i'm right here i'm on each year tens of thousands of migrant workers travel to singapore hoping for a better lifefe. most p pay large fees to agents who promised them work as laborers in the construction and shipping industries. when the economy was booming those promises were largely fulfilled bots as a global recession takes hold horror stories are emerging? thirty year old muhammad issue mail from bangladesh signedd a contract with the recruruiting agents who promised him a job for aa fee of nine thousand

singaporean dollars around hall for the average bangladeshi ends in a lifetime. the agent sends him to work as a laborer for shipbuilder he knew itit would bee tough butut he tt he'd eventually returned home to his wife and family. a rich man.. but ofoff the eighteen montnths issue mail may be forced home with nothing but death he is jobless and homelesss reliance n friends and local ngos for help. lindley and james leone's film michael dreams follows ishmael and some of his colleagues who've now quit and taken the complaints to singapore's ministry of manpower. they claim they were not paid for nearly six months had on fed deductions taken from their salaries and have to pay a hundred dollars rentt t to liven cramped conditions in shipping containers. now if male faces the prospect of returning home to his family in bangladesh with nothing. is my good dreams turned into a nightmare [inaudible]

uhhuh --ingapore. asasn t tiger. economic miracle. and for these men a land of opportunity. the city is host to some eighty thousand migrant workers from bangladesh. they come in search of a better life. deliverered by the prospect of money beyond their wildest dreams. but for mohamed is small and his colleagues. singapore has been nothing short of a nightmare. think of them as a dollar. yes you know what i said. some of a minute hello this is those of us but i wanted us to

go to but there's a lot. about attacking come but embodied in modeling. missing of what i said -- seven main complaint that t cause dni. permanent intimacy i'm also available as a low a a low becae they will. we can do a lot of company both of the same as opposed to the okay within the ten not because ththey attack i was onn it bubu diststurbance that's it -- deals are not allowed to test and i thought i was little i wanted -- to but that doesn't. but i cables that said i know. that i got a model of the one one a so much that i can meet up with an idea is something that. the iraqi. his smile and his colleagues now face the prospect of going home

empty handed. weeknights the men come to this restaurant for free mail provided by local and g. o.. they join a steady stream of workers. most of whom have lost official complaints against their employers. the numbers have been steadily rising since the global financial crisis began. december under the hood combine david a high -- see sides of us- i am on it i'm a little bit and then i see. comma someone there for a lot of ten on the us have put it in a moment i'm on the phone up back a little bit the side job out of it. singapore's ministry of manpowe. this is what disputes between employers and employees a mediated. for a smile of his colleagues a speedy settlement is crucial. they've been living on borrowed cash. if the bus system pay up they may have to sleep on the street. the crew isn't allowed to film inside the ministry.

we had one of them is the money you. we catch up with the men a fefew hours lateter knowown them both of themm bothd that's's still going to ask k at ththat is that is it -- back ino that initial that we've been able -- to alabama. and yet there with a different date. i did d it does. have a lot on that it seems the men will go home with the money they owed. but t that's still not enough to repay the debts they incurred in coming to singapore. let me all cutting cutting cutting cutting it. hello hello to filipino. nothing and i got that. they also complain of hefty deductions to their salaries. a huhundred dollars a month for rent. previously the deduction for absent days with twenty dollars. but oceann marine e ised it. to fifty the penalty seems disproportionate to what they are. just two dollars an hour.

more importantly the men say they were made to live in substandard accommodation. that afternoon a smile and a colleague chose the container facility where they used to liv. got to playing but saddam the echinacea. they can it be even though company. but daschle sort of make most of us put it. i able to make any of us have it on me. i got this. the place is infested with rats in mosquitoes. and it stinks of rotting food and urine. yeah. the general -- wanted us all up and a kind of them out and gave

five second on their own show up okay someone t that was datata a post of what i w wt to postt god item on the days or sosomething- basel's it cacan at times be ani kind of have a h hold on it andi got i got the e bill. is it time to attack nothing of that of my mother's i guess. and it won't take a mother with it but it does not -- but i'm not the kind of oil i don't know they can attack themem the first available e and effective. that night is my visits the local remittance office. his family in bangladesh are struggling to repay the nine thousand dollars they power t t sendnd him to singapapore. how about the? i make a quiuick she did go thirteen monthths for me. about this attack of at the

mercy. of busy putting them. back on my end -- on is the eventual tended to move quickly. yeah. a few days later a small receives an urgent phone call. look at the the the bottom of the abandonment biggest someone not the battle of itself is a lot of been a nominal cost up to a lot of good in the couple to live and i got cut us off. and able to love them all but then i get -- one yeah. it was a little bit now as he's a yeah.

