. And it has been this way now for a little bit over a year. It does not work, man, you know what I mean?
SPURLOCK: Yes. Why do you think it so hard for you to find work?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My job as a bricklayer in the union just evaporated. I mean, it was just gone. There was no more. You know, I had a job making $25/hour, and I had a nice, you know, suburb and a nice residential setting, and I just lost it all.
SPURLOCK: It is easy to tell after talking to John for just a few minutes that things have gotten desperate. Food stamps could help, but what would help him even more is a job. So I am sending him over to Lawyer Winfield in employment services where I will also be helping out for the rest of the afternoon with Ms. Sidney Monroe.
SIDNEY MONROE, EMPLOYMENT SERVICES: Well, come in.
SPURLOCK: Hey, Ms. Cindy.
MONROE: How are you doing today?
SPURLOCK: How are you? How are you today?
MONROE: I'm great, Morgan. Thank you.
SPURLOCK: Good.
MONROE: What's going on?
SPURLOCK: I just wanted to check in.
MONROE: I'm on top.
SPURLOCK: You are on top.
MONROE: And going higher. You know, We got a lot more going on today.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MONROE: I have a lady who - is employed and not know if she wants to subsidize, her current employment or looking for another job, but we will see.
SPURLOCK: Have you seen that a lot, people who are trying to like find a second job just because they can't make ends meet. They want to talk to you about the way to that. MONROE: Yes. You know, we are talk about the working poor. You know, people who need to work and still can't afford the benefits. And the working poor are still us folks who don't have at least six months' money in the bank. I would be in trouble myself. It could happen to me.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MONROE: It could happen to you. We are all just, you know, one step away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, Ms. Sidney.
MONROE: Good morning, my darling. How are you?
SPURLOCK: We will sit right out back of Miss Sidney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MONROE: Now, tell me a little bit about you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a PBX operator. Medical assistance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a Bricklayer. Mason.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hospitality.
MONROE: If the world was perfect and ideal, what would you like to do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like to help people.
MONROE: OK.
SPURLOCK: Are you looking for anything in particular?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just stability.
MONROE: Searching for a job is just like a job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a resume? We can assist you in creating on one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
MONROE: If you want me to the, we can do some mock interviewing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. That is what I need.
MONROE: I have some job openings in my system, and I am going to look.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
MONROE: So you take this, and you know, I will put on here that you will bring resume.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel good about the chances of you becoming employed within a reasonable amount of time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am ready for the job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
MONROE: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm good, yourself?
MONROE: Great. Sidney Monroe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Ms. Sidney. I'm Celia Smith.
MONROE: What brings you to us today?
CELIA SMITH, CLIENT: I am here to see if I can get TCA to assist me with some type of work and also interview assistance.
MONROE: OK. Now, let's talk a little bit about you. How old are you?
SMITH: I'm 39.
MONROE: How many in the household?
SMITH: Myself and my son, and he is currently 11.
MONROE: Are you currently working?
SMITH: Yes. I'm working part-time at Lowe's.
MONROE: Are you available to work full-time?
SMITH: Yes.
MONROE: Do you want one full-time job.
SMITH: Honestly, I would stay at Lowe's and work another full-time job or I take a job full time. Right now, I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to me to make my ends meet.
MONROE: Do you see yourself going back school?
SMITH: I would like to go to school to take up some type of trade or something, anything to better myself, it is really hard.
MONROE: OK.
SPURLOCK: Because of your little boy?
SMITH: Yes.
MONROE: For now, I guess you could supplement your income with a part-time job, but you really need one job, you know, you do. You need to be spending time with your son.
SPURLOCK: Right. I will walk her down to energy assistance.
MONROE: OK.
SPURLOCK: Great. She is pretty great.
SMITH: Yes, she is.
SPURLOCK: I have to be honest, Celia Smith is not the type of person I thought I would be helping today. After all, she is actually employed, yet she is still not making ends meet.
The hope is that TCA will connect Celia her with the assistance that will help her get by, and then eventually, she will have enough of a leg up so that she won't need help at all. It is the same goal behind the war on poverty that president Lyndon Johnson wage 50 years ago, paving a way for community action agencies like TCA.
