♪ be poor in a rich country. in a single night in 2017, there were more than half a million homeless people in the u.s. how did it come to this? if you only work hard enough, and are willing to keep learning, you can achieve anything. or so says the american dream. in 2014, the average income in the states was $66,100, which sounds quite high. but if you look a little closer, for half of the country's adults -- so around 117 million people

-- that figure was actually just $16,600 a year. and that income has barely changed in the last 30 years. yet over the same period, thee country's s wealthiest 1% has sn its disposable personal income rise dramatically. reporter: they sleep in tents -- if they can afford one, that is. there are already some 58,0000 homeless people in los angeles county, and that number is rising. the extent of the crisis is most apparent in downtown l.a. >> thank you for being love inside of each and every single one of us, and let's spread that today guys, love conquers all, we appreciate you father, we love you. in jesus' holy name, amen.

reporter: this christian ngo distributes food. some of the homeless receive state aid and food stamps, but it doesn't get them very far. irwin lives on $30 a month. he's originally from chicago, but came to l.a. for the warm winters. irwin: i just hope they start having temporary jobs so we can at least get day labor around here, so we can have money to do our hygiene things, maybe try to get in touch with our families, you know. reporter: further north in hollywood, summer has set up camp on a side street. the 33-year-old left utah to try her luck in california. now all she owns is a bicycle and a few other things. she's been living on the streets for a year and a half. summer: the things that i have come into contact with are -- well, a a lot of people are, yu know, out of prison or jail, and

a lot of peoeople that live on e streets are drug users. and, you know, they are great people, likeke, i have really learned a lot from them and made some really good connections, but it's not the safest environment. reporter: summer was able to get by for a while with a waitressing job, but when she lost it, she had to move out of her apartment. that's not an uncommon situation for many here. l.a. is expensive. an average 70 square meter apartment in hollywood costs over $2000 a month. rising rents are actually making the city more attractive, says brian folb. the businessman leases offices and apartments in hollywood. he's seen more and more entertrtainmt t companies s me into the area in recent years. but folb also complains that the homeless make his customers

nervous. brain: they don't feel comfortable going out on the street to do their business or go out to luncnch or to go shopping and so forth. so we're getting a lot of pushback from businesses and people that have opted to movee into the area feeling that maybe they made a mistake and maybe they need to make a change. reporter: the l.a. homeless services authority provides shelters and other housing services for the city's homeless. but it faces an uphill battle. the authority's communications director says that's d down toa lack of political will. tom: there is just not enough housing that people who are on the lower end of the socio-economic scalele -- and n some cases have nono assets whatsoever -- can access.

and unfortunately, it's ovoverwhelmed the other aspectsf the system, shelter in particular, and rapid re-housing. reporter: in november of 2016, l.a. residents voted to raise property taxes, with proceeds going to help the city create more affordable housing. the goal is to build about 10,000 residential units over the next decade. but there are almost six times that many homeless in the county. we visit the midnight mission in downtown los angeles. joey: this is our program participant dining hall, so people that live here in our various programs will eat here. reporter: the organization has been around for a century, providing meals, shelters and rehab programs for the homeless. manager joey weinert believes that every person who lives on the streets should get help tailored to their individual needs. joey: housing is definitely very important. that's top of the list, of

course, but taking somebody off the street and just putting them in housing, i don't think it's necessarily the answer without having some kind o of treatmento brining them t to being able toa productive member of society. reporter: she's grown all too familiar with life on the streets of hollywood. now, summer from utah no longer believes anyone really cares what happens to her. summer: once you're down, the system keeps you down. and they don't want -- they say they want to help you, but they legitimately don't. they want to get you out of their way. i mean, even the cops told me yesterday, they were like, we hate you guys being like out here like this, and seeing this on our streets. and i am like, then do something about it. reporter: the police regularlyy evict the homeless woman from her makeshift home, writing her a ticket for setting up a tent

