Oprah on the Recession

“Did you know that you can buy a house for $100?” my friend asked before launching into a story about her discovery of a foreclosure website. If only, I thought, my student budget would allow me to purchase a house like that at this point in our economic recession—never mind that it’s probably located in rural Montana. But this is certainly the type of opportunity that could turn a hefty profit in a few years.

…And this was the first thought that came to my mind when talking about foreclosure. For far too many American families, their first thought is more along the lines of, “Will my house soon be advertised on such a website?”
With a tinge of guilt, I must admit that the current economic situation has not affected me very much. Sure, I’m learning to manage my money better but only in the sense that anyone who just got her first credit card might have to. I buy gas, food, and clothing about the same as I always have. I hardly think twice about going out for dinner or drinks. Or spending $10 at the movie theater ($9 with student ID).

But many people have to think more about these things…if they can at all. This might sound cliché but it was an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show that opened my eyes to the suffering that many Americans are experiencing—particularly in the wake of the recent tidal wave of home foreclosures.

Oprah’s special reporter, Lisa Ling visited her hometown of Sacramento, the most devastated city in the U.S. in terms of foreclosures and job loss. An epidemic that is affecting the whole country is most prevalent in Sac. This epidemic is the “tent city,” where hundreds of people are forced to live in tents because they do not have a home. Picture a refugee camp, right here in the U.S. In Sac there is an estimated 1,200 people living in these makeshift towns. These people are far from the grungy bums we are used to seeing on street corners. Rather, they are people—or families—that lost their jobs and then lost their houses. And the reason they are living in a tent? Because the city’s homeless shelters are already too full.

They used to have jobs in construction, truck driving, or car sales—the first services that were cut in this recession. Now they have to worry about things like where to get clean water—and let me remind you this is not some Third World country I am talking about, it’s our backyard. The residents report missing the luxuries of their life before. “I miss looking like a girl,” says Tammy, a 47-year-old resident of Sac’s Tent City.


For more insight into what’s actually going on, I highly suggest you check out this segment of Oprah.com.

Although Oprah is known for sensationalizing people’s tragedies, I see no harm in putting a human face to what we hear on the news everyday. It certainly opened my eyes and I’ve realized that something needs to be done to help these people. Afterall, this is America and there should be no reason why hard-working individuals should not be making a fair wage. I must admit that I am skeptical about President Obama’s approach; I don’t believe shallow, short-term fixes are going to cure this kind of problem. I am anxious and a little scared to see what type of effect the government’s actions will have on the economy in the next few years. In the meantime my sympathy and concern goes out to those suffering the most.

Laura Woods