Scott Pelley brings “60 Minutes” cameras back to central Florida to document another form of family homelessness: kids and their parents forced to live in cars
(CBS News) More than 16 million children are now living in poverty and, for many of them, a proper home is elusive. Some cash-strapped families stay with relatives; others move into motels or homeless shelters. But, as Scott Pelley reports, sometimes those options run out, leaving an even more desperate choice: living in their cars. 60 Minutes returns to Florida, home to one third of America’s homeless families, to find out what life is like for the epidemic’s youngest survivors.
Web Extras
- 60 Minutes Over Time A reporter’s story: Finding homeless families
- Growing up homeless
- “Lord Have Mercy”
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Special thanks to Fannie Mae, since they’ve undoubtedly helped quite a few people to the street.
Thank you so very much for posting this Sixty Minutes story. Wow. Amazing and scary. I have shared it with my children this evening. It just took my breath away.
Thank you again.
I experienced a range of emotions watching this video – anger, sadness, hopelessness and even pride. The children interviewed were exceptional. And more mature than most adults I know. Their parents should be very, very proud of them. And against what I’m sure popular opinion would be, I think the parents have every right to be proud of themselves.
How many families have to lose their homes before the average american wakes up to what is happening in this country? How many bright, educated children have to end up sleeping in cars or trucks before we decide as a country, “Enough!” How many more billions upon billions of dollars and lives do we need to waste in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. before we decide it is time to take care of our own?
I forgot to add one emotion to my list at the beginning – pissed. I am pissed off that as a country we do not take care of our own. I am pissed that the same americans who open their wallets to foreigners when there is a natural disaster look down their noses at fellow citizens who fall upon hard times through no fault of their own. Wake the hell up America! While it might not be you that ends up sleeping in a car or on a park bench, maybe it will be your neighbor, or the lady you met at the PTA meeting or the cook who used to make your breakfast at the diner that closed. Wake the hell up – before it is too late.
Could not have said it better.
All true…no one is safe…So many are just one job loss or small business loss away from where we all were at the begining of this manufactured financial crisis…Many do not realize they are robbing peter to pay paul or they are doing without things…This is very sneaky, strategic class warfare…This was a well planned scheme/scam….The masterfullness of the way this is playing out is sinister and incredibly alarming…. I hope the people wake up before one day they all wake up homeless and broke..One thing to really be aware of is when the Government says they want to “fix” our problems….They caused this…Reject their “fixes” because that is what they want…….Communism….. and that is how they will steal our country….
We must “BE the people” and fight against the social injustice that is rampant in this country. I’m fighting by trying to get people to see and protest the corruption in this Wall Street Government. A part of my protest is heard in Main and Wall, a song I wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq9xUPSPW7U
This should not be happening…This is proof that our Government is a complete corrupt failure….! They broke the social contract, now the people must revolt on everything…! Stop conforming and complying to this tyranny..Stop using their banks, their credit and debit…We need a Nationwide Mortgage Revolt and then a Natiowide Property Tax Revolt… hide the cash..pay cash for everything…they want to take away the paper currency and only have electonic wealth…that is TYRANNY!! Throw the fascists out of office!
“The City Beautiful”… sadly I have lived in Central Florida since 1972. This issue is not improving. We as a society have got to get our arms around this. Record corporate profits and 25-30% of our own children not being properly nourished?? Go figure..
This is truly sad, but shame on those parents for not saving when the good times were around. Now is the time where you should have already prepared your family for what’s coming and have enough local resources that you can live off grid if need be for an extended period. And lastly, keep it all a secret from everyone.
What was tinfoil a few years ago is now reality.
ZEE…Shame on you for blaming the vicitims!…When you lose your livelihood and don’t have an income..savings goes faster than you think…..They stole most of the peoples 401K money and other investments…..Again I say, Shame on you…! The American people got taken to the cleaners by these crooked GSE’s and WALL STREET and the CORRUPT POLITICIANS ALLOWED IT AND GOT RICH OFF OUR BACKS AS WELL..! They should be forced to pay back the American People for all of the fraud they committed in our names……$600 TRILLION IN MORTGAGE DERIVATIVES FRAUD WITH ZERO COLLATERAL…THESE CROOKS ARE WHO NEED TO PAY THEIR BILLS…NOT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!
Zee you sound like you work for a bank or you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth. You have no idea what you are talking about, NONE. I really like your last sentence, “keep it all a secret from everyone”. WTF comment is that???? Why don’t you wake up and take those blinders off and take a real look at what is going on???? Or is that too scary for you???
The bankers aren’t going to jail..period. They own the justice department. I started with nothing, like most, but didn’t spend lavishly like everyone around me on Lancruisers, McMansions and plasmas. Now that all this is coming home to roost with these massive debt loads, you are indicating the prudent savers like myself should be punished for preparing? Not scary at all..am enjoying my savings quite nicely and sleep well at night, but thanks for asking.
