August 21, 2009 06:30 PM
Michael Moore's New Movie - "Capitalism: A Love Story"
Take a look at the trailer for Michael Moore's new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story." Moore appears poised to knock it out of the park again.
"It's a crime story. But it's also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it's also a love story. Only it's about an abusive relationship.
"It's not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.
"It's a comedy." — Michael Moore
.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
It's a crime story. But it's also a war story...And a vampire movie!
Not to mention that it's a true sequal to Wall St...Proving of course that Greed is NOT Good.
It's the sequel to "Born Rich." Or maybe it's a prequel.
Most good comedy involves infliction of some pain. Unfortunately, we are the inflicted.
I'll definitely go see it.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
on the street one day here in nyc. He was funny & charming. I can only imagine the tear that the rightwing is going to go on over this movie. I can't wait to see it.
I really admire Michael Moore.
He's a trouble-maker extraordinaire and we need more like him!
I know this movie will be awesome.
Here's the scary thing though; working class people will stand and fight for their right... to cheer on the plutocrats. As long as I live, I will never understand that.
We may witness, in our lifetimes, probably the first revolt led by middle and lower classes to defend the rights of the wealthy... and that could not happen anywhere else in the world but our beloved country.
The brainwashing is amazing, if you travel outside and then come back... and read the news here, I can safely say that our media could give Pravda a very good run for their rubles in the CCCP's hey day.
A lot of people here have been conditioned to work and defend the illusion of wealth, not their own interests.
I spent 16 years from '84 to 2000 as a union worker. Even within our ranks, we had people that were "company people" but in the worst way. Not as in do a good job, but as in bad mouth working people, talk crap about collective bargaining and generally speak out against their own best interest.
How can you even argue with that kind of insanity.
I keep hoping that those of us that are the oldest of GenX will help change things, but I'm not going to hold my fucking breath..
Also, not that it's the most creative choice for a screen name (no offense intended) but based on your writing style, you sound a bit like Tyler from Zero Hedge. Am I right?
;-)
I have no clue what Zero Hedge is though.
is the people's tenuous feeble link to health care, no coincidence that in the US with its seriously overpriced and rationed health care, that people are scared to death to upset the boss and lose their job/HI.
What better way to keep a workforce tame and cowered, no job no HI, no dentistry, no fixing of that problem, no relief from pain.
If you step back one moment and consider the issue of pain relief as a social conditioning tool, the only legal method to relive pain to through the RX system, all the non prescription over the counter methods are weak and very temporary. The private enterprise methods such as unlicensed heroin and cannabis are highly illegal and have been PRed into being seen as evil and immoral, so self medicating outside the official channel is a big crime.
A lot of people use booze as a cheap legal method of dulling lifes pains, yes it can help, but a daily reliance of alcohol turns people in slaves of one kind or another, and its a downward spiral into health problems. Ditto with over prescribed over used legal meds like tranquilizers.
The US law, court and prison system is generally a pain infliction system, if you upset the wrong person, they have the opportunity to ruin a person/families live for good, house car job and finances will be wrecked, and your resources looted for the system. The people who are mostly law abiding have a morbid and justifiable fear of prison, which is generally a system of semi official brutality, a persons physical and mental health can be ruined by a prison stay. This fear keeps the masses inline and cowed. The tax system is enforced through the law of the gun, the end result of tax refusing will result in violence from the state. No matter what they say, eventually nice men from the gov will arrive with guns and remove property and people.
One of the common memes/jokes in the US (pretty unused in Europe) is the thing about being sent to 'pound you in the *rse' federal/state prison, in a supposedly modern civilized society, this jokey fear is pretty outrageous when prisons allow the brutal topdog inmates to run the prison blocks through brutality, yes it makes the prison warders job easier, but definitely a cruel and unusual system of punishment.
Hollywood and TV reinforce this social conditioning fear and keep the public scared and compliant.
Infliction of pain and the fear of pain is a basic animistic prime mover, from the smallest mammal to the human kind, pain motivates and is a tool of the thugs.
When the corporations own and control the media, they control the people...it is just that simple. When was the last time you saw an indepth piece of journalism, on television, that exposed corporate wrongdoing?
