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tv   60 Minutes  CBS  March 20, 2022 7:00pm-8:00pm PDT

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genesys, we're behind every customer smile. captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. >> what will be the impact of the sanctions against vladimir putin and the russian government? >> this is a briefing i never wanted to give. >> we asked the man who created these economic weapons of financial destruction for the biden administration. >> russia is now on the fast track to a 1980s style soviet living standard. it's looking into an economic abyss, and that is the result of putin's choices, and i can see from his reaction that's where it's headed. >> what targets are left? ( ticking ) >> so, how big is the rental shortage in the united states? >> the government has estimated that we are short about four million homes in this country, and that number is likely growing, especially since the pandemic.
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>> that number, four million, is that mainly in the south and southwest? or does that include new york city and san francisco? >> that's the entire country. ( ticking ) >> elite athletes stretching time, extending their careers like resistance bands; it may be the dominant theme in sports right now. >> oh, your mom. >> we met 41-year-old sue bird in seattle as she ramped up for still another w.n.b.a. season. >> when i bounce outside come, so i can go. >> she enlisted three practice players. then she clocked an hour of conditioning post-workout, because that's what generational stars do. ( ticking ) >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm jon wertheim. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and more, tonight, on "60 minutes." ( ticking )
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as in free? just like schwab. schwab! look forward to planning with schwab. >> alfonsi: in ukraine today, president volodymyr zelenskyy accused russia of war crimes over its continued bombardment of the port city of mariupol, after reports of a military strike on an art school sheltering hundreds of civilians. zelenskyy renewed his call for direct peace talks with vladimir putin as the west attempts to aid ukraine not with boots on the ground or air cover, but with economic sanctions. think of it as an economic shock and awe campaign. never before has such a large, modern economy been cut off so
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quickly from most of the world. to better understand the biden administration's strategy, weaih korea, and the white house official who designed the current plan to batter nearly every facet of russia's economy. on the first day of the war in ukraine it wasn't a general who briefed reporters at the white house, it was daleep singh. >> daleep singh: good to see all of you again, but this is a briefing i never wanted to give. >> alfonsi: singh is the deputy national security advisor for international economics, credited with designing the sanctions that putin himself, described as "economic blitzkrieg." we met daleep singh last week, steps from the white house where the administration was watching the impact of its assault on the russian economy play out in real time. >> alfonsi: what are the types of things that you can look at and say, "you know what, the sanctions are working"? >> singh: you hear top russian officials describing the pain
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they're under, the indications about how we're impacting putin's calculus are really evident when-- you,-- you look at the ways in which they're trying to harden their defenses. >> alfonsi: what do you mean? >> singh: well, they're, -- they're taking some desperate measures. capital controls, for example, preventing people within russia from taking foreign currency out. >> alfonsi: how do you read that? >> singh: i think it's a desperate move. he's self-isolating his economy. russia is now on the fast track to a 1980s-style soviet living standard. it's looking into an economic abyss, and that is the result of putin's choices, and i can see from his reaction that's where it's headed. >> alfonsi: this is the second time, that daleep singh has engaged in financial combat against the kremlin. singh was working at the treasury department in 2014 when russia annexed crimea. he helped create the sanctions that followed. that 2014 experience helped singh, who has a degree in economics from duke, and masters degrees in public administration
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and business from harvard and m.i.t., create a sanction doctrine-- a playbook on how to better wage financial war on putin. so this time, as troops massed on the ukraine border, singh presented his plans to president biden: a sanctions package so severe they hoped it would bring putin, and the russian economy, to its knees. putin's called the sanctions akin to a declaration of war. is it? >> singh: you know, we need to stay sober -- with our rhetoric. this is a moment for american resolve. there's nothing more important right now. i mean, this is about the freedom of 44 million innocent people who are being terrorized by a dictator, and no one in ukraine wants him there. ( explosions ) >> alfonsi: within 72 hours of the invasion, the u.s. and its allies kicked most russian financial institutions out of swift, the backbone of the global bank payments system. then they froze the foreign bank
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accounts of dozens of russian billionaires, and began seizing their toys, such as this $700 million yacht with its own indoor swimming pool. but the most dramatic strike was directed at the central bank of russia. the u.s. and its allies cut the central bank off from $300 billion it had stashed in american, european and asian banks so the russian government could pay its bills if it ever faced sanctions again. >> alfonsi: you knew that there were gonna be specific economic sanctions as you approached this invasion. why not signal the specifics? could that have been a deterrent? >> singh: we signaled as clearly as we could that these were gonna be the most severe economic sanctions ever levied on russia, and that we would take steps that we had not contemplated in 2014. >> alfonsi: do you think that putin didn't believe you or didn't care? >> singh: he probably thought he played chess better than we do. we've disarmed his central bank.