on the street. so far, she hasn't been able to find an emergency shelter. the glittering lights of hollywood don't promise hope or help foror people like summer. and nights on the street are fraughght with danger. for the homeless, life in the city of angels is a daily struggle just to survive. $7.67 7 trillilion. that's almost twice germany's gdp. right now, jeff bezos, the founder of online shopping retailer amazon, is the world's richest man. and that's thanks partly to the stock markets. bezos owns 16% of amazon's shares, and thr r valuis yrocketing. the first days ofhihis ye, his estimated weth incncreed $6 billion. bililliaires simply wk

harder t than the restst of us? >> they rk harard. they don't wait for others to give them something, they get busy themselves. that's why the rich keep getting richer. reporter: if you believe the statistics shown on this so-called wealth clock, private wealth is increasing by 1 billion euros a day -- net -- in germany alalone. that sounds a bit abstract. even more abstract than this timepiece, the purpose of which is l less to tell the time thano let the wearer flash their wealth. but is it really true that the rich are getting richer? it's not something rich people like to talk about. but someone who manages their wealth ought to know. i find an asset manager in the heart of berlin. i figure the job of an asset manager is to increase their clients' wealth. christian neuhaus soon puts me straightht on that. his main t task is to preserve s

clientnts' wealth. ok, , but are e the rich gettg richer? christian: yes, insofar as wealthy people have access to better asset management solutions and servrvices, and t more p profeional adadvice thn most. that lays the foundation for building up wealth on the assets side of the balance sheet. reporter: building up wealth -- so that's what you call it when the rich get richer. but the suitcase full of money is outdated. wealth thesese days looks differenen try visiting any major car sw.w. luxury carars are getting faste, more luxurious, and ever more expensive. and yet ththeir sales arare increasing worldwide. >> you couldld buy one foror o millllion euros. reporter: great news for car dealers. >> conspresilient.pendining hasn fnew marketarare ening upup and

people seeeem to have the appete to keep buyiying biggeger, more expensnsive cars. reporter: : so on the poposive side, there at least seem to be more and more rich people getting richer. how do researchers explain this huge increase in the personal wealth of an ever growing elite? michael: there's been a series of political decisions over recent decades, regardining taxation, and thatat's brought huge benefits for the wealalth. i think k that's the main fact. and we're not justst talking abt individual incomome tax, bututo a corporation tax that puts far less of a burden on companies. and in most industrialized countries, that has led to a significant increase of incocoe and wewealth at the very top. reporter: the mamakers of f luy goods have to come up with ever wackier ideas to get their hands on customers' dollars. twtwo multimillilionaires, whod origininally agreed to a interview, changed their minds when they heard precisely what it was about. but a third, thomas wiedling,

was still willing to talk to me. he donated half his inheritance to a foundation that aims to end wealth disparity. my first question -- what do you do with a billion euros? thomas: all i know is that it's far beyond what any human being, regardless of who they are, can ever need or use. repoporter: wiedling describes s own lifestyle as modest. he works as a literary agent and is just glad that he and his family don't have to worry about their old age. he sees tax evasion by the super rich as a key factor in global poverty. thomas: we're talking about vast sums of money. eliminating that would free up money for the common good. that would be a start. reporter: wiedling would also like to see higher rates of inheritance tax. but many big corporate dynasties

claim that would ruin them. michael: when it comes to inheritance tax in germany, i've been told by w well-known corporate attorneys who work for these companies that ann inheritance tax of 15% would be nono problem at all for any of these corporations. reporter: so i if you inherit 0 billion euros, you'd pay 15 bibillion eueuros into publc coffers. t what goes on in the heads of ? don'n't they eventually lose thr appetite for status symbols? and at what stage can they even be classed as s rich? christiaian: you're ririch wheu can fifinance your lififestyled expenditure through income from your assets, even after taxes, fees, and inflationary adjustment. then you are genuinely rich. reporter: so how much do you really need to finance your lifestyle?

