CHESSNOID

I always enjoy watching these PBS Frontline shows. They are more objective and always put together very well. The good thing is if you miss the actual show, they give you the opportunity to watch it online anytime. Again, extremely informative and personal thanks to YC for letting me know about it.

I must warn you that this particular video is based on real lives and the stories are both sad and depressing.  Hopefully, when you are finished watching, you will realize how lucky you are.  I know I am blessed and am grateful for everything.

As the U.S. unemployment rate hits a 25-year high and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hits a six-year low, award-winning FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel chronicles the recession’s impact on one unlikely American neighborhood — New York’s Upper East Side.

In Close to Home, Bikel sets up her cameras in the hair salon she’s patronized for 20 years. It’s an intimate space where she has come to know well the surprisingly diverse clientele — from athletic trainers and housewives to high-end bankers, actors and opera singers. Despite expectations that this neighborhood is a secure bastion of privilege, these days, when clients get in the chair, they offer a window into the country in recession: Some are broke, others don’t have a plan, and they’re all looking to commiserate.

Deborah Boles, the owner and sole hairdresser at Deborah Hair Designs, started the business in 1985. “I wanted a place where people can go and they can feel comfortable,” she says. “They know they belong here.” But it’s all on the line with the current downturn — clients come less often; some skip coloring or skip the trim — and as Deborah watches neighboring businesses go under, she wonders how long she can survive.

Barbara, Deborah’s sister, helps out at the salon, but she has been struggling with her own economic crisis. After buying a home in Florida at the height of the market, she now has a subprime mortgage that she can no longer afford. Unable to pay the exorbitant interest, she has had to take in four tenants, each with their own stories of foreclosure and unemployment.