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and that's why his economy's in free-fall. i don't think he planned for that. >> alfonsi: were you surprised how quickly the allies came onboard? >> singh: it's unlike anything we've seen in the sanctions context. and, you know, maybe at the risk of-- there's a certain irony of quoting lenin, but "decades are happening in days." you know, switzerland broke centuries of neutrality to join these sanctions. >> alfonsi: almost immediately the rouble turned to rubble, losing a third of its value; the moscow stock exchange shuttered. russians lined up at a.t.m.s and cleaned out stores. credit agencies warned that russia is likely to default on its foreign loans, something that hasn't happened since 1918 during the bolshevik revolution. >> singh: the best projections i see out there right now are suggesting that russia's economy is gonna be half of its size that it was before this invasion. and we take no pride in the suffering of the russian people. this is putin's war. these are putin's sanctions. and this is putin's hardship he's putting on the russian people.
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>> alfonsi: that pressure mounts everyday. over the last few days, australia added 11 banks to its sanctions list. japan put another 15 russian officials in its crosshairs. according to the brookings institution, more than 30 trs evedal of 2,500 sanctions on russian targets, including vladimir putin himself. >> alfonsi: there's never been sanctions like this before. is there any concern that vladimir putin is now in a corner and can't get out, that there's nowhere else to go for him? >> singh: look, diplomacy is never dead. there are always ways for us to step back from the brink, but dictators have to pay a price for their aggression. we've always had two different tracks of effort: deterrence and imposing costs, as well as diplomacy. that's still our strategy. >> alfonsi: one official directly involved told us there
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was a back and forth between americans and financial technocrats inside russia, but that line of communication mysteriously went silent two days after the war started. >> singh: look, we can't get into putin's mind. he's-- he's a brutal tyrant. all we can control, all we can ensure, is that this will be a strategic failure for putin. it's ultimately-- >> alfonsi: and what does a strategic failure look like today? >> singh: it means his ability to project power and exert influence are fundamentally downgraded. power is not the exercise of brute force-- >> alfonsi: of land grabs? >> singh: --to acquire land. that's not what it's all about. in this century, our view is power is much more closely tied to your economic strength, your technological sophistication, and your story. can you attract ideas and talent and goodwill? >> alfonsi: what targets are left? >> singh: we can broaden our sanctions. so, take the measures, take the
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sanctions we've already applied, apply them in more targets. apply them to more sectors. >> alfonsi: more banks? >> singh: more banks, more sectors that we haven't touched. >> alfonsi: like what? >> singh: well, the commanding heights of the russian economy. it's-- it's mostly about oil and gas, but there are other sectors too. i don't wanna specify them, but i think putin would know what those are. >> alfonsi: daleep singh's plan got added firepower he didn't expect when private companies started fleeing russia. coca cola, which sold coke in every nation except north korea and cuba, suspended operations in russia. mcdonald's closed 850 restaurants. boeing and airbus have cut off the spare parts russian airlines need to keep flying across a nation spanning 11 time zones. in three weeks time, 400 companies have left or closed their doors. is doing business in russia worth the aggravation? >> dave schaeffer: at this point, the answer is no. >> alfonsi: david schaeffer is the c.e.o. of cogent communications. it provides high speed internet service in 170 countries-- including russia. at this network operation center in washington, employees monitor
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the flow of internet traffic around the world. cogent has terminated its service to carriers lin >> schaeffer: we were concerned that the size of the connections that we provide to those companies could be used offensively. >> alfonsi: to launch a cyber- attack. >> schaeffer: that's correct. that was our number one motivation. >> alfonsi: was there specific intelligence that you were seeing, or traffic that you were seeing that concerned you? >> schaeffer: so, we are routinely attacked, and we had, in normal times, been attacked by state actors and by the g.r.u. and we're particularly concerned that we were seeing unusual activity and the possibility of a much greater cyber-attack. >> alfonsi: the g.r.u. is the intelligence wing of the russian military.
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it specializes in computer attacks. schaeffer told us his decision to cut service in russia would cost the company less than 1% of their revenue-- about $10 million, so it wasn't worth the risk. >> schaeffer: we do not at this time have any physical equipment taken over. we do have equipment as far east as kharkov in the ukraine. that equipment has been taken offline. that territory has been invaded by the russians, and we had to equip our equipment with, effectively, a dead man switch. so, once we lost connectivity to it, we had to disable the equipment in such a way that if the russians took it, it would do them no good. >> alfonsi: on friday, in a case of audacious nation-state spin, the central bank of russia
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referred to the exodus of companies and the cratering economy as "a large scale structural transformation." days earlier, during a televised address, vladimir putin admitted his country's economy had taken a hit from the barrage of sanctions and warned "it won't be easy" for russians, who should expect a rise in prices and unemployment. >> richard nephew: the idea is to put so much pressure on him that he has to make a change to his policy. >> alfonsi: but could all that pressure backfire? >> nephew: absolutely. >> alfonsi: richard nephew knows about dictators feeling cornered. nephew worked on the iran sanctions during the obama administration, and left the state department last month. he told us sanctioning an autocrat such as putin comes with risk. >> nephew: a couple weeks ago, they were talking about alerting their strategic nuclear forces. they've already talked about how this is economic warfare and that they will retain the ability to respond accordingly. and if you think about that, right now they're in the midst of actual warfare.