10,000 a month perhaps? or maybe a million? host: much wealth is inherited, which of course helps to keep the rich, rich. but what about social mobility in wealthy countries? are the poor destined to remain poor? we head now to britain, where the social divide from birth onwards is becoming ever wider. concererns about debt mean tht families often struggle to get their children the education that could pull them out of poverty. reporter: it's 7:30. time to get ready for school. but in this salford household in northern england, it's no easy feat. sloane warbrick and her big family live on around 200 pounds, almost $280, per week.

that's all they have for bills and food, but at least their rent is covered. sloane: with six kids, it's hectic, it's mad, it's crazy. got to make sure everyone has their school bags, school books, reading books, p.e. kits. it's not even time to leave yet, that's when it gets fufun. reporter: sloane's children go to four different schools. the family lives solely on state welfare benefits, and so having a car is out of the question. sloane's partner kevin has provided some relief. he's currently out of a job. still, sloane has faced worse. sloane: when my ex-husband left me with the six children, everything, no money, coming in. and it was a case of, okay, i'll gogo without f food. i llll live on t toast and cofe so my kids can have that can of beans or they can have that little bit extra pasta. so yeah, we do make sacrifices.

reporter: sloane's experience is not unique. almost a third of all children in this area live in poverty. that means their household income is less than 60% of the annual british median income. over the past five years, the number of people living in poverty in the u.k. has risen. children's charities say that increasing living costs and cuts in state benefits have left many families without sufficient support. sloane's children have become used to doing without. shelby: i like my room as it is, but sometimes, i'd rather have my own room. i like being surrounded by them, just not all the time. repoporter: but t the lack f privacy isis just a small probl. zak remembers when his father left and his mum was forced to go to a food bank. zak:k: i thought the world w s going toto end because i thohot

we were going to have nothing to live on and no electric or anything. so now i'm used to it, so now i know what to do. sloane: you know, some people can just stick their k kids ino gramammar schools or privatete schools because they can afford to. but t then obviously on a w income, we just get by, sisimpe as that. we get by and we deal l with i. we build a resilience. reporter: sloane hasn't built that resilience alone. her neighbors have also been there for her. every week they come together to talk about their problems. itit helps them dedeal with thee realalities ofof povertyt. pete: poverty by definition is isolation.

is the ststripping away of a person's ability to join into a society. that can be in a very phphysicl way in that people can't join in and participate in l life in te ways that they would like or they need to, but alsoso tre is a shshame engendered b by povy which peopople can self-f-isol. sloane: knowing these people have got my back, obviously, it's a sense of security, it's a sesense of belonging. and, yeah, that's all i'm going to say about that, it's a sense of belononging. reporter: sloane also volunteers at a food bank. brian lengden has come to pick up some basic supplies. delays to benefit paymenents ad changes to the u.k.'s benefit system have seen a rise in referrals to food banks, according to anti-poverty charity the trussell trust.

at this food bank, numbers have gone up. brian: i'm just struggling, jujt not enough in the house after paying rent and electric and all the other r bills. i don't have virgin, i don't have any luxuries, i don't o owa phone, at home or on me. so, itit's basic, and ththat'sw you'veveot t to survive.e. sloane: i've been in this situation. i've had nothing. and d i want to know that i in mamake a difference and make people feeeel welcomed. reporter: with a little help from kevin, sloane is trying to give her children a structured upbringing. they eat dinner together every day at 5:00. and there are set bed times. sloane: the goal for my children is not to be in poverty, not to be in debtbt, and to be happy d

not struggling. reporter: at the same time, she knows it will be hard for her children to break out of a cycle that has trapped so many in britain. host: who owns and profits from a nation's agriculultural area? across the globe, transnational companies and foreign governments are busy leasing, or snapping them up. yet over 1.5 billion people depend on the land that they and ththeir families have been cultivating g for generatitio. our reporter katja dohne went to peru, and witnessed d the effes suchch conflicts c can have on l peopople. katja: we've come to ucayali, an area inside peru's amazon rainfore that's s en badly hit by deforestation robertrt guiamaraes s is on hiy to visisit an indigegenous commmmunity. ththey can only y be reached b y

bobo. guiamares heads up the fedetition onative communities in this part of peru. he gw w up in villllage re. but he dsn't come ck often as is becomeoo dangeus. roberti rereived a lot of atath thats. they left memessagin my house yiying ii oppopod their actg i believe i'm inreat dange katja: he opposes th large-scale deforestation inisis reon.. ananthat has e earned him some powerful e enemies. he never comomes here alonone . ththis time he's's witstaff f r thorganinition proicica, t peruvian arm o of trsparenen internionanal.they visd uchua. resints hereave co under prsure frocompans lookin to setp cocoa d palm o plantations. the village chiecacalls evyonene to a mting to diuss th late developmes.