LYNDON JOHNSON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So everyone can have a job, and every kid can have an education. We can get these folks off of the streets and in time we can have a great society that we are all entitled to.
SPURLOCK: President Johnson believed for our nation to reach its full potential, everyone must have the opportunity to contribute. With that goal in mind, government assistance programs like job corps, food stamps, Medicare and other head start were ushered in.
And 50 years later, infant mortality has gone down. College graduation rates have gone up, and malnutrition has nearly vanished.
But while poverty rates have diminished, they haven't disappeared. And critics today insist that it is not the government's role to intervene in the first place and that safety net programs should be eliminated altogether.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And some people just simply have their hand out and they want something for nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welfare dependency becomes an addictive narcotic.
NEWT GINGRICH, CNN HOST, CROSSFIRE: Big government can't solve the problem of poverty.
SPURLOCK: Recently, the House of Representatives passed the budget plan that would make deep cuts to social programs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The House passed the Ryan's 2015 budget this morning, flashing things like food stamps, college loans, and healthcare for the poor.
SPURLOCK: But those working on the front line at TCA like Lawyer Winfield did not see these types of cuts as a path to prosperity.
LAWYER WINFIELD, TOTAL COMMUNITY ACTION: The nation needs to treat the plight of the poor. This is war. We need to really attack this thing.
SPURLOCK: And why it is not?
WINFIELD: Because people on the opposite side of the spectrum who have all of the resources and the wealth and the power and such, they are not suffering and they don't have the sensitivity and the degree of compassion necessary to really command their attention in the way that perhaps we could even begin to resolve this.
SPURLOCK: Yes. Do rich people have an obligation to help people who are less fortunate?
WINFIELD: Well, when you look at the core principles of what made America, America, yes, they do. Yes, they definitely do.
SPURLOCK: I have to agree with Lawyer, we all need to be doing more to help solve this problem and not less. I know I want to find a way to help even in the smallest way. But first, I need to the truly understand the mindset of the other side, the one percent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPURLOCK (voice-over): I'm in New Orleans, Louisiana. Around here rich and poor live side by side is, yet the gap between them is widening by the day. I have been working with Total Community Action, a nonprofit that connects low income families with much needed assistance.
But in order to really understand the problem of income inequality and to help make a dent, I also need to get inside of the one percent. What the Americans have not made so much than everyone else since the roaring '20s. Less than two miles away from TCA, there is a very different world, St. Charles avenue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Morgan. How are you?
SPURLOCK: Good to see you. Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to meet you.
SPURLOCK: Pleasure to meet you. Thank you for having us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to meet you as well.
SPURLOCK: Thank you.
John (INAUDIBLE) is a high powered attorney and entrepreneur in New Orleans who is raked in hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of his career.
Your house is amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. This place was built by a cotton king in New Orleans. This was a wedding present to his wife.
SPURLOCK: Your kitchen is bigger than my apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is a working kitchen.
SPURLOCK: What is the monthly cost of the house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a lot. And you know, it is more than my first year as a lawyer.
SPURLOCK: What did you think of the first time you met?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I later found out she is from Moscow, and she is big Russian pop star, and this is kind of normal. This is her normal life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SPURLOCK: What did you think the first time you came to the house?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was confused.
SPURLOCK: You were confused, because of how big it is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I didn't know where my room was.
SPURLOCK: Right. Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bed belonged to Marie Antoinette.
SPURLOCK: No way! Like it was actually Marie Antoinette's bed?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SPURLOCK: That is quite amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember the first time that I wrote myself a check for $1 million. And I thought, that's the American dream.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you get there, and you have a dream and you have ambition, you have a drive, that drive does not go away, $5 million. And then you get there. And you know, what I thought rich before is different than what I think rich is now.
SPURLOCK: So what is rich today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably a billionaire, that is rich. It is like monopoly. You know, you don't get to the point in monopoly where you win. You just keep going.