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if their perception is that they're under attack from other countries, that-- that's a pretty scary thought. >> alfonsi: it's a delicate walk. >> nephew: it's one where you don't actually have a guidebook. there's no, you know, set of rules that tell you, "implement sanctions this far, but not that far. and take this step, not that step." >> alfonsi: for russia, what are the potential workarounds? >> nephew: well, sanctions evasion is a long-practiced activity. there are ways in which they can work with other countries, potentially those are subject to sanctions themselves, venezuela, iran. they could potentially also try and increase their relationship with china. and countries at one point have to make a decision: are they really interested in helping out the russians, or are they more interested in helping out themselves? >> alfonsi: u.s. officials said russia asked china for financial support. on friday, president biden spoke with china's president xi jinping for two hours. >> singh: we've been very clear with china about any support for this invasion and any help it may provide russia in evading sanctions. and we've also made it clear what those consequences would be. >> alfonsi: what would the consequences be? sanctions--
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>> singh: that's-- that's gonna remain private. >> alfonsi: what is the first thing that vladimir putin needs to do so that you might lift sanctions? >> singh: well, we're nowhere near that point. the first thing he has to do is to stop a reckless and barbaric attack on the civilians of ukraine. that's not happening. >> alfonsi: secretary of state antony blinken told national public radio that ending russia's economic isolation would require putin to stop his war, and agree not to attack ukraine again. >> singh: we're not cowboys and cowgirls pressing buttons to destroy an economy. you know, we've spent hundreds of years in this country shaping military doctrine. we've spent a small fraction of that time shaping the doctrine of economic statecraft, but we have one. it's our objective to demonstrate resolve, that sanctions should have the power to impose overwhelming costs on your target. >> alfonsi: there are people who think the sanctions are only about regime change, that that's the ultimate goal.
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>> singh: that's up to the people of russia. our-- our cause, our purpose, is to make sure that putin's actions are remembered as a strategic failure. that's what's within our control, full stop. ( ticking ) >> the head of the i.m.f. on the economic fallout of russia's war. >> alfonsi: could this set off a global recession? >> at 60minutesovertime.com, sponsored by cologuard. nothing like a weekend in the woods. it's a good choice all around, like screening for colon cancer... when caught in early stages it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive... and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers... even in early stages. early stages. yep. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you.
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see for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com >> lesley stahl: every american is feeling the bite of inflation. groceries cost more, gas costs more, everything seems to cost more. this past week, the federal reserve raised interest rates in an effort to tame the highest inflation in 40 years. the cost of rent is really through the roof. residential rents across the
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country went up an average of 15% last year, nearly twice the overall inflation rate. that's particularly painful for tenants, because according to census bureau data, they now often have to spend as much as half their total income on rent. why are rents rising so much? well, it turns out that big wall street firms are playing a role, but we found the fundamental problem was years in the making, and will take years to fix. how much did your rent go up? >> justin blocki: they attempted to raise it $400 a month. >> stahl: that would have been a 40% jump for justin blocki and brittney house. she's a nursing student and he's an occupational therapist in jacksonville, florida. when they first rented their apartment a year and a half ago, they were paying just over a thousand dollars a month.
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>> blocki: i eventually came to terms with them for a 30% increase, which was $300. >> stahl: still 30%. >> blocki: i've never heard of anything like that. >> stahl: do you know why your rent jumped that much? >> blocki: they told me the market justified it. and they were right. because i looked at 30 other apartments, and they were all way too-- too much for us to afford. >> stahl: so when your rent goes up 30% what's the impact? are you having to give things up? >> brittney house: yeah, our fridge is-- does not look the same as last year before our lease. >> stahl: really-- >> house: it's-- yeah-- >> stahl: you're really cutting back on groceries. >> house: yeah. >> daryl fairweather: it's pretty much universally true, rents are going up all around the country. but it's even more severe in migration destinations. like, the sunbelt of the country, austin, phoenix, florida. a lot of people are moving there and there's just more demand for rents. >> stahl: daryl fairweather is the chief economist at redfin, a
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nationwide real estate brokerage firm that pulls together real- time statistics on both the sales and rental markets. for example, their numbers show that rents increased 31% in jacksonville last year-- 40% in austin texas. what's causing this? >> fairweather: we are not building enough housing for everybody who needs a place to live. we built fewer homes in the 2010s than in any decade going back to the 1960s, and at the same time millennials are the biggest generation and they're entering into home-buying age. millennials aren't living in their parents' basement any more or shacking up with roommates, they want a place of their own, and we didn't build any housing for them in the last decade because we are still so traumatized by the last housing crisis. we didn't put any investment into housing. >> stahl: in the economic crisis of 2008 and nine, construction of new housing came to a grinding halt. but even when the economy recovered, home construction didn't.
