- 57 minutes ago
One family struggles with rising costs, another with immigration detention, while critics question political influence of tech billionaires. Three stories about the state of America.
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00:08The U.S. midterm elections on the 3rd of November are extremely important for President Trump.
00:15That's because they determine whether the Republicans retain their majorities in the
00:19House of Representatives and the Senate, and whether Trump can pass legislation and control
00:24the federal budget. But the mood is gloomy. Many are dissatisfied with high energy prices
00:30and Trump's war with Iran. Others stand by him. And what does the American middle class
00:36think?
00:47Oh my God. You know, like, I feel like we have nothing. It really is upsetting. It's upsetting.
00:53You know, the expression we use around here is, we're robbing Peter to pay Paul.
00:57A lot of the things that I am dealing with are completely out of my control.
01:05In the United States, few topics are as emotional as affordability.
01:11According to a recent Pew Research survey, economic anxiety is running deep in the country.
01:16Nearly 70% say they're very concerned about health care costs, and roughly two-thirds feel
01:21the same about food and housing. But the biggest jump was gas prices, concern nearly doubled since January
01:282026. Affordability is a word everyone uses, but not everyone agrees on what it means. Not even economists.
01:38Right now, we're measuring it by how upset people are about how much goods and services cost.
01:46But the thoughts of an affordability crisis really have emerged in the last five years,
01:52starting with the big upswing in inflation after COVID.
01:58Three average American families in three different corners of the country.
02:03Richard and his family in Little Rock run a community pantry out of their home.
02:08That's alongside his day job. But the pantry is getting expensive too.
02:13From needing around $300 of donations a week just two years ago, Richard says it now takes $450 to run.
02:21And those dollars are getting harder to come by.
02:25So this is our back stock for our pantry.
02:28Usually in this area, we have lots of food. In the good times, we have shelves that are completely full.
02:37From the front to the back, you know, different items, not just quantity, but also in variety.
02:43And as things have kind of progressed along economically, we've seen some drop off in donation.
02:50Our canned vegetables. This area, it represents what used to be here.
02:55There used to be more vegetables and soups and things like that kind of running low.
03:02This year, for the first time since we started doing this, we not only had a single day where we
03:09did not have supplies to put out. We had an entire week where there was nothing to put out.
03:14We had nothing to give. The donations had dried up and there was just nothing there.
03:24That at a time where people's needs are becoming more obvious.
03:29There wasn't a time really where I would get a lot of people outside asking me, hey,
03:34when are you going to stock the pantry? When are you going to stock the pantry?
03:37But I'm starting to see an increase in that now. I'm seeing more and more people,
03:42just as I'm outside doing regular household things, people are asking me, hey, when are you going to
03:47stock the pantry? I get two or three people who might stop me, stop me in the same day and
03:51ask me
03:52that question. I get a lot more kids like, you know, asking me, hey, do you have cereal? Things like
03:58that. So yeah, there's definitely a, I see an increase in need and the way people are approaching it.
