a Trump administration will end this war
00:03
on the American worker first we have to
00:06
build an economy that works for everyone
00:08
not just those at the top we have to
00:11
stop our jobs from being stolen from us
00:14
I want us to invest in you that means
00:16
jobs and infrastructure in advanced
00:18
manufacturing innovation and technology
00:21
people are tired of lies they're tired
00:24
of losing their jobs they're tired of
00:27
seeing their companies being ripped out
00:29
and going to other places this is not
00:32
reality TV this is real it's as real as
00:36
it gets
00:41
the American economy has been built on
00:43
constant adaptation and it's shifting
00:46
again now as Deb and I have traveled
00:48
around the country in the past year
00:49
we've been struck that while politicians
00:51
are concentrating on specific industries
00:54
that are struggling or fading or already
00:56
gone they may be missing something that
00:59
matters more for the future around the
01:01
country there are new signs of hope when
01:06
we come to a town like this we've
01:08
learned a lot from meeting people but
01:10
even if you didn't talk to a single
01:12
person just drove in from the airport
01:14
you would see a couple of the marks of
01:18
just the city of cinn transition one is
01:20
the kind of physical relics these
01:22
factories where the roofs are caving in
01:24
you and all the shingles are often you
01:25
can see through from one end to the
01:27
other
01:27
the unemployment rate here it's higher
01:30
than average for the state and for the
01:31
country so it's a poor city in a poor
01:35
part of the state that's had a lot of
01:37
dislocation
01:42
71 years and I worked at inland
01:46
container we did corrugated board we
01:49
made boxes and they closed in 98 I can't
01:53
remember all the places to close down
01:55
but there was several of them over the
01:56
years I know I have a lot of friends a
01:59
lot of relatives that moved out of Erie
02:01
because they couldn't find a decent job
02:09
when I arrived in the fall of 68 we had
02:13
so many large companies that now have
02:17
gone out of business and GE was huge
02:20
it's been very devastating to the
02:23
community there just isn't the job
02:24
opportunities around here Erie is a very
02:32
very clear example we've something we've
02:34
seen all over the place of people of our
02:37
generation who are downcast about their
02:41
city in their prospects so very earring
02:43
jury area but here even more clearly in
02:46
other places we've been people in their
02:47
mid 20s or mid-30s are thinking we're
02:50
tired of this moaning we never expected
02:53
to work at GE anyway and so we're gonna
02:55
start our own tech company our own small
03:00
craft work yeah we're young the future
03:03
is good for us I'm Andrew Trent ascus
03:07
I'm one of the cofounders of radius Co
03:09
work we're right in the heart of
03:11
downtown area and it's a an office space
03:13
where small businesses and entrepreneurs
03:15
can gather and collaborate and get work
03:18
done and meet with clients and grow
03:21
their business my purpose is to help
03:24
small and medium sized businesses build
03:26
better brands we are a videography and
03:30
video production company so regular
03:32
effects is an online plug-and-play
03:34
motion graphics maker we're showing
03:36
people that you know you can't take
03:37
another path and be successful rather
03:40
than working that you know industrial
03:42
job or that nine of
03:43
in a factory there's a lot of
03:45
opportunity you know these perceived
03:47
weaknesses an eery are actually our
03:50
strengths I understand from one aspect
03:53
it's a bit depressing to drive into
03:55
downtown area and you see these
03:56
abandoned warehouses you know the other
03:59
hand what the potential startup building
04:00
we're driving by we have you know access
04:02
to high-speed Internet and the ability
04:04
to create something new here we're
04:10
really proud of what we do we'll grow
04:12
food and fiber for a hungry world and
04:15
that's really satisfying and it's a
04:18
great way to make a living as long as
04:20
you're not worried about paying the
04:21
bills about ten percent of jobs in the
04:24
u.s. are in agriculture and it's related
04:26
industries that number is significantly
04:29
higher in the San Joaquin Valley but
04:32
farmers in the region have been
04:33
struggling lately because of drought the
04:35
commodities market and rising labor
04:37
costs you know in a globalized market I
04:41
compete with everybody on the planet who
04:44
thinks they can grow wheat the market
04:46
doesn't care what my costs are there's a
04:50
certain romanticism to farming everybody
04:53
you know being connected to the soil I
04:56
look at it as a business as a factory
04:59
we're producing a product in this case
05:01
table grapes and I need to be on top of
05:05
every aspect john farinelli and his son
05:09
have been trying to diversify their
05:10
business with new technology to automate
05:12
work on the farm for the next generation
05:15
of farinelli farmers this type of work
05:17
offers much more appeal so the Nautilus
05:20
system is a web-based controlled
05:22
monitoring system for agriculture so we
05:25
can control the pumps the valves we can
05:28
control fertilizer injection chemical
05:30
injection we can monitor flow pressure
05:33
automation is really the way to ensure
05:36