The sad fact is that when I was a kid, we didn't need Michael Moore documentaries. We had actual television programs that would take on these issues. Now, we have to go to the cinema and see them...assuming guys like Moore can find some small indie operation to distribute the work. Anyway, that is why the people have learned to vote against their own best interest---massive corporate propaganda, 24-7. If a lie is repeated often enough and the truth isn't allowed to be aired...the lie eventually becomes viewed as the truth.
What you speak is the only truth that matters. It seems, as well, that the limits of the propaganda are being tested daily.
The full-court press of 24/7 propaganda, in only a few years time, is frighteningly reminiscent of Orwell's '1984' and media such as Pravada, as someone mentioned earlier. And Moore's statement that he treated this movie as if it were the last he would be allowed to make is positively chilling--since it's not an outrageous thought.
The people who defend the rich fuckheads harbor the fantasy that someday THEY will be as rich as Donald Trump. So they naturally want things to stay the same, so that when THEY are sitting in their big glass towers, THEY can screw the poor up the ass as a kind of sick, self-serving revenge for their origins.
Simple primate shit.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
comedic in nature. Speaking of the economy,
$2 trillion higher deficit projected
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32513705/ns/polit...
2 trillion?!!?!? Holy cow! How many Afghanistan bombing runs would that be?
Sicko was pretty damn funny. I laughed the whole time.
On a personal note, if you are a Canuck, which I assume means you are Canadian, why do spend so much time worrying about us?
;)
an ex-patriot?
Allow ConceredCanuck to answer the question. It was directed at him or her.
Because EVERYTHING that happens in the US, has an impact on my world, and everyone else's, that is why. Also considering myself a liberal and a progressive, I find myself agreeing with many on the blogs. Do you have to be American to comment on C&L?
No, it was a simple question asked out of curiosity. I welcome your point of view.
I would be curious also. Thank you for not getting angry at my opinions. Many do, because they don't want to hear anything bad about their nation unless it is from fellow citizens.
Here's an analogy, it's like I can bad mouth my sister all day long but when someone else does it I won't have it. It's human nature.
True enough. The problem is, borders and nations are manmade and only exist in political circles. Basically my point is, we are all mostly the same. Well, except for Sarah Palin, Bush, Rumsfeld, McCain, Rudy G, Mitt Romney, etc, etc, etc.
You don't want me to get started on that list of people. We could be here all night.
I kept it short on purpose :-)
Politics stir up more emotions than any other subject. It's volatile because there is so little anyone can do except vote every few years for crook 1, 2 or 3.
...that what our government does tends to impact others way more than it does us...er...especially since the only place the Republicans allow our government to operate is outside our borders. I've had friends from the UK and Australia honestly wonder why they aren't allowed to vote in our elections. I used to think them daft, but they have a point. Why wouldn't the people that are forced to deal with our policies want to have a say in those policies? After all, when an American administration farts, it tends to send a stench around the globe. Besides, it will do most Americans some good, since most never leave our shores; it would do most Americans some good to be exposed to the sharp elbows of those forced to live with the consequences of our global actions. So, I say to the Canadian---welcome to the conversation!
Of course...
And everyone world wide fears that we may bring democracy to their country...
...just like we did in Iraq.
Heck, it is one of the reasons I have not left the US.
I appreciate perspective from people outside this country. Unfortunately, the U.S. has its fingers in everything as you well know.
going to say, even Luntz goes up there to school their Prime Shitheads talking points
Yep, Canadians face their own brand of conservatives up there that are just as sleazy.
immediately comes to mind.
He only appears in public when on vacation, screwing up photo ops in foreign nations, or sticking his foot in his mouth.
http://calgarygrit.blogspot.com/2005/07/glad-...
skinny guy in the cowboy hat though? Can't be Harpo. He's gained 300 pounds!!
He's flipped (and eaten) many flapjacks since then!
David Frum to write speeches for Bush, but you bastards gave him back!!!
You're Indian givers.
If you go down the tubes we'll be following right behind you. And because we know what great people Americans are deep down. Michael Moore for us is almost like an honorary Canadian.
probably have even less effect than Sicko.