04:06Richard says he doesn't pay much attention to politics, but he does see a connection between
04:11decisions made far from his neighborhood and what happens in it. I remember when President Trump
04:17started the 47th presidency, you know, there, there was all these things where he'd say, oh,
04:23we're going to do this. And you would see the market shift based on his word, not even on an
04:28action,
04:29just on his word. And so when those kinds of actions that a president can take affect people's
04:35lives, they have to be cautious with their words. So I, I see how some of those geopolitical things
04:42do trickle down to the everyday people. I think what needs to happen is that politicians need to focus
04:49on making things right for people. In Long Island, Crystal Pepe says she supports President Trump's
04:57moves on the economy and Trump himself. She's been in addiction recovery for 10 years and has done much
05:04to rebuild her life. Now she's a substance use peer counselor, but being in a better place still
05:11isn't the same as being in an easy one. I only work part time. So I only bring in, um,
05:20a little bit over a thousand a month. Um, total with my, with my son working too, we probably bring
05:30in
05:31maybe three, maybe if that rent, um, is about 17. Um, so we're at more than half. Yeah. Crystal also
05:47gets some help from the government. Her household receives SNAP benefits. That's the federal program
05:52that helps low income Americans pay for groceries. But the rules were changed under new laws passed in
05:57the Trump administration, requiring more adults in the household to prove they're working, volunteering
06:02or training at least 80 hours a month to keep their share of the benefit. One of Crystal's sons is
06:07working. The other is still looking for a job. That's why we got cut down, um, $200 because, um, they
06:15consider my younger son able to work and he's not working right now. Although I know my son has been
06:23having a hard time trying to get a job. It's very frustrating. It's very frustrating, you know? Um,
06:30and like, I don't want to be on it for the rest of my life, you know? But unfortunately at
06:36these
06:36moments, I need it right now. Crystal may have seen her SNAP benefits reduced, but since the rules
06:43changed, many people stopped getting assistance at all. The number of people on SNAP has fallen by more
06:48than 5.4 million, a 13% drop since the law was signed in July, 2025, according to official U
06:55.S.
06:55Department of Agriculture data. The number of people on SNAP fell from just over 42 million
07:00in July, 2025 to about 36.6 million by May, 2026. Despite all this, Crystal says she understands where
07:09the president is coming from. Listen, Trump is a businessman. So he's gonna, he's gonna try to
07:18figure out like what's going on with the money in the government agencies. But I do know that
07:26Trump is trying to get us back to where we're supposed to be in the world, you know? Um, with
07:32people not scamming, with people, you know, not having to be on these benefits when they really
07:40should not be. Um, you know, um, it, it, it didn't, he's not doing this to hurt anybody. He's doing
07:49this
07:49to try to better our government, right? It's not that she thinks he's doing a perfect job. Good ex.
08:00I mean, I definitely wouldn't give him an A. Um, hard to get. Yeah. Um, I'd probably give him a
08:07C.
08:09Yeah, a C. Things could be better.
08:18Tori Baggett lives in Pennsylvania. She loves her letter printing business, but it's hard to make a
08:23lot of money with it. Trump administration tariffs on her important inputs, like paper,
08:29nearly doubled her material costs, she says, and prices are still running about 30% higher than
08:34they were a year and a half ago. That hurt a lot too, because, you know, you, again, that's like
08:41the
08:41cost has to come from somewhere and it's like the money that I would take home from a job is
08:45sort of
08:45where it comes out. It just eats out of the money that goes into my pocket. But it isn't her
08:51business
08:51costs that are her biggest worry. So I have, um, hypermobility spectrum disorder. Um, Ehlers-Danlos is
08:59sort of the broader umbrella, um, of what I have going on. And, uh, I am lucky in the fact
09:06that I
09:07am relatively stable in that condition, but it does affect, um, my, uh, ligaments, joints. Um,
09:14I, I basically have chronic pain is sort of the overarching things.
09:23People like Tori who don't get health insurance through an employer can buy coverage through a
09:27government marketplace. Enhanced tax credits kept that cost somewhat lowered for years,
09:32but those expired at the end of 2025 after Congress failed to renew them. The Kaiser Family Foundation
09:39says the average premium payment jumped its highest point in six years. So right now it's $365 a month.
09:46I have the exact same plan I had two years ago and two years ago it was $190 a month.
09:55So it went
09:55same plan, nothing changed. The only thing I lost was the, um, there was a help that I got from
10:01like
10:01government subsidies basically to like help cut the cost of that. Three average American families who
10:08aren't the worst off, but certainly not the best middle class are close enough to it in three very
10:14different corners of the country. And yet none of them feel like they're making strides into the
10:19future. A feeling shared by families across America and one that could reshape this country's political
10:26landscape.
