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, the country's wealthiest 1% has seen its disposable personal income rise dramatically. reporter: they sleep in tents -- if they can afford one, that is. there are already some 58,000 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

in j' holyme 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 mth. 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 lot of people are, you know, out of prison or jail, and a lot of people that live on the streets are drug users. and, you know, they are great people, like, 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 entertainment mpanies move 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 lunch or to go shopping and so forth. so we're getting a lot of pushback from businesses and people that have opted to move 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 saythat's down to a lack of political will. tom: there is just not enough housing at people who are on the lower end of the socio-economic scale -- and in

some cases have no assets whatsoever -- can access. and unfortunately, it's ovmethpes of sthe system, shelter ints whparticular, and rapids. 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 tailor to their indidual

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 of treatment to bring them to being able to be a 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 wt -- 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 regularly evict the homeless woman from her keho, inr 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 heor people li summer. and nights on the street are fraught with danger. for the homeless, life in the city of angels is a daily struggle just to survive. $7.67 trillion. 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

sinhe first ds of thiyear, his esmated weal increed by6 billio harder than the rest of us? >> they wo hard. 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 alone. that sounds a bit abstract. even more abstract than this mepiece, the purpose of which is less to tell the time than to 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. mee 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 ighis main task erclnts' wlth. ok, but are the rich getting richer? christian: yes, insofar as wealthy people have access to better asset management solutions and services, and gen 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 these days looks different.try visiti an. xury cars are getting faster, more luxurious, and ever more expensive. and yet their sales are increang worldwi. >> you could buy one for two million euros.

reporter: great news for car dealers. >> conspicuous spending has been frowned upon, but it's very reportresilit.t news for car new rkets are ening and people seem to have the aptite toeep buying bigger, more expensive cars. reporter: so on the positive 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, regarding taxation, and that's brought huge benefits fothe wealthy. i think that's the main factor. and we're not just talking abo indivial income tax, but also 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 income and wealth at the very top. report: the makers of luxury goods have to come up with ever wackier ideas to get their hands on customers' dollars.

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, regardss of who th are, caee reporter: wiedling describes his own lifestyle as modest. he works as a literary agent and is just glad that he and his mi don 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 well-known corporate attorneys who work for these companies that an inheritance tax of 15% would be no problem at all for any of these corporations. reporter: so if you inherit 100 billion euros, you'd pay 15 billion euros into public coffers. buwhat goes in the hes of thsuper-rich don't they eventually lose their appetite for status symbols? and at what stage can they even be classed as rich? christian: you're rich when you can finance your lifestyle and 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 courshelps 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. concerns about debt mean that 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 fun. 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 go without foo willive on toast and coffee

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: sloa'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 t.kha 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. rertbut the lack of privacy is just a small problem. zak remembers when his father left and his mum was forced to go to a food bank.

zak: i thought the world was going to end because i thought 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 kids into grammar schools or private schools because they can afford to. but then obviously on a low income, we just get by, simple as that. build 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. pshedeal wh the realities of poverty. pete: poverty by definition is isolation.

its the stripping away of a person's ability to join into a society. that can be in a very physical way in that people can't join in and participate in life in the ways that they would like or they need to, but also the is a shame engendered by poverty which people can self-isolate. sloane: knowing these people have got my back, obviously, it's a sense of security, it's a sense of belonging. and, yeah, that's all i'm going to say about that, it's a sense of belonging. reporter: sloane also volunteers at a food bank. brian lengden has come to pick up some basic supplies. delays to benefit payments and 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, just not enough in the house after paying rent and electric and all the other bills. i don't have virgin, i don't have any luxuries, i don't own a phone, at home or on me. so, it basic, and that's how you've got tsurvive. sloane: i've been in this situation. i've had nothing. and i want to know that i can make a difference and make people feel 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 denot struggling.appy and 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 ownsnd profits from a nation's agricultural areas? 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 govetheir families havbeenng, or cuivating for generations. our reporter katja dohne went to peru, and witnessed the effects such conflicts can have on local people. katja: we've come to ucayali, an area inside peru's amazon