But there is a new season of "Dancing With the Stars" coming up! Geez, keep your priorities straight. I mean Tom Delay, Donnie Osmond, this season has it all. Who has time for crazy serious Michael Moore documentaries?
Especially when we all just nod in sympathy and agreement. Time to get off our asses and do something.
probably have even less effect than Sicko.
Yeah, funny how he does something about 9/11 and we see he was just tipping the iceberg, He does something on Healthcare and now we are on the cusp of change, He does something about the Economy and in a few short years....
Lets hope.
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
the choice for the trailer soundtrack (M.I.A. - Paper Planes).
she kind of sounds retarded... IMHO, the original song's title is even more apropos about our current situation.
Moore blends comedy with serious political issues in all his movies expertly. Loved Sicko, but can understand why Americans didn't flock to it. Because they don't want to hear bad things about their nation. They've been conditioned since a very young age, that they live in the greatest nation of good guys, the world has ever seen. Moore doesn't just wave a flag and sing the anthem.
we are "United States" citizens. Canadians, along with Mexicans, Peruvians, Brazilians etc. are also "American".
but I hate the term Yanks or Yankees. It sounds so politically incorrect. USAers doesn't sound any better.
shows the arrogance of us that we claim the title "Americans".
what would be the alternative? In french, we say "Etatsuniens" when we do not want to say "americain" but it sounds strange and awkward and not alot of people say it.
... there is not an equivalent term in English for the correct term to refer to the citizens of the United States in a single word like in French (Etatsuniens) or Spanish (Estadounidenses).
In fact we now employ ridiculous terms like "Mexican American" or "Cuban American" to refer to US citizens (or residents) of Mexican or Cuban ascendency. Even though both Mexico and Cuba are most definitively part of America.
Language has always fascinated me, because you can't understand a culture or people without analyzing their language and how they use it. The fact that US citizens assumed they could overload the name of a whole continent as their own is quite amusing, and it explains a lot about the pervasive exceptionalism during our history.
Even though both Mexico and Cuba are most definitively part of America.
Really? I'm sure the Mexicans and the Cubans will be surprised to hear that!
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
at some point they were bound to read a map... so better break the news to them like this before they find out and get massively pissed because they are not part of Asia. as they had assumed all these years.
and other Spanish-speaking countries it's "norteamericano", which granted does lump the Canadians in with us. Which sucks. But they also say "estadounidense", and they're pretty much interchangeable. (Their abbreviation is EEUU.)
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
that the actions he took were proper. This statement is really sad in a special kind of way and Michael Moore will prove his point. How many of you ever watched the movie " Inherit the Wind" about the Scopes Monkey trial?
At the end of the court scene Matthew Brady takes the stand and tries to defend the indefensible. In the end, those who followed Brady's belief that man could not have come from the monkey watched a man who was broken. Science had finally caught up with reality. So it is with Geithner. He can pat himself on the back endlessly that what he and his teacher a former head of Goldman Sachs Hank Paulson had done was the right thing by bailing out the banks, when in fact it was not.
let no one try to convince you that we have free markets. They can't be when the mantra of too big to fail lives on in our vocabulary. Geithner like Brady are now and were then from the old school and this model no longer works when you sacrifice the masses and their future income in the form of taxes in order to protect the Wall Street elite. It is time to clean house and admit what everyone in the country can see and feel. The economy may be getting better for Wall Street, but reality on the streets of America point to a far different truth no matter how hard Tim Geithner may think otherwise.
The wing nuts going after Moore again with this new opus.
That terrible,nasty,awful epithet "Socialist" will be thrown around with violent abandon.Oh!The shame of it all!!
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
They will go out of their way to marginalize him. I hear wingers at work make snide comments about Moore. They always crack on his weight, like fat people can't have brains. I know they have never watched one of his movies, and they would have a heart attack if they did. They think they are so knowledgeable because they listen to Limbaugh, etc. What they don't realize is all they do is listen, they don't think.
Michael Moore brings facts and what does the right always say?
"Um, but, he's fat! Ha ha, we win."
Morons.
NOBODY 2012
Yeah, cause Limbaugh's got that great swimmer's build...
