There are those in America who have absolutely no clue as to what is going on behind closed doors. They are ignorant to the fact that over 22% of Americans are unemployed, nearly 50 million depend on nutritional assistance to put food on the table, 100 million are living in or on the edge of poverty, and that as a nation we have borrowed more money than we can ever hope to pay back to our creditors. These people, with their heads buried in the sand, whether by habit or choice, go about their day as if nothing has changed.

Others, like the 3 million preppers who have stepped away from the herd, have become aware of what’s happening around us, and they understand that the system in which we live is wholly unsustainable. For them, it’s only a matter of time before life as we know it in America changes drastically. Despite often being dismissed as pessimists or lunatics, they’ve spent time, energy and personal treasure to prepare for the inevitable collapse of a society built upon consumerism, debt, corruption and conjecture.

There are still others who live in the shadows. They are neither oblivious to the dramatic changes taking place in our crumbling economic and social paradigm, or capable of preparing for the calamity. For these millions of men, women and children the economic collapse has already happened. They have very little chance of acquiring any meaningful labor, they struggle daily to put food on the table but often fail to even meet this core hierarchical survival need, they have no medical care, and no real hope of recovery.

For the majority of these Americans who live under bridges, in storm drains, abandoned homes and tent cities, the paradigm has already shifted and there’s no going back.

The following BBC documentary explores the collapse of the American way of life and asks “What happened to President Obama’s vision for America?”

What It Means To Be Poor in America [BBC; 30 minute]