SPURLOCK: And when John says he keeps going, sometimes it is in one of the custom built racecars. That is right, while some people find time to go to the gym in the morning, John hits the racetrack. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what I like about this is that it is a hard to concentrate on anything else. You can't worry about work and you can't worry about the problems. You have to concentrate just on this. So when you are in a good groove and going fast is that your talent would get you beyond the rich guy in the Ferrari and pass him. That was always great. I like the underdog.
SPURLOCK: I don't think that you are the underdog anymore?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I sued Walmart one time, and let me tell you, you felt like the underdog. It is all relative, my friend.
SPURLOCK: John is a walking or rather racecar driving paradox. Though he is part of the one percent, he made his millions representing the 99 percent as a victims' rights attorney. He has collected millions of dollars from insurance companies on behalf of victims of hurricanes Katrina, Ike and Sandy and runs the same law firm credited with taking down big tobacco.
But John is also an entrepreneur, always looking for the next big profitable opportunity. Recently, he has partnered with several other one percenters who are investing several billion dollars in an oil and gas project in Louisiana.
How do you get to the point as an incredibly successful lawyer where you say, I'm going to do oil and gas?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happened organically. I was working with entrepreneurs in that industry as a lawyer. And then after a while, I learned how they did it, and you know what, maybe I can do it. But it is a risk. You are putting out your money, you're putting out your time in the hope that it is going to work.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may not. There are things that work, and things that don't.
SPURLOCK: But that is the thing about getting ahead, it requires taking the risk that might work and might fail, and failing is a luxury that many of us simply can't afford. For John taking a risk with his new oil and gas venture may be the thing that pushes him into the billionaire status. So we are taking to the skies to check on the site of the newest project.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to understand what is an opportunity. What is the door that is open for you. You have to the understand when, OK, right here is an opportunity for me to improve.
SPURLOCK: I have to say that from all of the way up here, it is easy to forget that for many down there, those opportunities are becoming more and more rare.
Well, that was pretty awesome. He is used to it and just another Friday for him, but for me, pretty awesome. In all honesty, I'm enjoying myself. Thank you very much. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheers.
SPURLOCK: In one day with John, I'm getting to do things that most people don't get to do in an entire lifetime. And tonight, John is going to introduce me to some of the influential social set including businessmen, colleagues, even a Grammy award winning musician. But I still have to ask, when is enough, enough. And in the presence of so much lavish excess, wouldn't just a little bit of sharing go a very long way for the people I have been getting in old cross town?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's eat. Morgan, welcome to New Orleans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have been in New Orleans for a couple of days now?
SPURLOCK: I have. It has been amazing. I have been working at a place called total community action, you know, from their food pantry to their job services to, you know, people who sudden suddenly the, it got cold, you know, suddenly it was freezing here for like the last month, and their electric bill went from $85 to $400 and so these people can come to get help, and it is a remarkable place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We are trained to think that if you work hard, if you do the right things, you, too, can have it. I think that's not true. You have to have certain breaks. You have to have certain opportunities. You have to have certain environment, and that becomes a challenge.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We live under the fallacy of with liberty and justice for all, and if you just pull yourselves up by the boot straps, it is all going to be OK. But that presumes that we all started at the same starting line.
In your car races, if you are in a different heat than you, and right? We will adjust your times and we make it so that everybody can golf. I love golf, OK. But we have a handicap system. And in this country, we have gotten away from that, and that is no longer popular, and we have gone back to, ah, forget about, that and everybody run your own race, and then all of the sudden, the disparity that existed that we were trying to equalize is now spread apart again.
SPURLOCK: Listen, I have spent the morning with a single mom who works hard every day, and is making $500 every two weeks. So where's the opportunity for her to kind of get beyond where she is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have allowed money to hijack the debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The debate and the conversation is no longer dominated by the majority, it is dominated by whoever has the majority of the money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is exactly right. SPURLOCK: When you reach a certain level of financial success or financial accomplishment, you are like do you have an obligation to do more, to give back?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1,000 percent, yes.
