Movies | October 01, 2009 | 127 comments

Moore: If there's no revolution, I quit

source: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/michael-moore-capitalism-a-love-story

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pjacobs51
Michael Moore is at it again. In Fahrenheit 9/11, he took on US foreign policy as brought to us by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. In Sicko, he dissected the health insurance industry. And in his new documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story, he challenges the fundamental organizing principle of American society: private enterprise. The film is a series of set pieces examining varying aspects of the economic crisis at hand: foreclosures and evictions, the hyper-casino-ization of Wall Street, the de-industrialization of America (kick-started under President Reagan), privatized prisons for young adults, CEO excesses, "Dead Peasants" insurance, the TARP bailout, the collapse of GM (his favorite corporation), the influence of Big Finance in Washington, and the pitiful low pay for regional airlines pilots. The film climaxes with never-before-seen footage Moore's researchers uncovered of FDR telling the American public in 1944 on the radio that the nation needed a second Bill of Rights that would guarantee Americans the right to a job, to a home, to an education, and to medical care. "Unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace in the world," Roosevelt says.

Whatever happened to enshrining all those rights? Moore asks. The answer: the wealthy, looking to become more wealthy, blocked this, and took the rest of us for a decades-long ride, during which we paid dearly and they chuckled all the way to the bank—and then chuckled again when our tax dollars were used to bail out their banks. Moore depicts Barack Obama's election as something of a popular rebellion against the blood-sucking elites, without coming to terms with the fact that Obama fully backed the $700 billion TARP bailout that Moore characterizes as outright theft.

The film is loaded with poignant and provocative moments. Whether it's a family being forced out of its house or a pilot who has no choice but to apply for food stamps, Moore finds compelling, on-the-ground tales that illustrate the economic abstractions he assails. But with its wide take, this movie is not as effectively laser-focused as Sicko. Its chief premise, though, is blunt and easy to follow: capitalism is bad beyond salvation. Moore even brings in a series of Catholic priests to back him up on this. WWJD? Certainly not bundle sucker-subprime loans into securities backed by credit default swaps in complicated deals that enriched the moneychangers while eventually causing millions to be thrown out of their homes, often by pawn-of-the-system sheriffs doing the bidding of the monied elites. Also unlike Sicko—which essentially was a call for the United States to adopt a health care system like that of Canada, England or France—this film doesn't end with a compact policy idea. "Capitalism is an evil," Moore narrates, as the film concludes, "and you cannot regulate an evil. You have to eliminate it." Perhaps, but then what? Moore doesn't say.

After a screening in Washington on Tuesday night, Moore told the audience that if people don't rise up and take action after watching this film, that's it—he's done making movies. I can do other things, he remarked. He said this without a smile—which made it seem he wasn't kidding. But what action? Make citizen's arrests of the heads of Citigroup and AIG, as Moore attempts to do in the film? Boycott airlines that pay their pilots diddly? Become squatters in foreclosed McMansions? In response to a question from the audience, Moore did explain that campaign finance reform must be the number one priority. "You have to get the money out of politics," he said. "There is no way for us to compete with Wall Street." He also chastised the White House for endorsing a public option health plan instead of a single-payer insurance program, exclaiming, "you don't start with your compromise." Yet he urged progressives to push Obama, not pile on.

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127 comments // Moore: If there's no revolution, I quit

  • korourke
    • 0
      korourke  

    • Moore has already stated he intends to quit documentary film making prior to this statement as he intends to try and get back into filming mainstream American films.

      He is not good at that (see Canadian Bacon), and should stick to profiting off vaguely pointing fingers at America's problems without offering solutions.

    • 2 years ago
  • neocongo
  • korourke
  • CreditFigaro
    • 0
      CreditFigaro  
    • korourke:

      The pointing of the finger is the role he plays. He probably isn't smart enough to find all of the answers. That's the point... we have to come up with the answers as a society now that we are aware of the problems.

    • 2 years ago
  • neocongo
    • 0
      neocongo  

    • "Sicko" has had a tremendous impact on America's understanding of its healthcare debacle. I look forward to this, his next movie.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • "Campaign finance reform must be the number one priority. "You have to get the money out of politics," he said. "There is no way for us to compete with Wall Street."

      LOOKING GRIM...

      SUPREME COURT ABOUT TO DO THE UNTHINKABLE!
      http://current.com/items/90935605_supreme-court-about-to-do-the-unthinkable.htm

      THIS IS NO DRILL !

      100 years of congressional efforts to limit corporate spending in elections going down the drain !

      Unprecedented

      Watching the Supreme Court make its campaign finance jurisprudence disappear.
      http://www.slate.com/id/2227798/

      " The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power. " : President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

    • 2 years ago
  • korourke
    • 0
      korourke  
    • WhiteNoise:

      The fact that this is not a major news story goes to the heart of the American problem. The general public is ignorant and detached. Their rights are being stripped yet they do not care nor pay attention.

      People get the government that they deserve, and unfortunately the current population is not deserving of democracy.

    • 2 years ago
  • hpseaton
  • WakeUpPeople
    • 0
      WakeUpPeople  
    • WhiteNoise:

      "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
      — Abraham Lincoln

    • 2 years ago
  • sangel217
    • 0
      sangel217  
    • WhiteNoise:

      it's scary to see the American people support private enterprise and capitalism at the expense of their own happiness and well being. the only people benefiting from big business are the executives and no one else... plain and simple.