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so how big is the rental shortage in the united states? >> fairweather: the government has estimated that we are short about four million homes in this country, and that number is likely growing, especially since the pandemic. >> stahl: four million shy. >> fairweather: yes. that's the hole that we're in that we need to build ourselves out of. >> stahl: that number, four million, is that mainly in the south and southwest? or does that include new york city and san francisco? >> fairweather: that's the entire country. >> stahl: with something as essential as housing in such short supply, you'd have to figure that wall street would see an opportunity, buying modest single-family houses, the kind you'd see on any middle class suburban street, and then renting them out. >> fairweather: in places like jacksonville, atlanta, charlotte, investors are buying almost 30% of the homes that are available for regular home buyers. >> gary berman: this is a home we bought.
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this is 3518 shiner drive in jacksonville. >> stahl: right. >> berman: this home is 1,700 square feet. >> stahl: how many bedrooms? >> berman: three bedrooms. two baths. it was built about three years ago. >> stahl: gary berman is c.e.o. of tricon residential, a toronto-based company that has quietly become one of the largest owners of single-family homes in the united states. >> berman: so today, we own about 30,000 single family rental homes across the u.s., largely in the sun belt. and we've got probably about 75,000 people living in our homes. >> stahl: you are a multi- billion dollar company. you're publicly traded on the new york stock exchange. >> berman: correct. >> stahl: and the -- >> berman: toronto stock exchange. >> stahl: toronto stock exchange. i even read in one of your own documents that your revenue went up last year by 67%? is that correct? >> berman: yeah, we're expanding. i mean, when you think about it, we have an incredible amount of demand for what we do.
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so, lesley, in any given week, we might have two or 300 homes available. >> stahl: for renting? >> berman: for renting. and we get about 10,000 leasing. >> stahl: tricon is trying to buy 800 houses a month, and there are companies even bigger. invitation homes owns more than 80,000 rental houses, american homes four rent close to 60,000. some of the all stars of finance; goldman sachs, j.p. morgan, blackstone; have put hundreds of millions of dollars into these companies. they all offer rental homes online, and all focus on the sunbelt. >> berman: our largest portfolio would be in atlanta, in charlotte, in phoenix, in tampa. >> stahl: and those are the cities that young millennials are flocking to? >> berman: this is where americans want to be. we're finding that americans are moving from the northeast, from the midwest, to move to the sun
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belt because taxes are lower. it's a friendlier business environment. it's better weather. and so there's a movement taking place. and the pandemic unleashed powerful nesting trends and work-from-home trends. >> stahl: nesting trends? >> berman: powerful nesting trends. when we survey our residents,'i why did they move-- to be with us'? the number one reason is they want more space. >> stahl: big investment companies like yours are being blamed for this huge increase in rents across the country. and you can set the rent any way you want, really, given the demand you're talking about. >> berman: first. i mean, corporate landlords represent 2% of all single- family rental housing. so there's a lot more going on than just corporate landlords bidding up homes. it's a very competitive and difficult environment. >> stahl: it's true that big investors don't own nearly as many houses as mom-and-pop landlords, people who might have just a few properties.
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but big firms like tricon do play a larger and growing role in the sunbelt cities where they're active. rent increases are all over the map: 35% in new york, but just 9% in chicago. 29% in portland, only 10% in l.a. and in only one big city were rents actually down last year: kansas city. berman says tricon strictly caps how much it will raise rent on existing tenants when they renew their leases. but let's say, i had come in as a new renter here. would the rent here be 30% more than it was about a year ago? >> berman: it could be. because it-- we-- when we come in and buy a home, we have to pay a market price for the home. and then we have to set a market rent, right? >> stahl: here are two examples of homes tricon recently bought in jacksonville.