they'rtatakingegal action totrl wowould ve sucucproblems withtr. caos: we nev thoughthat we katja: on ththe other sidede oe river, largege areas of forest have already been stripped and replaced with oil palms. no one has access to the area. we couldn't even film with a drone. as soon as we got near the plantation, the signal was disrupted. village life has changed. in the past, residents lived from fishing and hunting. now all the larger animals have disappppeared, and t there are r birds,s, too. instead, they've had an insision mososquits, more than everr disappppearedbefore. there are r their tradaditional way y of e from huntiting, fishing, from e reurces that t the jungle hahaso offer. an indigenenous people w witht land just doesn't make any sense.

katja: now the village wants to have 20,000 hectares turned into legally protected ancestral territory. but ththe initiativeve has ead them deaeath threats.. the danger is very real. just a few months ago, six farmers were found shot to death. so far, no one has been held accountable for their murders. but how do these large corporations get their hands on thousands of hectares of land seemingly overnight? ththe anti-corruruption grop proeticaca has examinened the d als and documentedheheir ndings. w, staff from proeticaca have cocome to informrm local resid. mamagaly: we wananted to highlt one e thing, namelely, the connectionon between deforestatation, the illllegal e in lanand, and corruruption amt local ofofficials. there have long been r rumors about ththis, but there e wast enough e evidence to b be ablo say defininitively, yes,s, is trtrue. katjtja: they gaththered all e

available documents and rrrried t nunumerous intererviews. manyny of the dealals reachedn this regegion are linknked to h enenepreneur dennis lka.a. he is nonow beg inveigated b stried 13,000 hectes off trainforerest to make w way form oil l and cocoa plplantations. they we e helpedy cocorrup local l politicians,s, who invalilidated existiting lad rights, effectively taking the laland froits s owne. we've come to pucallpa, the capital of the region, where we're meeting two farmers. they agreed to speak to us in the prototected environment ofa hotel. in 2 2014, regionanal authoris appropririated their land. now there are oil palms growing on it. ruben: when i went to the police about it, there was suddenly an katjtja: despite t the intimidn tactics, the legegal proceedins are contntinuing. the authorities have visited the

land, , but there's s been o prprogress. the farmers are now hopingoror ouide e help ruben: we're still hoping that thingsgs will improv that interernational orgrganizas will get i invold. the consnservation groroups whol be able toto do somethining. katja: the f farmers have e lt faitith in their o own state d lolocal government. magaly avila is heading to the regional director's offi,, whicis r respoible f for awarding lanand rights. police arere following u up onr 100 complainints against t the officialal. the atmomosphere is tense. the director has the entire conversation recorded. he insiststs that he hasas std within the law. isaa i i alwaysay y -- a thiss is a statementf f faith becacae i'm chriristia-- onlnly e truth will setet me free.. nothing g else.

katja: magalaly addresses the demands of the indigenous people for more land. the director says there are enough protected areas, and the remaining land needs to be turnrn to profit. isaac: when yosasay thesareaeas arare poor, thatat's clearly contradictcting your argrgume. yes, thedevelopingng them.'s whf katjtja: but the m money made be palm oil plantatioions does t benefit locacal indigenousus communitities. backck to santa clclara de uch. village elders tell us that a few hours after we left, armed men n were sent ouout to patroe gege of e villllage -- yet anotother form of intimidatio. local l residents wiwill needo ep up ththeir fight ifif they e to preserve their way of life in futurere. host: ththat's a frorom us tod. but we're always delightedo hearrom you.u. so drop us a line by email or on hfacebook, dw global society.d.

see you next time. bye for now. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

03/16/18 03/16/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> my father wwho was in his 8's was injured. i laid very still in the mud as if i was dead and i glanced at him. i saw him, but i'd cannot speak to himim in fear they might hear me and shoot me. i wanted to yell at him to lay down and maybe they won't shoot again, but they noticed him and shot half of his head away. amy: 50 years agda