Michael Moore is a national treasure! As Ridge proved recently, Moore's Fahrenheit 911 was right on the spot....all the lies the Republicans and Bushies told about him and he was right all along! Go, Mike, GO!
films like this only help the capitalist system.
Capitalism will not be "made better" or "more palatable" or "more humane". It is not interested in any of that. It is only interested in profit. As profit only exists inside of a human relationship, it requires that someone in that realtionship acquires that profit at the expense of someone or someones else in that relationship.
And because of the material history of its appearance, it requires an industrial political economy, that is presently in an attenuated commodity system.
So, we have a political economy that requires industrial commodity culture, and it demands profit that benefits a small minority of the society, at the expense of everyone else.
Now, we have a movie that is critical of the capitalist system.
does it demand the overthrow and the execution of the ruling class?
No.
Since it does not demand the immediate overthrow and destruction of the ruling class (and I mean by hanging / shooting / whatever) then it is some kind of a reformist project, and therefore not a part of the solution (a socialist revolution that returns the profits of the system to the workers) but more a method by which the capitalist system reproduces itself through criticism.
It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
-George Carlin
does it demand the overthrow and the execution of the ruling class?
No.
Oh, so you've already seen it, then? Because I don't see how you can make such a statement without having done so.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
The theory of capitalism demands real competition and informed customers. Today's business leaders and republicans despise both of those things.
All these companies making gargantuan profits should be able to be easily undersold by companies that are okay with smaller profits. All these companies feeding on the misery of others should lose customers to companies that don't. Since they aren't, we don't have capitalism. We have some weird oligarchical trust conglomerate thing.
Why do conservatives hate the free market?
Capitalism is okay, but
Riiiiiight!!!
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/art...
http://www.thefourreasons.org/Lower/ScienceFu...
Translation: pouring Liberal maple syrup over a 1,700+ year long, Old Testament, false religious, Corporatist/Republican shit sandwich doesn't make it Salisbury steak -- IT IS STILL BOTH A SHIT SANDWICH AND A FALSE RELIGION! Capitalism wants nothing to do with nor can abide a single whit of competition nor informed customers as evidenced by its religious entitlement of complete and total dominion over the schlubs and serfs -- the "marks" that comprise its beloved "markets" -- thus it must do everything in its power to ensure the marks are rendered as docile, illiterate, drab, predictable, and deliberately dumbed down as possible. Otherwise, they'll become informed and liberate themselves from the plantation (i.e. REALISM - not Capitalism; you got the wrong "ism" entirely)
After all, you can't have a "market" without marks. Dimbulbs. Kidults. Halfwits. Sheeple. Shitheels. The Schaivo-tastic persistently vegetative amongst us despite having a brain stem and the acumen for independent thought. Once the marks become informed, it's all over. All you got left are ETs who soon phone their alien freak asses home to the big governmental mothership bellyaching, "BAIL ME OUT, DAMMIT! AHHH BEEZ ENTITLED TO IT! Just wiped my ass with my wage-slaves, now gimme a key to the city! And deploy the National Guard, too! Have 'em bring back those mensch back to me in chains!! HOW DARE THEY BECOME SO WILLFUL AND INSOLENT?!?"
What most Marxists, Socialists, and like-minded persons of the left fail to understand is that the inherent unfairness or corruptablity of a system is derived not from the system per se, but from the persons in that system.
Is capaitalism corrupt? Yes. However, there has never been nor will there ever be a system where power and authority are uniformally distributed that is sustainable. How socialism or any other large scale ideology/theology can eliminate human avarice, sloth, and universal corruption has yet to be articulated; much less implemented.
We've seen the majesty of socialism at work: gulags, mass depopulalization, dictatorships, autocratic and corrupt adminstration, and environmental degradation. The Mullah's have advocated perpetual revolution too, but it just turned out that they were a bunch of crooks in robes who siezed power for themselves. The Chinese now believe "it is glorious to make money."
So what you are proposing is nothing less than "made better" or "more palatable" or "more humane" version of what history has already proven to be as unsustainable and persistently corrupt as capitalism.