that things happen like they're supposed
05:38
to
05:41
so Fresno is certainly known as an
05:43
agricultural city but it isn't enough
05:46
it's never been enough
05:47
we have despite we have wonderful
05:49
successes in the agricultural industry
05:51
we we've failed to sort of diversify as
05:54
a city and as a result we've been
05:56
largely a poor city for our history and
05:59
and so it's we know that we need
06:02
something else Fresno is developing a
06:07
new tech industry in part thanks to
06:09
people like Jake bitwise started as a
06:11
small tech center in an unused downtown
06:14
building but it catalyzed a new tech
06:16
scene in Fresno the bitwise building is
06:19
now home to over a hundred companies and
06:21
the founders also started geek wise
06:23
Academy which teaches coding and tech
06:25
skills to students old and young
06:29
when we talk about making programmers
06:31
out of our population we're not talking
06:33
about making programmers out of existing
06:35
middle class we're talking about making
06:37
programmers habit maybe the poorest
06:39
population in the United States and so
06:41
we take that farm worker or maybe his
06:44
his or her son and we say let's
06:46
introduce you to something different
06:47
that the world has told you you can't do
06:49
and what happens is a genius in that
06:51
person is revealed and all of the sudden
06:54
there's a new way of doing things and
06:56
collectively as you have that story told
06:58
over and over and over again a city has
07:00
been completely transformed by its own
07:03
people not by something rescuing in from
07:05
the outside but by its own people
07:08
demanding something better for itself
07:12
well I think the headline for Fresno
07:15
right now nationally is that Fresno is a
07:17
city that's making a huge comeback and
07:19
we've literally seen those headlines
07:21
when it comes to our financial situation
07:23
here in the city of Fresno a city that
07:25
almost went bankrupt just a few years
07:26
ago today that's had its credit rating
07:28
increase it's got its budget under
07:30
balance but has a stable and long term
07:32
financial picture at City Hall plus
07:34
we're really investing in the heart of
07:35
our city and making sure that we see
07:37
deteriorated parts of Fresno would come
07:39
back the new high speed rail station is
07:41
going to be just one block to the west
07:43
of us so there's a lot of interest now
07:45
in businesses relocating to the Fresno
07:47
area once high-speed rail is available
07:49
it's going to be a 45-minute ride to
07:51
Silicon Valley from here for about $80
07:52
it's gonna be a very easy to access
07:54
place for the rest of the state oh right
08:03
now we're at Expo Center in Dodge City
08:06
at the IFC a feedlot Cowboys team roping
08:09
finals I've been in the feedlot business
08:12
since 1976 everyday this part of
08:16
southwest Kansas produces a quarter of
08:18
the country's beef unemployment in the
08:20
region is low but the reliance on one
08:23
industry means the region's success can
08:26
feel precarious beef prices are going
08:30
down and just right now it's a tough
08:32
time
08:34
it's getting tougher and tougher for the
08:36
feedlots the market can fluctuate 20
08:40
bucks in two days yeah it's it's not
08:43
like he used to be a change 50 cents in
08:46
a month 20 years ago now changes I just
08:53
don't understand word why it's doing it
08:58
15 years ago the people of Dodge that he
09:00
did something unusual they voted to tax
09:02
themselves permanently for investments
09:05
in area facilities and infrastructure
09:06
the idea was to attract more diverse
09:09
businesses to the region to encourage
09:11
tourism and to improve their own quality
09:13
of life and so we've done things like
09:18
the Arena United Wireless Arena we've
09:21
taken care of our depot the Expo Center
09:25
in South Dodge and then just recently we
09:28
opened the Long Branch lagoon which has
09:30
been a huge success and so from the
09:34
outside that seems almost incredible
09:36
that that a city was able to do that
09:38
it's a time the national level state
09:40
level certainly here in Kansas and local
09:42
level in many communities where the idea
09:44
of anything involving Texas is just
09:46
taboo why was a city like this able to
09:49
do it you know something that I've
09:51
recognized since I've lived in Dodge
09:54
City is this community is just
09:57
incredible at embracing things that need
10:00
to happen for their city and so we had
10:02
the community behind us and that's huge
10:11
so our impression you know over the
10:14
couple of years been traveling around is
10:16
that if you ask people how's the state
10:18
of America almost all of them say Oh
10:20
America is in terrible shape we can't
10:22
solve any other problems but you ask
10:24
them about where they actually are and
10:26
the place they have any control over
10:28
themselves and they acknowledge that
10:29
they say oh yeah we're headed in the
10:31
right direction
10:32
the prevailing narrative we've seen is
10:34
this really divided consciousness that
10:36
people fear that the country is
10:39
collapsing but what they see around them
10:41
is a place that has problems but is
10:44
moving the right rather than the wrong
10:45
direction that's been part of the
10:47
reality we're trying to convey that's
10:48
not just your own town where people feel
10:51
that
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