SPURLOCK: TCA, for further example, is like that is place that it does not need a lot of money to make a difference within that organization. And that money goes a long way. And they have 300 people who work for that organization. And he should have a fund- raiser for TCA and that is what I told him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, cheers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPURLOCK (voice-over): I'm in New Orleans, Louisiana, navigating the vast divide between rich and poor in this city. While one percenters like John are only getting richer, things seem to be going from bad to worse to many of the low income families I met at TCA. Last night I convinced John to the host a fund fund-raiser for TCA, but I still feel like I have more to learn from the folks struggling to get by on the bottom.
I have met so many interesting people and what I want to do is to go out now to get a sense of what their lives are like and what got them to where they are, and how to get them out of the situations they are in.
I am on the way to Mrs. Smith who each kind of represents this middle ground of someone who works very hard and will absolutely only go ask for assistance if it is a last r resort. Well, this is a great house.
SMITH: Thank you.
SPURLOCK: Yes. It is really cute.
SMITH: It is an awesome neighborhood and I was really lucky to find this place here.
SPURLOCK: You like the neighborhood over here, too?
SMITH: Yes.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
It is like my mom, and she still corrects me. My mom still does that. Did I hear a dog bark when we came in?
SMITH: Yes.
SPURLOCK: Where is the puppy?
SMITH: Come on, Tessie.
SPURLOCK: Look at that face. Look at that face!
SMITH: This is my son and that is my Dogger. Let's see what we have here.
SPURLOCK: Later today, Celia Smith has to work her part-time shift at Lowe's, but this morning, she is taking time out of her busy life to have me over for breakfast.
Look at that. Look at how good those fluffy eggs look. Tell me what you make on average versus the expenses.
SMITH: Every two weeks, my check may be between $400 and $600 and it varies depending upon the hours.
SPURLOCK: And it is part time, so you don't know how many hours you will get?
SMITH: Anywhere between 10 and 25 hours every week, yes.
SPURLOCK: So some weeks you will have 10 hours?
SMITH: Yes.
SPURLOCK: And how much is it per hour? What are you making?
SMITH: $12.
SPURLOCK: So you could get as low as $120 for the week?
SMITH: Yes.
SPURLOCK: Are you ever able to save any money at all?
SMITH: Not really.
SPURLOCK: No.
SMITH: I got paid Friday, and may have $4.34 in the bank.
SPURLOCK: Wow.
SMITH: Yes. Right now, all I have is the will to struggle.
SPURLOCK: Yes. SMITH: I don't have anything else. I don't have anyone I call on. I don't have any outside help. I have given up being happy almost you can say. It is like my only happiness now is my family, so otherwise. I don't really have anything else to be happy for.
SPURLOCK: Yes. What do you think would change things? What would turn it around?
SMITH: Hit the lottery.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: But full time job and I will feel like that is asking for much. I was just asking for comfort.
SPURLOCK: Yes. Where do you feel like you are in the economic ladder?
SMITH: About a max away from the bottom.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
SMITH: If we could it like that.
SPURLOCK: (INAUDIBLE).
SMITH: Yes.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
SMITH: Train in water and I can't swim.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
SMITH: Yes.
SPURLOCK: It is a grim reality that when all that said and done, Celia only earns around $13,000 a year. While across town, John is making millions.
I mean, for me, it is kind of mind-blowing. And you ask her like what's the one thing that would, you know, would change your life, she said a full-time job. That's it.
So, why is it so difficult for Celia and so many other to find employment?
It partly comes down to profit-driven business models that are built around low-wage work and part-time jobs that provide benefits. But it also comes down to basic supply and demand.
Technological advancement and globalization have less than the demand for well-paying blue collar jobs here in the U.S. Also, the state of organized labor where 34 percent of American workers wants protected by unions, only about 11 percent are unionized today.
Bearing the branch of that John (INAUDIBLE), they guy who came in to TCA and signed of food stamps.
He was a mason. He like the construction, was a bricklayer, lost his job. He hasn't working in five years which I am even more of the blown away by.
I'm going to visit him in his home in the 9th ward (ph) and find out why he thinks it has been so difficult to catch a break.