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this one they're charging 40% higher rent than the previous owner asked, this one, 30% higher. these before-and-after pictures taken by tricon show how they fix up many of the houses they buy. they also have a fleet of trucks and technicians to service them. >> berman: this is a standard tricon home. >> stahl: and you put in the kitchen? these-- you put in the appliances? >> berman: this home was built three years ago. we put in about $15,000. most of our homes are a little bit older. we probably put in about twenty or $25,000. this is very typical of what our product looks like when you move into it. it's in move-in-ready condition. it's broom swept. >> stahl: and if things go wrong-- if there's a leak-- >> berman: if things go wrong-- >> stahl: we call you. >> berman: if we have a leaky faucet, or the-- you know, oven or microwave's not working, you will call us. you'll call, and our maintenance techs will come and-- and service the home. >> stahl: the houses tricon and other investors are buying in places like jacksonville are
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what might be called "starter homes," usually selling for about $300,000. when one of those comes on the market, investors are ready with all-cash offers. >> heather kruayai: i would say probably a third of the listings that i'm putting up are getting investor offers. >> stahl: heather kruayai is a redfin real estate agent in jacksonville. she represents both buyers and sellers. >> kruayai: you are seeing a lot of these wall street investors that are coming in. you know, you put a house on the market, and within an hour i'm getting offers full price, cash. and so these-- the sellers are seeing that, and-- "oh, okay. cash. we can close in 15 days."
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it's very enticing to people when they see that offer come across. >> stahl: so when you sell, are you having to stage the house? paint it? put furniture in, make it look really now nryis-- this way, the way the market's going now. you really don't need to do anything to your house to sell it. typically the investors never look at the home. never. >> stahl: they don't even look at the home? >> kruayai: they never look at it. >> stahl: that, plus the fact that investors often waive inspections, puts would-be first-time home buyers at a serious disadvantage. before they can even see a starter house, it's gone. >> blocki: most people our age are not gonna be able to have $350,000 in liquid cash. >> stahl: justin and brittney, the young jacksonville couple facing steep rent increases, are starting to lose hope they'll ever be able to buy a home. even tricon's own presentation to investors says," homeownership is increasingly out of reach." >> berman: in our portfolio, the majority cannot buy a home. cannot afford to buy a home or don't have the credit to buy the home. so, for example, they may have student debt or they may have medical debt. and therefore, they can't qualify to get a mortgage. and if they want access to a
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single family home which we think's incredibly important, this is the best way to for them to obtain it. i think if you asked a lot of millennials, and that tends to be our primary resident-- theywy don't necessarily desire to own a home or to own a car. they've grown up in the sharing economy. and for what's important to them is lifestyle, right? and so if they can move into this, what we call, a turnkey or a hotel ready home and have a low-maintenance lifestyle, that's very compelling for them. very compelling. >> stahl: we were told by the head of one of these big companies that people your age want to rent, that you're not as interested in buying a house. >> blocki: no. i mean... i think the american dream is owning your own property and having your own dirt that you own. and, that's specifically why we moved here was to own a house. >> house: i realize my first house is probably going to be a starter home. it may not be that dream house, but it's a house. it's a home.
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now the-- our dream is now unattainable. it's-- it's very-- it's disturbing. >> fairweather: most people desire that single-family home with the picket fence. and if they can't buy it because they can't afford it their only option is to rent it. >> stahl: yeah, but the investor's buying it. >> fairweather: yeah, and they're getting that wealth that normally, or in previous years, would've gone to the person living there. >> stahl: so what's happened to the american dream? when we used to say that it meant owning a house. what's the american dream now? >> berman: well, if we think the american dream is-- is embodied in a suburban home with a yard and-- and a white picket fence, then i think we're making the american dream much more accessible. >> stahl: rent your american dream. >> berman: you can rent the american dream. >> stahl: that is, if you can afford the rent. ( ticking ) growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged:
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( ticking ) >> jon wertheim: for at least one more season, basketball fans will be treated to watching one of the sport's generational stars, a fearless new york point guard who plays; performs, really; with crisp precision. sometimes it's a no-look pass to a teammate, hitting them in perfect stride. other times, it's a clutch jump shot that goes whispering through the net. sue bird is 41 now. she's won five olympic gold medals and four w.n.b.a. championships in three decades. and on she goes, poised to start her 19th season for the only w.n.b.a. team she's ever known, the seattle storm. in that time, she's come a long way. her league has come a long way. women's sports have come a long way. and none of that is coincidence. elite athletes stretching time, extending their careers like resistance bands; it may be the
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dominant theme in sports right now. >> sue bird: oh, your mom. when there's more warm up than actual workout, that's when you're in trouble. >> wertheim: we met sue bird in seattle as she ramped up for still another season. >> bird: when i bounce outside come, so i can go. >> wertheim: she enlisted three practice players. then clocked an hour of conditioning post-workout. physically, she held up fine. still, time has a way of announcing itself. how does the age difference between you and your teammates... >> bird: oh. >> wertheim: --express itself? >> bird: in many ways. in many ways. this past year we traded for a player. so she came into camp. she was like, "hey, my mom's in town. would-- you know, would you down to meet her?" and i was like, "oh, yeah, absolutely." and she was like, "yeah, you guys have the same birthday." and i was like, "oh, no way. she was born october 16th?" she was like, "yeah, 1980." and i was like, "wait. what?" >> wertheim: you mean literally... >> bird: "we, like, literally have the same birthday?"