10:32Trump's stricter immigration policies are also facing criticism. Deportations, arrests, even at schools,
10:40arbitrary checks and family separations continue. Affecting even people who have committed only minor
10:48offenses or none at all. One case from Oklahoma illustrates how an entire family is suffering
10:55financially as a result.
11:02I want to say my biggest two worries are my car and my loans. Um, because if I get behind
11:08on my
11:08loans, I can't go back to school. Um, so, and I can't get my car repo because I needed to
11:13move. Um,
11:14so those are my biggest two and insurance. Do you have money left in the bank?
11:18No, I paid my insurance today. So I have like 70 cents, I think. Yeah. How do you decide sort
11:25of
11:25what gets paid each month and what doesn't? Like how do you sort of pray over time?
11:30Um, it's, it honestly comes based off of cutoff notices. Uh, my car almost got repoed two weeks ago,
11:37because I hadn't made a payment. And so I made that payment. Um, and then it's just based off
11:42of that really, it's just whichever one's about to get cut off and or taken away first.
11:47Like when did you first notice that it was hard to keep up?
11:50Around March is when things kind of really hit because we were barely keeping up with our own
11:55bills. Um, me personally, and I know my brothers as well, we're barely keeping up with their own things.
12:00So adding on my mom's on top of it, it just felt just like an immediate hit to all of
12:08our finances.
12:16On February 14, Diana Nungare's mother, Maria, was arrested in Valleybrook, Oklahoma, after a traffic
12:24stop. The police eventually turned her over to immigration authorities and she's been detained in
12:29this correctional facility since then. One of tens of thousands swept up in an ongoing immigration
12:34crackdown. Oh my God, I'm so sorry. That's actually my mom.
12:48Hello?
12:48Hello?
12:49How are you?
12:50How are you?
12:52Good. How are you?
12:53Good. I've been looking for books because I have no books to read but no one has.
12:58And so many things like that.
12:59Don't worry. We're fine.
13:02I'm fine.
13:03I love you.
13:06I love you too.
13:08Relax.
13:09Relax.
13:10Relax.
13:11Okay, Mom.
13:13I love you so much.
13:14Bye.
13:15Bye.
13:15I love you too.
13:16Bye.
13:17Okay, sorry. She never gets emotional with me. That's crazy.
13:21Are you okay?
13:22Yeah, it's just, I guess like a lot of her stressors, like, um, so we were just talking
13:27about it and just saying how like stressed she was and how much she wanted to get out,
13:32you know, she was praying to get out and stuff.
13:35Diana was a working student, one year from finishing a double major in neuroscience and
13:40psychology in Colorado, which came home to Oklahoma for a school break. She never made it back.
13:45Her mother's detention forced Diana to stay to manage the legal fight to bring Maria home
13:50and help her family shoulder bills they could no longer afford without her mother's income.
13:55The effect of Maria's arrest rippled through the entire family.
14:00It's definitely been hard. We're all really, really close with my mom. I mean, my mom's the glue,
14:05the rock to our family. She was the one who helped my family get jobs, whether that be for my
14:10grandma
14:10to my brothers. We all work in construction. And so jobs are very finicky. They can come and they can
14:17go. And my mom was the one who had the most resources to helping anybody get a job because she
14:23knew so many people. And it's been heavy because not only did we lose that amount of job resources,
14:32but we also were stacked on all of her bills and her financial responsibilities.
14:38This came at a time where, to Diana, Maria's immigration saga had seemed nearly over.
14:43Her green card petition was approved and a biometrics appointment was set,
14:46one of the last steps before a decision. Detention changed that. But this isn't just an immigration
14:52case. It's a crisis that's pushed the family to the financial edge and put Diana's own education
14:58and career on hold. She's now working a combination of jobs to stay on top of their mounting costs,
15:03including the expenses linked to her mom's detention. The costs are ridiculous there. I put $25 in her
15:13phones like three days ago and it's already out. So it's just consistently that. And then commissary
15:18is also like $30. So it's just a weekly thing. It's a weekly expense. And it really does pile up,
15:24especially because my mom was such a breadwinner in our family. It's so weird having to put things in
15:31for her and her lawyer costs. And then all of the bills at her house, because everything just feels
15:37piled up since everything came out as a surprise. It's just, it's very, it's really difficult.