and it is itit. a visit to the doctctor revealst up with some a has a perforation in his left ear drum. the damages and permanence but it will take time to heal. that evening a volunteer takes up with someone to the police station. but it's unlikely the case will go any further. as he is unable to produce witnesses to the alleged assaul. this is where ocean marine engineering has its headquarter. the crerew is here today hopingo talk to the company's bosses. we've had no luck reaching them on the phone.

know what i mean so they made me yeah okay we just want to ask you are you can actually. okay the operations manager is in his office yeah i have a comment. we understand that some -- your company is involved in that salary dispute. with the few that with some of the workers. can you tell us what is happening about that. what's so can you tell us your side of the story. because some of the workers yea- we are the lead. yeah that's been in the middle of the road is the sum. of the lady with the so they're going to send them a messasage. other than that t had with t the online does that you u would l e to order an itemem coming on soe problem you think they're not

interested so o what yeah. one f the beds -- please for the love your one is. in -- i think paying up. to seventy four eleven months -- someone it yeah -- so we look to do that the lady. from go. one of the o one one hs a hole in the theater -- you're gonna catch. you had -- to and pulls him -- this injury -- what you have to say about that? good thing though is to the they don't think it's true yeah. so you think it's just making it up yeah it does making a movie you want to join this okay that's creating.

end of the story is reading the. join me off to the break w when fifish mail p prepares for t thl mediation session with his former empmployer anfind o o whether he gets the anfind o o whether he gets the money he's owed

[ typingng ] man: despite evidence to the contrary, rita mahtotoubian is not a terrorist. to the best of my knowledge, it began with an invitation from her neighbor to a rosh hashanah dinner. feininstein: i've always found it interestiting, the phphrase "the least i i can do." can do why not do more? as i see it, if you do the least, you'll live the least life. but if you do the most, you'll live the most life. man: as she listened, rita realized how from so much, she had become so little. inin 1949, rita's grandfdfather fought t to nationalalize the british-owowned anglo-pepersian oil l compa. the polilice reportt stateses his deathth was causesd by a malfufunction inin the machihinery.

his s body was found seseveral daysys later.. in 1979, rita's uncle,e, rostam, a marxist and revolutionary, was found dead. the e report states hehe died by his own hanand at 769 jalai street. rostam's death radicalized rita's father, rousba. but rousba's prayers could n t stop sadam hussein's bombs, and by 1980, iran and iraq were at war. as war raged on, rousba was enlisted, but his family would be unable to bury him. all that was found was his right hand. the decisision was madade. rousbaba's only chchild would be sent to live with her father's uncle in los angeles. [ daririush speakiking foreigign languagege ] [ [ woman sighghs ] [ dariush h speaking foreign lalanguage ]

-[ speaking foreign language ] -woman: oh, geez. what, uh -- what's her name again? dariush: roshanak. woman: no,o, no, no, n no. we'll call herer rita. sweetie, do you know rita...hayworth? man:n: but this ririta did not grow upp to be the kind of woman who demandnded the spopotlight. woman n 2: i can't't beliee it's onlnly 5:00. woman 3: i just ne to turn n these in to jonanat, and i i think we can still make happy hour atat acapulco.o. hehey, hon. you're sitting on my cardi. man: mostly, she was a loner. [ [ cat meows ] rita: [ smooching ]

man: that is until the night gayle feinstein invited her to a roshsh hashanah h dinner. rita realized if she wanted to have the most life, she'd have to start doing the most. like her namesake, she would become a glamorous woman. rita: yes, uh, can i speak to someone in customer service? i...think i bought the wrong kind of peroxide. [ beep ] man: she would be the type of woman who traveled.

she would be the kind of womon who could cultltivate a gagar. and instead of spending her saturday nights alone, drinking coca-cola and eating olives... you gonna eat those? she woululd become the type o of woman who could host a lovovely mea. rita: did yoyou read that artie about t pete webbeber in the nenew yorker? apparentntly he's ththe new bad boy ofof bowling. mm.

i'm making my mother's afternoon fondue. oh, you're gonna love it! it's...divine. ow! damnmn it! [ explosion ] [ distant t sirens wailing ]

womaman: she always seemedd like such a nicece girl. woman 2: she's an iranian. her r uncle passed a away last . woman: oh. rita: i was just trying to have some company. [ knock on glass ] man 2: we're heading dowown to t a drink. you want to joioin us? man: i've still got things to do. man 2: right. man:n: my investigatation proves ththe suspect's actions at 119 garden terrace prior to the explosion on the night of september 12, 2002, were not acts of terror but rather acts of self-improvement. in conclusion, the u.s. government no longer considers rita mahtoubian a terrorist.

she is, however... a person of f interest [ insects chirping ]

i'm skyrocketing inequality in the united states still called itself a genuine representative democracy why has it become the plutocracy and what could be done if anything. to cut the gap between the rich and the rest in this up from special anon gear and are us and also allow for debate one of f the biggest isss of our time. inequality in the united states has been rising for decades and has now reached levels not seen since before the great depression in