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i was like, "does she want to get drinks? "oh, my god. my teammate's mom is my age." so that was a blow. that was a big blow. >> horns two. >> wertheim: come game time, bird never stops calling the shots. >> bird: elbow three. >> wertheim: we were struck by how much action you-- you commandeer. >> bird: i think it's unique to myself, my position, my level of experience, how well i know this team. >> what a feed from sue bird! >> wertheim: as point guard, she's the equivalent of a coach on the floor. you're the point guard. >> bird: yeah. like, run the show. make sure people-- are being put in successful positions. i really pride myself on that. >> there was a small area where that ball could go and that's exactly where sue bird put it. >> bird: and that's where i think i can kind of, like, puppeteer a little bit. and then of course i have to play too. >> wertheim: in case you missed it, she dropped that pass through her legs. for a veteran, bird often plays like a kid. a 5-foot-9 inch perennial all-
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star, bird is the w.n.b.a.'s all-time assist leader. >> bird: look at that. >> wertheim: the no-look pass. >> look it! over the head only sue can see natasha howard. >> wertheim: what do you tell your teammates about anticipating those no-look passes? >> bird: um, at this point? they know. i don't have to tell them anything. they know they're in trouble if they don't catch it. >> the player of the year hits a jumper. >> wertheim: that take-charge personality emerged at the university of connecticut, where she played for a relentlessly successful program, and a relentless coach, geno auriemma. >> wertheim: what's the most memorable thing coach auriemma said to you? >> bird: is this, like, an r- rated show, or what? just kidding. early in my sophomore year, he kind of, like, pulled me into his office. and he's basically like-- "you know, everything that happens out there is your fault, right?" everything. if so and so turns it over, that's your fault." "you need to take ownership of everything that's happening out there. >> sue bird answers!
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>> wertheim: with bird as floor general, uconn went 114-4; only four losses, and won two national titles. she grew up one state away. but sue bird is not a typical new yorker, in the basketball sense. hers was a fiercely suburban childhood in syosset, long island. we went back with her in february. >> bird: the best was when, like, you might see a couple walking along the fence. they'd venture in, be like, "what's up?" you know, that-- that first-- like, you're sizing them up type of vibe-- >> wertheim: you have your own code here? >> bird: yeah. i mean, this is syosset so it's not like it was anything crazy. but you knew. >> wertheim: played with boys? >> bird: oh yeah, i was the only girl. >> wertheim: how late did you stay out? >> bird: like, when it got dark i knew that was probably time, when it was, like, my mom was gonna be calling my name. can i get an everything toasted. >> wertheim: she took us to her favorite bagel joint, and there was nancy bird, dropping by to hand off her daughter's mail. >> nancy bird: you never stop being a mom. i worry about everything. >> wertheim: what do you worry about with her? >> nancy bird: are you kidding?
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>> bird: do you want me to read you the email i got this morning? >> nancy bird: go ahead. >> wertheim: yeah. >> bird: this is real-- this is real life. "do not walk on manholes or metal grates. a dog was electrocuted in new york city because of the storm." >> nancy bird: it's the truth. >> bird: thanks, mom. >> wertheim: mom was there when sue was the first pick in the 2002 w.n.b.a. draft. the league w five years old and still trying to find its identity. bird was going through a similar exercise. >> bird: i was kind of, like, looking myself in the mirror, like, "no, no, no, no, you're not gay. this is not you." so nobody in that moment, not my family, not my friends, nobody knew anything about that part of my life. >> wertheim: what do you think was-- was holding you back? >> bird: i don't have a specific story of someone telling me to hide this. i just kind of knew. like the w.n.b.a. was kind of, like, a "sex sells" type of vibe, right? where we were feminine and we were putting that out into the universe. >> wertheim: again, the basketball spoke for itself. it took bird only three seasons to win a w.n.b.a. championship.