    • 2 years ago
  • Incredulous
    • 0
      Incredulous  
    • WhiteNoise:

      and we all underestimate the power of boycott.

      no matter how much you F with an economic system, supply and demand finds its way to the bottom line, and as long as we refuse to acknowledge that our consumption habits are directly influencing our own loss of freedom, we do little more than swirl in the suction created by the flush.

    • 2 years ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  

    • Hey I still believe in free-market capitalism. My family fled from Cuba to be able to find prosperity and freedom. We came in 1992 with only the clothes on our backs and now we are living well.

      For some reason, this whole "capitalism is evil" talk doesnt go too well with me. It sounds like Atlas Shrugged is coming to reality.

    • 2 years ago
  • slvrGelatin
  • richardb123
    • 0
      richardb123  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      I don't think he is saying that there is a problem with making an honest living and working your way up. He is not anti-business. My take is that he is anti greed and exploitation. Top executives pay themselves millions. Workers can't make ends meet. Something is wrong.

    • 2 years ago
  • Inofuilwell
  • reckoner23
    • 0
      reckoner23  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      And this is why Moore is completely ignorant in what he's talking about. Just to give a small example: he thinks its theft to bailout GM. But if GM wasn't bailed out then thousands of Americans would have lost their jobs. Sure your giving money to some greedy fat elitist who runs GM some way. But thats not who your giving the money too. Your giving the money to the company so more Americans don't lose their jobs. Moore should tape his mouth shut, open his mind, and go take a few college classes.

    • 2 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      "The handle tells it all. If I came here and found all sorts of ways to skirt the rules and it didn't bother my conscience then I might feel the same way." I gotta tell ya, I think it's pretty dumb to judge someone based on their username and even dumber to make such wild accusations about their life! Do you know UrbanGypsy at all before assuming that he's "skirting the rules" in a way that would offend one's conscience?

    • 2 years ago
  • junsumoney
    • 0
      junsumoney  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      Yay! I'm happy someone actually read Atlas Shrugged all the way through like me, and understands the benefits of capitalism. I get so annoyed when people say "Oh, those greedy capitalists, blah blah blah, all they care about is money." And I say to them, "Yeah, because it's their jobs to profit money, and that's why their corporation is big, and give jobs fairly to people who are competent." Michael Moore is a huge pain to the people who can think with reason.

    • 2 years ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      Thank you Delia, some people here apparently have never heard of all the immigrants that have come to this country with nothing and made it...

      No, you don't need to cut around the edges all you need to do is work hard, have dreams, and not be a lazy complaining bloodsucker.

      As to what Moore meant, I think I understand that he is after greed, not capitalism, but some fellow liberals here on Current are actually after capitalism. As a liberal myself, I am ashamed to ever be grouped with such people that deride an economic system that rewards hard work and incentive. Sorry I don't agree.

      I have seen what a rejection of capitalism has done to my country and I would not wish it here.

    • 2 years ago
  • Incredulous
    • 0
      Incredulous  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      agreed UrbanGypsy, however.....

      "But if GM wasn't bailed out then thousands of Americans would have lost their jobs. Sure your giving money to some greedy fat elitist who runs GM some way. But that's not who your giving the money too. Your giving the money to the company so more Americans don't lose their jobs."

      I think we have to back up and realize that getting to the place where those were our only choices was a direct result of the government NOT doing its job, Reagan's deregulating and W's policies that paved the way for the extremely wealthy to exploit everyone and everything in this country. Yes, we all wanted to save jobs, but we all still want to see some real change and some sort of reconciliation towards the people who were victimized by their own government, and that is most of us.

    • 2 years ago
  • Mark701
    • 0
      Mark701  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      There is nothing wrong with capitalism i.e. competing to produce the highest quality item at the lowest possible price while paying your employees the highest possible salary.
      Unfortunately, American corporations don't practice this kind of capitalism. Merging, buying out your competition, colluding with competitors, taking government subsidies, grants and tax breaks, donating to congressional campaigns and working your employees 60 hours/week for slave wages IS NOT the "captalism" envisioned by John Adams.
      Let me state this again, American corporations DO NOT practice capitalism, they practice socialistic corporatism, hence the bailouts. None of these corporations could survive in a real capitalist system i.e. one that didn't recieve federal dollars and favors.

    • 2 years ago
  • J_Jammer
  • Brandon_Fields
    • 0
      Brandon_Fields  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      What a lot of people don't think about though is capitalism is based on the exploit of the lower classes. Not everyone is equal. Everyone can not be equal no matter how hard you work. You can only have so many business owners. We have to have the workers as well. This isn't to say that they aren't just as important if not more, but that's not capitalism.

      A lot of things have been done wrong, that doesn't mean they can't be done right.

    • 2 years ago
  • J_Jammer
  • hunzedog
  • J_Jammer
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  

    • Moore is a talented filmmaker with an eye for the clever gotcha, not a political theorist or a movement leader. So as he raises critical questions about the United States—yeah, why is it that we insist on democracy in government, but not democracy in the workplace?—it may not be fair to expect him to supply the answers. But Moore should be flattered if filmgoers leave the theater disappointed that he hasn't given them a ten-point program of political and economic reform to take home.

      As for going soft on Obama, it's clear that this often-acerbic, in-their-face social critic yearns for...yes, hope. At the after-party, I kidded Moore about his light treatment of the Obama administration, which has continued the Bush-Cheney bailout policies he decries. "I'm giving Obama until the start of the NBA season," Moore replied. He paused for a moment: "I mean the real season. Not the pre-season." Note to White House: the first game is October 27.

    • 2 years ago
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