Landcruisers, Mc Mansions and plasmas? I for one, have never owned a new car, put $100,000 dollars down on a $ 290,000 house in 1992 which I fully qualified for the loan….We had perfect credit and it still took 3 months to get approved and I have never owned a plasma tv either….We lost our small business when the credit crisis hit..Like most we were vicitims of what the criminal GSE’s and WALL STREET did when they intentionally collapsed the economy by insider trading because they could not longer keep up with all of their debt that they created out of thin air backed by zero…As far as none of the banksters going to jail…they will pay for what they did one way or another because every dog has their day…What this is was another Hitler Plan by the ruling elite..and Obama spoke the truth when he said that the people got into this mess through no fault of their own…..This was a set up to fail so they could steal everything from the people…and it was intentional..Blaming the victims is what the Nazis did after the Holocaust, they blamed the Jews for their own massacre and said they all died because they were cowards…Beware of blaming people because they might just come for you, no one is safe.
watching the 60 minutes segment was so heartbreaking,
especially hearing the little boy say that he couldn’t sleep in the car
because he was afraid for his mother.
i don’t believe that the parents of any of those kids squandered money on landcruisers, mcmansions or plasma TV.
the global economy was destroyed by the securitization ponzi scheme.
people lost their jobs, their homes and their money.
blame the crooked banks and wall street and not their victims.
typical troll—choosing a nic that is almost like a long time poster on this forum..
See=compassionate person
Zee=paid troll
if Zee sleeps well at night it means one of 2 things, either Zee takes a sleeping pill or has no empathy.
I’m getting paid? nice..when are you sending the check?
Reality is brutal – you would do good to deal with it, but not everyone has the spine for what it takes.
zee,
i deal with “brutal reality” every day of my life.
if you are not a paid troll, you are simply oppositional and like to stir the pot.
why do you badger people on this site who are fighting fraudclosure?
maybe we can take up a collection and pay you to go away …
i think it is safe to say that most people on this forum did not overspend on ANYTHING judging
from their posts.
Zee, do you think you are one of those ‘perfect’ people who feels they are better a better person because you prepared and can live on your savings? Who cares what you live on and good for you for preparing and saving. Consider yourself lucky. And where in my post did I say you should be punished for saving? Honest, decent, hardworking people lost their jobs, savings, retirements because of dishonest people. You are assuming that eveyone overspent, you have no idea. That is why I said take your blinders off. To come on this site and demoralize people for something they had no control over shows me that you ARE scared. Because on day, honey, it may be all over for you also. Lots of honest people who planned and saved thought it would never happen to them and it did.
all these are the beginning of sorrows
matthew 24: 8
I agree chunga…..this is an incredibly evil plan we are all living.many do not realize the truth is that.no one is safe..everyone still working is just one job or business loss away from us…and these Global Fascists are coming to steal everything from the 99%..They want a Global Tyranny, no ownership of anything of value for all of us….they already socialized all of their debt onto all of us…now what they want is COMMUNISM….They want to steal every home from the people if you can’t pay a mortgage….and impose the mortgage through a Global Tax…like a property tax where you will NEVER OWN YOUR HOME…WE THE PEOPLE MUST REJECT ALL OF THEIR FIXES FOR ALL OF THEIR FRAUD…!
These fascists are INTENTIONALLY bankrupting the American people in order to create Global Poverty and their “FIX” for the poverty that they are intentionally creating will be….. COMMUNISM..NO OWNERSHIP OF ANYTHING…WE WILL BE RENTERS OF EVERYTHING….WE WILL ALL BE WORKING ON CORPORATE AMERICAS SLAVE PLANTATION FOR TEN BUCKS AN HOUR..NO ONE WILL BE BETTER OFF THAN THE NEXT GUY….when that happens and it is almost here…..then it will be to late…the next step will be TOTALITARIANISM……and no one will want to live under that tyranny…..!
Please Watch! Its an older video, but its a good one. Ron Paul Revolution 2012!
This is beyond sad wow
Scott Pelley goes to the heart of the American problem, again.
This is a picture of how close we ALL are to the total devastation of the American family in the greatest country! This is way beyond all human comprehension and yet it hangs in the balance of all of our lives like a predator lurking in the dark.
So true Bobbi, it is no way to live and they know it…That is what is so evil about it…Not too many attorneys fighting for the property rights of the people and all the POLITICIANS and the MEDIA except for Dylan and RT NEWS, stand there and just lie and deceive the people about everything so that one day the people will wake up homeless and broke in the land their forefathers conquered..Just like we were warned would happen if the banks were allowed to buy our politicians in order to weaken our Constitution and Bill of Rights by controlling our currency and write the laws of the land…Too many traitors..and the people keep voting for the bastards and things just keep getting worse and worse.