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her starting salary: less than $60,000; roughly one percent of the average n.b.a. salary. like most w.n.b.a. players, bird supplemented her wages by venturing overseas in the off- season. she played in the euro-league before being recruited by a russian team owner, shabtai kalmanovich. >> bird: and he was like, "you know, i have a ton of money." "and, you know, some people like to gamble. some people like to buy cars. i like women's basketball. that's where i want to spend my money." >> wertheim: and he did. in moscow, bird made her w.n.b.a. salary ten times over. that kind of money is why brittney griner, another w.n.b.a. star, was moonlighting in russia. last month, russian customs officials detained griner at an airport outside moscow for allegedly carrying hashish oil. and this week, a russian court ruled she would be held until at least may 19th. u.s. state department officials tell "60 minutes" they haven't been allowed to see griner in detention. bird told us her own detour to
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russia had its troubling moments too. >> bird: shabtai was with us for three and, i guess, like, a half of those seasons. he was murdered in our fourth year. i played one more year. >> wertheim: okay, you-- you say that very casually-- can we-- can we just... back up? >> bird: i knew that's what you want to talk about. >> wertheim: the-- the man who recruited you was murdered? >> bird: yes. so he wore a lot of hats. >> wertheim: that's one way to put it. kalmanovich was a former k.g.b. spy and businessman with a record of operating outside the law. investigators concluded that his shooting in 2009 was targeted. the kind of money he was paying could-- >> bird: yeah. >> wertheim: --change people's lives. did it change yours? >> bird: absolutely. like, i'm a millionaire because of it. and, honestly, i think the more the league grows, the more coverage we get maybe players won't have to go overseas because they'll be making enough money here and i think that is ultimately the goal. >> wertheim: that's a threshold. when w.n.b.a. players don't have to supplement their income-- >> bird: yeah. it's coming. >> wertheim: --in the off- season. >> bird: we're right there.
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>> wertheim: now 25-years-old, the w.n.b.a. has come into its own. tv ratings are trending up, as are salaries. this is not the same league you entered. >> bird: no. >> wertheim: what's the biggest difference? >> bird: plainly and simply, we've finally kind of embraced who we are. we're-- we're just being authentic. >> wertheim: for one, w.n.b.a. players are front and center on social justice. they dedicated their 2020 season to black lives matter. when the owner of atlanta's w.n.b.a. franchise, then a sitting senator, publicly rebuked the players for their stance, they responded by backing her opponent. in bird's case, authenticity also meant going public about her relationship with soccer star, megan rapinoe, now her fiancee. >> megan rapinoe: my twin sister said-- basically she was, like-- >> bird: "is sue out--" >> rapinoe: yeah, "is sue out?" because, like-- >> bird: you're out-- >> rapinoe: --you're so gay. so this is not gonna last-- last that long. >> bird: i knew what i was getting into. >> rapinoe: you did. >> wertheim: have you guys gotten comfortable with the term "ower couple"? >> bird: no. it's so weird--
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>> rapinoe: it's so weird. i'm focused for both of us to become, like, a power broker. i think really what we're trying to do is force multiply everything that we can from soccer, everything that we can from basketball and the w.n.b.a. and everything that came from this cultural moment. like, how can we be a part of really bringing women's sports to where it needs to be? >> wertheim: where are we with tv coverage, scheduling windows? where's our tv situation? >> bird: it's-- >> rapinoe: lacking-- >> bird: --fluid? >> wertheim: did i just-- did i just get a glimpse at-- >> bird: a glimpse-- >> wertheim: --how things operate? >> bird: yeah. >> rapinoe: of us? >> bird: yeah. >> rapinoe: yeah, probably. i think what's most frustrating is that this is not a puzzle that we don't know how to solve. we know what makes sports successful. like, we have to be on tv, so people can see us on tv. >> good luck today. >> wertheim: and if growing a new audience for women's basketball means not having to deal with some old tropes, all the better.