What were the circumstances you think that led you from where you were in Detroit to here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably it was two main things. One was my house payment changed from later on from $500 a month to right around $1100 a month. And right within the few months of time in that happening, the work started to dry up for the union, you know. It is just wasn't there.
SPURLOCK: As a foreman for his union back in Detroit, John says he was once grow on his way to achieving the American dream earning up with $30 an hour. But as union jobs became fewer and further between, his wage just plummeted and things started to spiral for John and his family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we were doing everything we could, you know, and it just fell apart. There was nothing anyone can do. And instead of going to the long foreclosure process, we just decided to hand him the deed.
SPURLOCK: What would it take kind of get you out of where you are, do you think, would change everything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A job, making a middle class wage. I mean, how else can you put it, you know.
SPURLOCK: Why do you think it has been so hard for to find work?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After being told no so many times, you know, the fire has burnt out a little bit. I don't have a lot of hope.
SPURLOCK: What's your hope for Sean?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, like every parent, I don't want him to feel the weight of the world. I don't want him to be afraid, you know. We always want our children to do better, right? That was he thing with America since way back, you know, that our children will do a little bit better, get a little further and (INAUDIBLE).
SPURLOCK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's what I want for him. That's why when I hear and say things like I want to be a doctor, dad. I'm so happy to hear you say things like that. But it is so scary that he will have to deal with things that he has no business dealing with, you know?
SPURLOCK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like the surge (ph) of drugs and violence, man, it is just absolutely pervasive.
SPURLOCK: So, do you see that in your neighborhood here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see it often down the block, I mean. And you know, I can't afford to live anywhere else, man. You know what I mean?
SPURLOCK: I mean, I feel like he personally deals kind of broken. And he is like millions of people in this country, he go through it, you know, on a daily basis.
But just because opportunity is strict so far out of John's reach, does it have to be the same story for his son, Sean? After all, without the promise that things will improve for the next generation, where does that leave us?
There has to be a breaking point that isn't just poor people, you know. The question is what can we do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if it is through taxes or charity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we'd all love to get paid more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More jobs to be created here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More affordable housing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Affordable health care.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To access to good education and --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps tax those who have more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Falls upon the average person who actually understand through the rich and through the poor because I don't think they do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And people think that they are giving this, those that chose to be lazy and beyond welfare. But in reality, there is people who actually need it.
SPURLOCK: There is got to be a way where things can change for the better.
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SPURLOCK (voice-over): This week I'm down in New Orleans getting to know some of the city's 99 percent and also some of the one percent. It is starting to seem like these days the American dream comes with the price tag, and the more money you have, the more likely you are to achieve it. Take John (INAUDIBLE), for example, the millionaire attorney who will be throwing a fund-raiser for TCA. His money affords him the opportunity to take huge risks that might lead to even greater profits and in turn, greater opportunities. But there is a reason that John seems to empathize with the 99 percent, because he used to be one of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was born, my father made $1,500 for the whole year.
SPURLOCK: So like he made $100 a month?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You know, my mother and father tell a story about being on food assistance, and it was really hard waiting in a waiting room for food assistance. The lie that people have told the middle-class is that people are poor because it is easier to be poor. It is not easy being poor. It is much less work to have a good job than to have to live that kind of a life.
SPURLOCK: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They worked and they clawed their way up, and they got out of it, but I understand how incredibly lucky, because there a lo a lot of people who work really hard who don't get the breaks.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we don't have safety nets, for hardworking people who can't get a break --
SPURLOCK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- then it is ultimately going to come back to us. I think it ultimately comes back to us kind of not having an uneducated American public, I think it also comes back to us having a sick America public. I think it comes back into people that don't have the options that I had, and turn to crime or in desperation turn to other thing. What the rich need to understand is that what is good for me is sometimes also what is good for my neighbor.
SPURLOCK: Your wealthy friends must think that you are crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of them do. Why do you want to vote for a party that wants to raise your taxes?
SPURLOCK: Although one percenters like John maybe few and far between, he is not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I want to go and then you will go.
