Capitalism: A Love Story

[The Lone Ranger]

I finally got around to watching this a couple of nights ago. It's a really chilling movie, and I'm beginning to think that it should be required viewing for all U.S. citizens.

Perhaps Moore's main point in the movie is that our current economic woes are in no way accidental, but are the direct result of a deliberate and aggressive strategy of wealth transfer from the poor and middle class to the wealthy. He seems to think that it started with Reagan, and more precisely, Reagan's Secretary of the Treasury, Don Regan. Regan was a former Merrill Lynch executive, and according to Moore, the economic policies he instituted during the Reagan Administration were quite deliberately designed to get rid of regulations that were designed to protect the poor and middle class, and to destroy the unions. All in the name of making the rich (especially the banks) richer at the expense of everyone else.

Whether the systematic war against the poor and middle class really began with the Reagan Administration I don't know, but Moore seems to be convinced that it either began then or was ramped up greatly in intensity during Regan's tenure.


At one point, he shows a particularly chilling memo from Citibank that outright celebrates the transfer of money and power to the top 1% and laments the fact that the bottom 99% still have the power to vote, worrying about what will happen if they should realize how thoroughly they're being screwed.


I'm going to have to watch this one again, and to do some investigations on some of the claims.

Regardless, it's both frightening and inspiring of outrage. I really think that anyone who hasn't already seen it should do so ASAP.


Incidentally, I think that Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio is my new hero(ine).


Cheers,

Michael

[freemonkey]

It's definitely a movie that should be watched several times.

[Dingfod]

You are probably one of those damn dirty hippie liberals. I bet you have at least one pair of waffle-stompers and at least one pair of sandals made of recycled materials or hemp.

[Gonzo]

[ZEZOZE]

i sure hope he points out that it requires the might of the middle to make any of this possible. the people creating these policies are nothing without the people implementing them. it isn't the executive that will repossess your stuff...

it seems like scapegoating to me.

and what's with lefties always wanting their movies to be required viewing? must have something to do with Gonzo's poster

what is awful about these crimes is that they are actually committed by us...they are only thought up by the minority.

[The Lone Ranger]

That current conditions are largely the result of the poor and middle class voting against their best economic interests is one of the movie's key points.

[ZEZOZE]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

That current conditions are largely the result of the poor and middle class voting against their best economic interests is one of the movie's key points.

forget about voting for a minute.

who does the paperwork, pushes the levers and acts as muscle to give these people their power?


(hint: it's the real power)

[The Lone Ranger]

That, too, is an important part of what the movie stresses. It's not just that the poor and middle class have been manipulated into voting against their economic interests (as if there's any real difference between the economic policies of Democrats and Republicans), but that it doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you're working as a pawn within a system that is very thoroughly stacked against you. Accordingly, he spends a lot of time discussing the problems with laissez faire capitalism itself, and how it's (in his description) an "evil" system that must be replaced.

An awful lot of people are active participants in the system because they've bought into the notion that -- somehow -- they, too are going to be part of the economic elite. Of course, the odds of that happening for anyone who isn't born wealthy are infinitesimal.

and what's with lefties always wanting their movies to be required viewing?

Definition: rhetorical device

[ZEZOZE]

but that stacked system is stacked by peons...rich people don't lift things.

oh well...at least michael moore makes a buck pointing out your enemies. in a system like the one he's operating in, he's lucky he can be trusted.

well...not by me.

a fat and rich producer that makes movies about greed, demands health care and derides capitalism- he is truly the best in his business!

[ChuckF]

haha yeah that guy is fat

[The Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by ITSOZAZ

but that stacked system is stacked by peons...rich people don't lift things.

oh well...at least michael moore makes a buck pointing out your enemies. in a system like the one he's operating in, he's lucky he can be trusted.

well...not by me.

a fat and rich producer that makes movies about greed, demands health care and derides capitalism. he is truly the best in his business!

Who, exactly, has said any such things? That some of the movie's claims require investigation and verification is precisely one of the points of the OP.

[Deadlokd]

I'm tired and already cranky so that may explain what I'm about to say, but ITSOZAZ, you really are a fucking tool.

You don't trust Michael Moore. What the fuck does that even mean? You think he's lying? You think everything he puts in his movies is bullshit? That the exact polar opposite of everything he says is the real truth? That people in the US don't have to choose which of their fingers they want to reattach, that the French system doesn't provide post-natal care, that the rich aren't fucking the proletariat with the complicity of the proletariat? That Bushco didn't use the Patriot Act to expand the power of the ruling elite? What exactly don't you trust?

And based on what exactly? Because Michael Moore has made a few dollars pointing out the flaws in the system that has allowed him to make a few dollars.

And do you think that Michael Moore gives a fuck?

[ZEZOZE]

dude- you said it should be required viewing for all american citizens!

i don't like or trust michael moore and coupled with that comment i was spurred into action. michael moore, to me, is no different than anne coulter...they appeal to the people they are supposed to appeal to and they put out the messages they are supposed to put out. i don't like the message that states that a few people are to blame for the woes of the many...the many are to blame. that's my opinion.

Viacom, through Paramount Vantage, released this film.

what a rebel.

[ZEZOZE]

Originally Posted by Deadlokd

And do you think that Michael Moore gives a fuck?

no. not anymore. not since he was a consumer advocate...

[ChuckF]

Also ATMs.

[Deadlokd]

Originally Posted by ITSOZAZ

dude- you said it should be required viewing for all american citizens!

i don't like or trust michael moore and coupled with that comment i was spurred into action. michael moore, to me, is no different than anne coulter...they appeal to the people they are supposed to appeal to and they put out the messages they are supposed to put out. i don't like the message that states that a few people are to blame for the woes of the many...the many are to blame. that's my opinion.

Viacom, through Paramount Vantage, released this film.

what a rebel.

He didn't fucking say that.

[ZEZOZE]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

Also ATMs.

(i've been waiting)

[ChuckF]

Get back on the picket line.

[ZEZOZE]

Originally Posted by Deadlokd

He didn't fucking say that.

well i spun off this and i have seen his films and its' the feeling get from them...

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

At one point, he shows a particularly chilling memo from Citibank that outright celebrates the transfer of money and power to the top 1% and laments the fact that the bottom 99% still have the power to vote, worrying about what will happen if they should realize how thoroughly they're being screwed.

[The Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by ITSOZAZ

dude- you said it should be required viewing for all american citizens!

Dude, rhetorical device!

Does the movie make some important points that are worthy of investigation and consideration? Absolutely!

Are all or even most of his claims either relevant or true? Not necessarily. Which, of course, is why I stated right there in the OP that it would be a good idea to investigate further.

[ZEZOZE]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

Get back on the picket line.

hell no...i'm only pointing shit out.


i'm here for the ending...when it all goes boom.

[ZEZOZE]

ok, Michael...his movies always make points and he's good at getting the blood boiling, etc...i just disagree with his choice of targets which are the same players you see on the evening news.

he's a good movie maker...no doubt.

[ChuckF]

I haven't seen this movie yet, so I'll just imagine what it's about and also what that OP says, even if the OP is right there in English, because it is much easier to be a controversial rebel when I can reply to stuff I make up, which is the main point of this thread and all things.

Why doesn't Michael Moore address the ATM threat. Sounds like a conspiracy. This is my opinion.

[Deadlokd]

What's the ATM threat?

[ZEZOZE]

do you remember what i said about atm's?