rrobert guiamaraes is on his way to visit an indigenous community. they can only be reached by boatin this partf peru.efeders he grew upn a villaghere. t he doe't come ba often, as . robert: receiv a lot o death reats. th left a ssage iny hous sayingf i oppod thei activities again, they'd better not see me in the village. i believe i'm in great danger. katj he oppos the large-aldeforestatn in his and at has earned him some powerful enemies. e orgazation petica, thee perun this time he's with staff fr inteational.they visitae ucnya. sidenthere havcome und pressurerom coanies lookg toet up coa and pa oil antations.the villagce

a meeng to discs the laevop they're taking legal action toe try to stop new palm oil plantations opening nearby. carlos: we never thought that we would have such problems with transnational companies. ri lge aas of fore 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 disappeared, and there are fewer birds, too. instead,hey've hadn invasion oe before. their traditional way of life has beme impossie. carl: we live om the lan from hunti, fishing, from the resourcethat the jungle ha has bemeoffer.sie. can indigenous people without

land jusdoesn't make any sense. katja: now the village wants to have 20,000 hectares turned into legally protected ancestral territory. kbut the initiative has earnedo havethem death threats.rned into the danger is very real. just a few months ago, six farmers were found shot to death. so but how do these largeeld corporations get their hands on thousands of hectares of land seemingly overnight? the anti-corruption group proetica has examined the land des and docunted the findin. magaly: we wanted to highlight comeone thing, namely, theents. connection between deforestation, the illegal trade in land, and corruption amongst local officials. there have long been rumors about this, but there wasn't

enough evideue. to be able to sakatja: they gathered all the availae documentand carrie out numeus interviews. many of the deals reached in this region are linked to czech entrreneur dnis melka. he is now beininvestated by state prosecutors. the melka group companies have stripped 13,000 hectares of rainforest to make way for palm oil alocal politicians, who theyinvalidated existing land we've come to pucallpa, the capital of the region, where we're meeting two farmer they agreed to speak to us in the protected vironment of a hotel. in 2014, regional authorities appropriated their land. now there are oil palms growing on it. n wento the police about it, there was suddenly an attack. they we t.

katja: despite the intimidation tactics, the legal proceedings are continuing. the authorities have visited the land, but there's beeno progress. the farms are now ping for outside he. ruben: we're still hoping that things will improve. the conservation groups who will be able to do something. katja: the farmers have lost faith in their own state and cal govement magaly avila is heading to the region director'office, ich is resnsible for cal govement awarding land rights. police are following up on over 100 complaints against the official. e mosphe is tense. the director has the entire conversation recorded. he insists that he has stayed withinhe law. isaac: i aays say --nd this

is a stament of ith because m a christn -- only th truth will set me free. nothing else. katja: magaly addresses the demands of the indigenous people for more land. the director says there are enro, antheremaining land neede turnedo profit. isaac: s enrare poor, that's clearlyeede contradicting your argument. s, they arpoor, that's why weeed to find new ways of developing them. katja: but the money made by the palm oillantations does not nefit local indigenous communities. back to santa clara de uchunya. village elders tell haaurafted men were sent out to patrol the edge othe village -- yet another form of intimidation. local residents will need to ke up their fight if ty are to preserve their way of life in .host: that's all .

but we're always delighted t hear fm you. so drop us a line by email or on facebook, dw global society. seyou nextim nthe national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> today on "earth focus," neonicotinoids. s the wor's mostidely used pestide destroyg the basef the food chain? coming up on "earth focus." >> they're a mutagen. >> they're extremely persistent and extremely mobile. >> they are now found routinely in stream samples as well as well samples across the united states. >> if it's going to affect everything from honeybees to earthworms, uh, that is serious in and of itself. >> neonicotinoids are among the most widely used pesticides in the world. they bring billions in profits for the companies that make them. but now, growing evidence shows