SPURLOCK: Meet the smart capitalist for American prosperity, a group of wealthy business leaders that has have been lobbying Congress and President Obama to increase the federal minimum wage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is past time for the minimum wage to rise to the level that approaches the poverty levels of this nation. SPURLOCK: The group is made up of well known industry moguls from both sides of the aisle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are absolutely members of the one percent, and they employ people, they invest in companies. These are people who have tremendous power and tremendous wealth and they have great access to our lawmakers and they have decided to say, this is something that is good for all Americans, let's raise the American wage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now it is $7.25 an hour. We are here to implore this Congress the raise it to $10.10 quickly and to index it thereafter.
SPURLOCK: And although at first glance, it might look like a charity mission, it is anything but that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So one of our smart capitalists of the Ben and Jerry fame said to me, you know, he said Erica, there is so much chunky monkey one rich guy can eat. If you raise the minimum wage, more people have more money, they can spend some of that money on ice cream and Ben and Jerry's says better, profit goes up, they employ more people, it is a virtual circle.
SPURLOCK: It is view echoed by economists who say that although some equality is needed for capitalism to work, we reached the tipping point. So much inequality is now undermining the growth of our economy.
Unlike the 99 percent who spend their money, the one percent save or invest their money at a much higher rate, most of which won't trickle down to benefit the rest of the economy. But you might ask, how does it affect you, as the consumer, if the minimum wage goes up? Turns out, not much at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the United States passed the $10.10 wage, that growth now has been proposed in Congress, the increase in prices would be a small fraction of the one percent, the total cost to the Walmart shopper would be $12.50 per year.
SPURLOCK: And today, it is not just the smart capitalists taking a stand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.
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OBAMA: Now, it was one year ago today that I first asked Congress to raise the federal minimum wage. So over the past year, the failure of Congress to act was the equivalent of a $200 pay cut for these folks for the typical minimum wage worker, and that is a month worth of groceries and so while Congress decide what it's going to do, today, I am going to do what I can to help raise working Americans' wages.
(APPLAUSE) SPURLOCK: President Obama is signing an executive order that will raise the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 an hour, but for the rest of the American workers to also get a raise, it is up to the members of Congress to act.
OBAMA: Members of Congress, you can help to help people make progress in their lives or you can hinder the progress.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The country is watching. And this is a first step, people will see what happens today and they will say, I can call my congressman or I can call my senator and then all of the sudden, we got a bunch of consumers with a bunch more money to spend, and businesses speeding, and more people hiring, and America is back on track again.
SPURLOCK: The truth is to passing the minimum wage to $10.10 is probably still not enough. But back in New Orleans, it is pretty obvious that even a little extra help would go a long way.
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SPURLOCK: It has been an eye-opening week for me in New Orleans. I'm beginning to really understand what it really means to live at both ends of the economic spectrum. And tonight, I'm returning to John's home for the fund-raiser that we had planned. We are throwing an auction with all of the proceeds going to TCA.
There it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh.
SPURLOCK: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The retail for this one is $25,000.
SPURLOCK: $25,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
SPURLOCK: Franco brought some earrings. Having known John now and this kind of circle of friends for awhile, he predicts $15,000 to $20,000. That will be the auction all afford. So, that would be amazing.
Now, we have to pry people with lots of booze.
I have a goal in mind of how much money we should raise. TCA's president Thelma French told me the largest private donation they ever got was $1,000. So hopefully tonight, we will raise much more than that.
Everybody! Can we have your attention, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, all of you for coming. I was called not too long ago and I met Morgan Spurlock. He has been spending days in New Orleans, and he has been talking to different people in this city about what does it take to make it, what are the things that stand in your way, and we decided that we would have some friends over to talk about this.
SPURLOCK: So while we are actually having dinner the other night, and as we were talking about people making a difference and giving back is when I basically conned him and suckered him into having this benefit here tonight. I said, if we really want to do something, why don't we try to the raise some money for TCA? Why wouldn't we try and help the folks there.
