Closed factories. Mass layoffs. Buyout packages.
The US car industry is facing its biggest crisis since the 1970’s. Ford is trying to cut its employee payroll by half before the end of 2007. This time, white collar workers are suffering the same fate as those on the factory floor workers who suffer. Engineers, designers, and managers, for the first time, face life-altering decisions. Take the meagre buyout package and move? Or hang in there, hoping the products will get better and the Big Three will sell more cars again?

In an in depth segment for ams tv’s Detroit Auto Show special, we visit the Nametz family in Northville, Michigan. For two decades, they have taken for granted their comfortable situation; a cushy upper-middle class life with a mansion in the Detroit suburbs and two kids in college. But John Nametz lost his job more than a year ago. The family nest egg has been drained. They cling to their house, but can’t even afford health insurance.

The Nametz family offers a sobering look at what happens when the American dream turns into nightmare.

Client: Vox/amsTV   Airdate: 01/14/07    TRT: 6:43 min
Director: Johannes Wiebus
Camera: Bill Turnley
Editor: Kathleen O'Heron