Everything Dies Baby, That's a Fact

This Frontline apparently is a microcosm of the economy over the last two decades:

But the intellectually honest response to this film is much less comforting, for the overwhelming impression in “Two American Families” is not of mistakes but of fierce persistence: how hard the Stanleys and Neumanns work, how much they believe in playing by the rules, how remarkable the cohesion of the Stanley family is, how tough Terry Neumann has to become. Both families devoutly attend church. Government assistance is alien and hateful to them. Keith Stanley says, “I don't know what drugs or even alcohol looks like.” In the words of Tammy Thomas, whose similar story is told in my new book, “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America,” these people do what they’re supposed to do. They have to navigate this heartless economy by themselves. And they keep sinking and sinking.

The author of the article writes that Two American Families:

will take its place among the central documents of our time. 

On a side note, I'm always astounded whenever documentarians have the patience to film these things - this one started in 1991. I'd film for about 10 minutes and then insist on showing everybody.