Yes the top layer needs to be cut off to allow the ascendency of a new regime, and that's why its called a revolution. Unfortunately I'm not counting on the 66% of Americans who are overweight or the 32 Million Americans (1 in 9) who are functionally illiterate to do anything than what they have always done; nothing.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
So Capitalism is OK even as you argued can be (and is) corrupted, however Socialism is immoral because it is also corrupt. So how come one gets a free pass (Capitalism) while Socialism gets to be the "bad guys."
There are also examples of brutal repression being carried out by non-democratic capitalist regimes.And there are also examples of prosper, democratic societies, which follow a socialist approach. I found your cherry picking kind of hypocritical honestly.
You talk a good game, but your intellectual dishonesty is showing...
I'm not here to push capitalism; unlken the poster who was there for socialism.
My point is that whatever social or economic system you have there will be individuals and structures that attempt to aggrandize their own power and authority within that system. Capitalism and socialism are no different in regards to that issue.
Is American capitalism the worst of the lot? Hardly. Do you trust Chinese made food products? Would you trust your life savings to a British Bank?
To think that one ideological system is purer and more able to mitigate human greed is what is truely dishonest here.
Yeah, if you empty your statements of all content, nobody will argue with you.
Here we go again, more banks have folded in the US than in the UK, so how come you only cherry pick the bad things from socialist societies? Besides, it is very debatable wether the system that there exist in China is socialist at all.
You are going on and on basically trying to establish a false dichotomy by stacking the deck blatantly against socialism. That is almost the very definition of intellectual dishonesty.
I think you might appreciate "Beyond Power" by Marilyn French.
... alas Marilyn French seems to have an issue with males, so she may not be the most objective of authors.
I think she has a problem with patriarchy, a social construct that cannot be laid entirely at the feet of the male of the species.
I'm not too good with horror movies. Normally I can shield my eyes during the scary parts, but the sound can be so sickening...
While it true if you watch the BBC (British Brodcasting Co.) or Canadian Television you'll see far more analysis of corporate malefeasance, but there is a limit what can and will be said even in those countries.
In America I would recommend PBS' Frontline Program. It has two shows recently.
1. On the Meltdown: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltd...
2. Madoff Scandal: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/madoff/
Both are watchable online. Unlike the goofball secondary school antics that Moore is noted for, the above are reasoned and intelligent discourses in the foundations of corporate greed.
I'm of two minds about the goofball secondary antics - for one, it makes it easier for his critics to call him a clown and dismiss all of the things he says that are true.
But on the other hand, it brings a level of entertainment to the proceedings that makes the medicine easier for a lot of other people to swallow - straight-up documenting of the facts might be too depressing or boring to take, depending on the audience member.
Both your statments are correct.
Your statement reminds me of Neil Postman's book 'Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business'
His argument is (from Wikipedia) that 'a particular medium can only sustain a particular level of ideas. Rational argument, an integral component of print typography, cannot be conveyed through the medium of television [or film] because "its form excludes the content."
Whether you agree with his agrument or not, it is clear that even on the most serious of discussions, including freedoms and rights, ethics...etc, that unless people are simultaneously 'amused' or 'shocked' it becomes impossible to engage sufficient numbers of persons to actually affect a process.
I'll be there Mr. Moore.
NOBODY 2012
Below is a letter I blogged after being invited yet again to leave the US (the presumption being that I don't love the US because I am criticizing the corrupt politicians who are dancing around true health care reform):
ALL HAIL, GREAT NEIGHBOR TO THE NORTH:
Well, beloved neighboring country, the umpteenth person has invited me to leave the United States, so I am writing to you today to request citizenship in your great nation.
First, let me address your potential concerns regarding the above-mentioned invitations. You see, I have been advocating for health insurance reform here in the United States (please do stifle your giggles for a wee while), and the Angry Group (nee Dana Gould) has decided that those of us who support reform would be happier there in Canada, because your health care system is purportedly the model for the reform we are trying to shove down everyones' throats here (I'm truly not into that shoving down business, Canada, I assure you--I'm just repeating the rhetoric I keep hearing...). So, even though I love my country, perhaps it's time for me to listen to the in-crowd. Hence, my sincere request to gain admittance to your great nation.