15:42Everything's just stacked on top of each other.
15:47It's so dark.
16:00Yeah, I was supposed to get my air conditioning fixed, but it was like $300 for a new compressor.
16:05I just can't really do that right now. And then my car payments are $2.50 every two weeks.
16:11Yeah, I'm really behind on my car payments right now.
16:14For Deanna, life right now is about subtraction. What she can live without.
16:21Like I'll eat like once a day. It's easier to buy fast food because I make chicken and I make
16:27doubles
16:28both like, um, they're like $4 or $5 for two. Um, so that's kind of what I just eat. Like
16:36I'm a chicken
16:36and I'm a double a day. And then sometimes when I have like extra money, um, I'll get a pizza
16:42and
16:43not last me long. I don't eat much, but I think it's because I train my stomach not to eat
16:47much.
16:58Hi. Hi. Um, my name's Deanna. Remember? Yes.
17:02Many of Deanna's working days are very long, from staffing agency work to driving for Amazon
17:07and bartending nights. But today she's in court, or at least in her lawyer's office,
17:12for a virtual immigration court hearing set at short notice.
17:17So they will come to a decision today. Um, depending on the decision, we can appeal it.
17:22Um, so if they don't grant her, um, her green card today, because they're,
17:26if they do, they will be granting her her green card, um, if they approve it. And if not, then
17:32it can either go into deportation or it can go into an appeal and I can get it or we
17:37can file for an
17:39appeal. Um, but it's really depending on my mom. I mean, she's been in there six months and she's
17:45really wanting to get out. So I don't know if she's going to want to file an appeal or if
17:50she's
17:50going to sign for a voluntary deportation. Yeah. It's kind of the thing where you're hopeful for it,
17:56but also extremely, um, extremely nervous about what could happen, but ready just to get the answer
18:03and keep moving forward. Her brother is here too. The idea being that it could help
18:09Maria's case to get Deanna and Ramzel two U.S. citizens to testify about the impact their
18:14mother's deportation would have on them. I mean, I just don't understand how,
18:19you know, some people are just okay with taking families and, you know, ripping them apart.
18:28Where's where we do magic video court, multiple screens. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to
18:37view once they log in. Melissa Lujan is their immigration lawyer. She's been working on
18:42legalizing Maria's status since 2016. Now she's also working to get her out of detention.
18:49The case law says it's a balancing of the equities. So the judge has to look at those things,
18:53all the good things that I'm talking about, family ties, impact on U.S. citizen family members.
18:57Some judges are really moved by those kind of factors and, um, that matters to them. Anyone with loved
19:04ones in immigration proceedings understands what it means to wait. The 11 o'clock hearing gets pushed an
19:10hour, then two, then finally gets underway at 4 30. We're not allowed to observe the hearing,
19:16but we do learn what comes out of it. Unfortunately, we did not hear very good news. Um, the judge
19:24denied her
19:24case and so we had to file a motion to appeal. That means my mom can be detained anywhere from
19:31four to
19:33six months. For now, none of Diana's battles look like they'll be over soon,
19:38whether it's the struggle to reunite her family or the fight just to get by.
19:50They have an enormous amount of money and influence, tech entrepreneurs and billionaires.
19:58Elon Musk, for example, has already contributed a record $366 million to Trump's Republicans.
20:05He also monitors the entire globe via satellites and has access to vast amounts of data and information.
20:12And with that, he influences public opinion. Do people like this have too much power?