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these sort of tired reasons why "i don't like women's basketball because they don't dunk. >> bird: i mean, two things are happening. one, the average guy is, like, sizing us up, talking about, "i can beat you." they can't. and then the other thing that's happening is we're just naturally getting compared to our male counterpart. >> wertheim: you know, one group of fans who don't knock the w.n.b.a.? >> bird: uh-huh >> wertheim: n.b.a. players. >> bird: i know. and i think, similar to how i can watch them and be like, "that's a different game. i have so much respect for it," i think they can watch us and be like "yeah, the game's a little different," but they also see the actual basketball happening. >> three, two. gets off a shot! >> wertheim: for sue bird, the game has slowed down; experience allows her to see what others don't. case in point: she champions the midrange jump shot, a foundation of her game. >> bird: what do you want to know? >> wertheim: defend it. >> bird: oh, i can defend it. because now all you hear is that the midrange is a bad shot. it's, like, just not a valued shot-- >> wertheim: the advanced metrics say give me a three or give me a dunk, but i don't need... >> bird: yeah, exactly. so, like, when the clock is
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running down and you're down one, and you're given a pull-up j? like, you need to be able to take it. >> wertheim: we wanted to shoot our shot, too, at a question that's been dogging sue bird for decades. you ever done an interview this long for a non-sports outlet and not been asked whether you're related to larry bird? >> bird: no, actually. usually it's the first question. >> wertheim: you want to tell us about your dad, larry? >> bird: my uncle. >> wertheim: your uncle, larry? >> bird: yeah, my uncle larry. i lied and told people he was my uncle from, like, age five to seven. that's, like, a big-- yeah. i got to meet him recently for the first time. >> hey fellas, ya'll know 12- time all-star sue bird? >> bird: is there some other bird? >> larry bird: yeah, this bird. >> wertheim: what was that like? >> bird: first of all, amazing. i kind of was like, "should i tell him?" and it was my moment and i took it. and i was like, "listen, larry. you don't know this but you've been a part of my family for-- for 35 years." and he was like, "it's an honor." >> wertheim: done. >> bird: there we go. uncle larry. >> sue on the push, nobody does it better! >> wertheim: last year, bird began thinking about joining uncle larry in retirement. following the storm's season- ending playoff loss, an
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impromptu chant from seattle fans echoed around the arena. >> one more year, one more year! >> wertheim: how much did that impact your decision? >> bird: oh, like, 1,000%. >> wertheim: that moment? >> bird: yeah. it pretty much made the decision. to hear the fans chant, it was kind of like, "wait. they-- they know it too? like, "they want me back?" >> wertheim: rapinoe was in the crowd that game. how are you with one more year? >> rapinoe: i was really all for it. i was, like, do what you want. but you should come back. >> bird: she likes going to the games. >> rapinoe: i love going to the games. i was, like, get me that court side at a new arena. girl. >> wertheim: yes, another incentive for bird's return: she gets to play in seattle's refurbished arena. this decision of when to retire... >> bird: oh, it's tough, man. >> wertheim: tough, right? >> bird: yeah. you know, knock on wood it's tough because, like, the body just keeps going. >> wertheim: you don't want to be home saying, "that could have been me. i should be out there," >> bird: yeah, a friend of mine's sister is always like, "paris 2024?" and it's like, "i don't think so.
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but, like, i'm pretty sure no. i'm, like, confident no." but then-- in sometimes, when i'm working out, and i feel good, i'm like, "well, what's another couple years?" but that seems, like, crazy, right? it's crazy, right? >> wertheim: you're leaving that door open? >> bird: i don't think so. >> wertheim: paris is nice. >> bird: probably not. paris is nice. >> wertheim: you got time. >> bird: do you see? this is what happens. >> wertheim: you've got time. >> bird: this is where we go. ( ticking ) ♪♪ helping them discover their dreams is one of the best parts of being a parent. one of the most important is giving them ways to fulfill them. for over 150 years, generations have trusted the strength and stability of pacific life. because life insurance can help protect and provide for the financial futures of the ones we love. talk to a financial professional about pacific life.
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ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. nearly two years ago. john dickerson explored the psychological impact of the covid-19 pandemic on families. 23-year-old francesca santacroce suddenly found herself parent to her teenage sister, and caregiver to their mother, an at-home dialysis patient with covid, after her father was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator. >> francesca santacroce: i literally feel like i'm about to shatter in a million pieces right now. but i feel like one wrong move and i'm going to break. and i'm going to fall apart. but i know that i can't. i can't do that. because i need to take care of my family right now. >> stahl: francesca's father died the day after our
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interview, but early this month, her mother received a kidney transplant. and in august, francesca will enter medical school. i'm lesley stahl. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." ( ticking ) (fisher investments) in this market, you'll find fisher investments is different than other money managers. (other money manager) different how? aren't we all just looking for the hottest stocks? (fisher investments) nope. we use diversified strategies to position our client's portfolios for their long-term goals. (other money manager) but you still sell investments that generate high commissions for you, right? (fisher investments) no, we don't sell commission products. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client's best interest. (other money manager) so when do you make more money, only when your clients make more money? (fisher investments) yep. we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments, we're clearly different.
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( ticking ) captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can.
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captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org previously on the equalizer... what would you think about working with the nypd? that's not me. but if you're ever in trouble, you know how to find me. (clippers buzzing) don't forget my lineup. keep moving. gonna put a part down the back of your head. (computer rings) who are you? a friend of your father's. who are you? i'm stefon, his favorite son. how you doing, pop? good to see you, son. what made you cross the line? there is no line. there's just a gray area, and it's different for everyone. so, you have to decide what you're willing to do to get justice. don't worry. we'll find him. stay strong. morales: who's that? cindy at the hospital. bastard broke into their house, used a shovel on charlie. broke his leg in three places.

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