Anyway, here's my resume for your consideration:
I am reasonably intelligent, with a BA from an ivy league college and a Master's in Sociology. I have a fair command of the English language, and am willing to learn French (I'm already learning to speak Spanish, which is great fun!).
I do a lot of volunteer work with children, and with survivors of relationship violence. I will certainly continue to do volunteer work after I move to your fine nation, in whatever capacity works best for you.
I am a teacher. Granted, I'm currently unemployed, but I really love teaching and I genuinely enjoy working with young people. My last administrator told me I'm too intelligent to teach "these kids" (by which I can only surmise she meant the overwhelmingly Latino population in our school). But, my kids loved me and they worked very hard to learn math with me. I prefer to reframe my former administrator's assertion: I am skilled now with multicultural groups, which should stand me in good stead there in Canada, although I'll be the new kid on the block.
Oh, I'm also an artist. I would like to continue to create art there in Canada, and am quite willing to explore the artistic sensibilities of your wonderful myriad cultures. I will bring my own resources with me, so you won't have to provide anything extra for my art addiction.
I am an activist and a pacifist. I know, I know--these labels are frequently contradictive here in the Angry Group-dominated climate in the US, but there are a few of us who remain active while advocating for peace. Suffice it to say, I'm a fix-it kinda gal, and would like to remain involved in political activities in a like manner in your fine country.
I suppose I should be completely honest with you about my health--or lack thereof. I do have an old back injury that will require some kind of intervention. I've been told I need an MRI, but I have not had the resources nor the insurance here in the US to afford me that opportunity. I regret to be such a health care burden right out of the chute, but I promise I will do everything possible to recover my good health and to stay healthy and productive for the remainder of my days on this fine planet.
Oh, and I hate to rush you on this decision, O Canada, but I am currently unemployed (and NOT because I don't want to work--I assure you that Ms. Malkin is dreadfully mistaken on this issue). I am having a difficult time getting a new teaching position in this rather insular district where everyone knows everyone else, and my former administrator has certainly warned everyone that I tend to use such words as "uber" and "ubiquitous"--which no red-blooded Texan would EVER consider proper English.
So, if you could rush your decision, I will be eternally grateful.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. In the meanwhile, I am teaching myself the words to "O Canada." Such a lovely anthem...
Until next we correspond, I remain ever your most humble
Silence B. Damned
from 1996, excerpts from a news article written by James Schaffer (USIA staff writer) quoting James Gustave Speth (then administrator of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP):
"Today, the net worth of the 358 richest people is equal to the combined income of the poorest 45 percent of the world's population --2,300 million people,"
And...
"...more than a quarter of humanity -- 1,600 million people -- are worse off today than they were 15 years ago. We must face the fact that we live in a world where between 1960 and 1993 total global income increased by six-fold to $23,000,000 million, and where average world per-capita income tripled, but where three-fifths of humanity still lives in a prison of poverty." (emphasis mine)
From me, 2006:
We Americans were united right after 9/11. We didn't ask the person donating blood on the bench right next to us if they were Republican or Democrat. We cannot hope to succeed as a nation if we don't work together to address WHATEVER needs to be addressed at this point in our history. I think we all need to put on our big girl panties and get to work.
From me, 2007:
"Our nation's hedonistic self-aggrandizement plays a key role in our current administration's decision-making processes. We've all been reaching for that big ol' capitalistic carrot, so why isn't it a bit more difficult to whine about Bush's errors with our mouths full? All of us need to look at ourselves first and foremost and ask, what can I do for the betterment of our country?"
From me, late 2007:
"The damage done by this administration and the corporatists behind the curtain has already shoved our world economy to the brink of the precipice. I don’t think any of you have a clue how bad this collapse will be.
<p>All the corporate elite thinks they are immune because they live in Richistan. They don’t understand that Richistan vaporizes like a foul miasma as soon as the economy shuts down.
Just how much longer do you think the little people will be willing to bend over to give the corporatists what they’ve grown accustomed to having? The internet has given too many of us the real picture, and all the past ‘economic downturns’ have occurred when public perception tanks. It’s just a matter of time, people…"
And, also from late 2007:
"The Global Internet Community (We The People) is metamorphosing our Body Politic faster than the Corporatist-driven propagandists can keep up. They cannot stop us. Increasing numbers of us are getting clear about corporatism and its myriad shills, e.g. Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Bushco, Congress, et. al.