20:21Digital platforms have made our lives easier. The tech founders behind them have become impossibly
20:27wealthy and powerful. Perhaps too powerful? They control public, formerly public infrastructure.
20:34Does big tech now even pose a threat to democracy?
20:38We need to be a lot more cautious of what's happening.
20:43One person, one vote is a core democratic principle, meaning that everyone has an equal
20:48say in theory. But what about the super rich? The owners of Facebook, Amazon and Google each have
20:55fortunes worth between 200 and 300 billion dollars.
21:00And then there's Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet with an estimated wealth of almost 800
21:06billion. But with wealth comes influence, especially in the arena of political decision making.
21:12We have concrete examples that tech billionaires are not just financing parties and causes,
21:20but individual candidates and thereby have massive influence.
21:24If you look at the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, he would not have been able to become
21:31a senator,
21:32actually quite recently, five years ago, without the massive support of Peter Thiel and other tech
21:38billionaires who basically financed his election campaign and bought, in quotation mark, the election and
21:46the seat. The second issue is algorithms now deciding which content pops up in each online user's feed,
21:55meaning that the flow of information is fragmented. Public debate used to largely take place via mass
22:01media such as television and newspapers, meaning a limited number of outlets serving a large audience.
22:06So individuals could see and read the same thing and knew what was shaping public opinion.
22:12Social media is a different world of communication in which everyone is given a personalized feed,
22:17tailored to their profile. One thing, of course, is access to data and these data are controlled by
22:25a handful of companies worldwide. That is a huge problem. Britain's vote to leave the EU is often
22:33cited as an example of this kind of influence. After the referendum, it emerged that a private sector
22:39company had collected personal data from millions of Facebook users in order to target voters and
22:45influence the vote. Ten years on, similar influence can be exercised in the form of AI queries.
22:53The responses often seem balanced and objective, but are they really?
22:59Take Elon Musk. He's been a very vocal and high-profile supporter of the far-right AFD party in Germany.
23:07Plus, critics say his AI chatbot, Grok, has a similar political bias when answering questions.
23:13For instance, I have found in my recent study that the AI toolbox Grok by Elon Musk is basically
23:24running an election campaign for the AFD in Germany. And space has become another area where
23:29Musk enjoys a dominant position, in terms of internet satellites at least.
23:33The EU is building its own network with just under 300 satellites scheduled to provide secure
23:39connectivity and communications by 2030 ā a fraction of the 10,000-plus satellites that
23:45Musk already has in orbit. They've now become indispensable to Ukraine's military, for example.
23:52Kiev first turned to Musk for help via his Starlink network shortly after the Russian invasion in 2022.
23:58So, does a single individual now have the power to influence the course of a war?
24:04I'm personally surprised that the US
24:10defence ministry and
24:14security agencies still allow Elon Musk so much latitude when it comes to national security interests.
24:24I think the problem at the moment is that these monopolies have too much power
24:30and that they blackmail lots of national and subnational and supranational regulators.
24:40Tech companies are ahead of governments on various fronts, with an extraordinary degree of power from
24:46their ownership of critical infrastructure and mass data collection.
24:49We need to have much tighter control of critical infrastructure
24:55that applies both to AI, to communication networks, to data centres as well.
25:02The Data Act or the Data Governance Act do not go far enough. What we would need instead are strict
25:10rules
25:10that the data that the few companies at the moment monopolise should be used by many different companies.
25:20And I would go one step further. Ultimately, critical infrastructure has to be majority owned by society.
25:29So it's about who owns it. It's not just about regulation.
25:33But that's easier said than done. The rights to that infrastructure, on Earth and in space,
25:40belong to the corporations that built it. Tech billionaires wield tremendous influence,
25:46as long as they retain control of a vital infrastructure and vast troves of our data.
25:54Ahead of the US midterms, Maid looked at the American middle class, immigration policy,
25:59and the influence of tech billionaires. Now the voters have their say. Goodbye.