This year, they are celebrating their 50th anniversary and there are about 62,000 people in New Orleans that go through the doors of TCA every year. It is an incredible place with such a huge impact, and the people, and even the people who work there are remarkable.
So tonight, we can start to chip away and give them a chance. So, with the help of Franco who is here tonight. He has been so generous to donate a pair of earrings tonight. And going to bring those up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And retail, $25,000.
SPURLOCK: Let me just add one thing that the largest donation that they have ever gotten from a private individual is $1,000. So they are going to start at $1,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, who will give me $2,000.
SPURLOCK: Who has $2,000.
We have got $5,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who else?
SPURLOCK: And $8,000. We have $8,000. Who is going $10,000.
And look at that, you have $10,000. How about 12?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love my wife.
SPURLOCK: You men should feel terrible. He is going $14,500. How about $15,000? Big John is going $15,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love my wife the most apparently.
SPURLOCK: And $17,000. You are still saving money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $18,500.
SPURLOCK: And $18,500 going once, twice, sold to our amazing host, and let's hear it for John.
One more thing, as I said, the largest donation was $1,000, and who is in this room would be willing to donate $1,000 right now to help this charity. Raise your hands. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. One more.
SPURLOCK: There is $9,000, and $10,000. And there is $10 and who can commit to $500? We got three. OK. There is another $1,500, and now I want to make it easy for everybody. Everybody else who has not raised their hand, who give $100? OK. So there we go another $1,500, fantastic, guys. Thank you. Give yourself a round of applause.
Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Grammy Award winner Ertha Mayfield, ladies and gentlemen. Make some noise.
It was a pretty amazing night. We raised $31,000, which at the end of the day is not going to solve everything at TCA, but it will start to at least lessen the burden. So I can't wait to go Mrs. French her check for $31,000 which is like 31 times the largest she has ever got. She in somewhere. I think ultimately beginning from a place where you say it is not all about me. But what can I do? What can I do to help someone is the next step.
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SPURLOCK (voice-over): It was my last day in New Orleans and I'm on my way this morning to TCA to give them the checks from the fund- raiser that we had at John's house, and we raised $31,000. I mean, we raised more than, you know a lot of people make in a year.
You know, this money is going to help 30 people who work at TCA who make $10.10 next year. Take care of the families a little bit better and have a little bit more stability, a little bit more security and in fact, this money has is going towards the people who help so many others, I think it is the best thing.
Good morning, Ms. Sidney.
MONROE: Good morning.
SPURLOCK: How are you?
MONROE: Good to see you.
SPURLOCK: Good to see you. How's everything?
MONROE: Everything is well, thank you for asking.
SPURLOCK: Do you want to go with me to see Mrs. French, quick?
MONROE: Sure.
SPURLOCK: OK. Go grab Lawyer, too. So you want to come upstairs to talk to Mrs. French real quick. Put on the handsome hat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. SPURLOCK: Good morning. How are you? Good to see you.
FRENCH: How was the weekend?
SPURLOCK: It was fantastic. I had a great weekend, great time here. I grabbed them, because they were such a fantastic inspirations for me over the course of the last week, and to kind of --
FRENCH: I hope so.
SPURLOCK: And you know, I love so much what you are doing here, and how many people you are helping and the impact that you have, and we had a fund-raiser on Friday for you at a local guy's house who donated his house, and invited all of his friends.
FRENCH: I need him as a champion.
SPURLOCK: He is a big champion. But we raised $31,000 for you.
FRENCH: Oh, wonderful. Oh, thank you so much.
SPURLOCK: There are checks, there is cash.
FRENCH: I cannot thank you enough. We appreciate this so much, and I don't know how the tell you, this is the first time anyone has done anything of this level for TCA, and we are very grateful.
SPURLOCK: What has become obvious to me when it comes to income inequality is that there needs to be an opportunity for the people at the bottom the push them back up, and push them into the middle-class to give them hope in their lives.
You know, I believe that things can be better. But it is going to take more than government intervention, or rich people giving money. It is going take a collective change with all of us where we say this place can be better, our country can be better, we deserve better, but it is going to come down the you and I doing that together.
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