To those of you who have hinted at Revolution, I wonder if you can't see the forest for the trees. We The People ARE in the initial throes of our revolution, as one can clearly see by what we're accomplishing via the Internet. This revolution will be much bigger than any before--and different from ANY we've seen before. We will be faster, smarter, and more adaptable given the challenges we face and the tools we have at our disposal. AND, the Corporate Megalomaniacs will continue to underestimate us (I suspect they see ALL of us sitting on our fat asses watching their vidiot boxes while they take over our world...stupid, stupid mistake on their part!)
In 1789, the French Imperialists had to learn their lessons the hard way. I am confident that the Corporatists are doomed to make the same mistake."
And,
"When is ANYONE in a position of global reach (eg, ANY person on a television program watched by millions around the world) going to acknowledge that our ECONOMY is fucked up?!? Hoooo, boy, isn't THAT the big booger bear no one wants to awaken?!? Capitalism is NOT the penultimate economic system, and until we understand how to transform our economic behavior to protect our planet AND our ENTIRE SPECIES, we are ALL slaves to the misperception that filthy lucre equals power."
And, finally, from me repeatedly:
"As long as We The People continue to swallow the bipartisan red herrings promulgated by the majority of our media and politicians, we will squander our collective energy on hate and fear, rather than finding solutions to the myriad issues we are facing. Americans from all political persuasions must work together to address our nation's challenges."
...
To anyone who bothered to read this entire post, thank you for so doing.
We are living in exponential times, people. Consequently, it's hard to see the forest for the trees. However, more of us are becoming aware (and Michael's movies are great examples of this growing awareness), and I am confident We The People will accomplish the change we want to see in the world.
I like michael moore, but he doesn't understand that big corporations working with big government to extort billions from the people is not capitalism. and by framing it like that he will make it even harder to return to capitalism.
we would want to 'return' to capitalism? Is 'capitalism' -- even in its most idealized manifestation -- the most appropriate economy? Why? Or, why not?
Can we not think outside the box?
Can we not eliminate the arbitrary social construct known as hierarchy from the very fabric of our existence?
So capitalism stops being capitalism... as soon as it f*cks up? Then it is something else. Funny how both proponents of capitalism and republicans (which are the same for the most part) talk ad infinitum regarding the need to shovel personal responsibility down everyone's throat... until it is their time to take responsibility. Then it is always somebody else's fault.
Capitalism has basically 2 major evolutionary outlets:
1. It can serve as a evolutionary step to stablish efficient production systems, and then such efficiency can be used to advance into a more fair society... like what socialist (the real ones, i.e. the ones who have actually read Marx not just the pamphlets from jackass activists) propose. This is: the use of the technology developed by capitalism to better people's lives, once that basic needs are met... then human can focus on furthering their goals as a society.
2. It can refuse to follow an evolutionary outlet, and instead degenerates into a system whose goal is basically its own perpetuation. In such case, capitalism generates large corporations (which is the end game of a normal capitalist system left alone, i.e. social darwinism in steroids and which shuts down all ports of entry...) and whose only goal is the perpetuation of their existence. Thus it makes perfect sense for corporate takeover of government, since government (and democracy) present one of the biggest threats to unfettered capitalism.
We're currently living in a system that follows #2. Claiming how this is "not capitalism" is bogus, and just a reflection of the denial of some people with trying to come to terms with the reality of the situation. Why do you think socialism is all of the sudden such a "demonic" term in our country? It is no coincidence.
While waiting for Michael Moore's movie "Capitalism, A Love Story" to come out, I found this movie about stock market corruption called "Stock Shock." It follows several Sirius XM investors through their experience of watching their stock go from almost ten dollars a share---down to 5 cents/share. "Stock Shock" suggests this might be due to "naked short selling" and other market manipulation by high rollers on Wall Street. I don't know if I'm a believer, but at least it gives a good review of how our stock markets are engineered. Amazon.com has it and stockshockmovie.com
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