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Hour 4 consists of two segments: “Collateral Damage” traces the health challenges of Marshall Islanders from the South Pacific to Springdale, Arkansas, while “Not Just a Paycheck” explores the toll taken by layoffs and job insecurity in western Michigan.
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The lives and health of Marshall Islanders in the South Pacific were disrupted in a unique fashion when the U.S. used their outer islands for extensive nuclear testing after WWII. But the dislocation set in motion by globalization and the presence of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Base may be taking an even greater toll on their health. Their traditional way of life destroyed, many Marshallese, desperate for jobs at the base, crowd the nearby island of Ebeye, where tuberculosis and other diseases are fed by poverty and squalid conditions. Today, many Marshallese, seeking a better life, have ended up in the unlikely place of Springdale, Arkansas. But they bring a legacy of poverty and powerlessness with them. WATCH VIDEO CLIPS: RELATED RESOURCES:
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When Electrolux shut down the largest refrigerator factory in the country and moved it to Juarez, Mexico in search of cheaper labor, it turned the lives of many of the 3,000 employees who had worked there upside down. Hospital visits in Greenville, Michigan more than tripled as a result of depression, alcoholism, and domestic abuse. And heart disease and mortality are predicted to rise. But when Electrolux shut down one of its Swedish plants it caused hardly a ripple. While Americans are left to fend for themselves, Swedish social policies assume an ethos of shared responsibility and protect workers from the worst of globalization. WATCH VIDEO CLIPS:
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