Capitalism: A Love Story, By Michael Moore
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 23rd, 2009
Good morning.
I have always been a fan of Michael Moore’s movies. They are known to be controversial and conspiracy based, but when you watch his films, is real life much different than what he portrays? Not really, and most of the time he is right on….most of the time we learn the real truth.
People just don’t want to think that people, big business, or our government can be that corrupt. But the more I read and learn, the more I know people, big business, and our government have been and can be that corrupt. (Thankfully, we have a new president and a new administration) As Al pointed out yesterday in regards to his posting of ’little snippets of wisdom painting an ugly picture of how things really are’, Michael Moore creates entire films showing us just how ugly things really are, and the perpetrators behind the ugliness.
And when Arianna Huffington from the Huff says, ‘Barack Obama must see Michael Moore’s new movie (and so must you!), she catches just a little bit of my attention. :)
Here’s what Arianna had to say:
Michael Moore has proven again and again that he has a remarkable feel for where the zeitgeist is heading. He’s like a zeitgeist divining rod.
Roger and Me was way ahead of the curve on the collapse of the auto-industry. Fahrenheit 9/11 was way ahead of the curve on the collapse of the house of cards the Bush administration used to lead us to war in Iraq. Sicko was way ahead of the curve on the collapse of the US health care system. And now, with his new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, he is riding the wave of the collapse of trust in our country’s financial system.
The film, which opens in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, and all across the country on October 2nd, is a withering indictment of the current economic order, covering everything from Wall Street’s casino mentality to for-profit prisons, from Goldman Sachs’ sway in Washington to the poverty-level pay of many airline pilots, from the tidal wave of foreclosures to the tragic consequences of runaway greed.
Watching the film, I felt like Michael had climbed inside my head, made a list of all the things that have been obsessing me for the last 12 months, and brought them horrifyingly to life. It’s one thing to know these things are happening; it’s another to see them happening in front of your eyes.
Right from the beginning — after a funny set-up juxtaposing End of Empire Rome and Modern America — Michael goes directly to the beating heart of the economic crisis, showing a hard-working, middle class family being evicted from their home. The knot in your stomach starts to tighten — and the outrage starts to build. Watch for yourself in this exclusive clip:
And so it goes throughout the film, with Moore successfully walking a cinematic tightrope, alternating between a punch-to-the-solar-plexus critique of the status quo, heart-wrenching portraits of the suffering caused by the economic crisis, and laugh-out-loud social satire.
The film also turns the spotlight on some underreported gems: an internal Citibank report happily declaring America a “plutonomy,” with the top 1 percent of the population controlling more financial wealth than the bottom 95 percent; an expose of “dead peasant” insurance policies that have companies cashing in on the untimely deaths of their employees; and amazing footage of FDR, found buried in a film archive and not seen in decades, calling for a Second Bill of Rights that would guarantee all Americans a useful job, a decent home, adequate health care, and a good education.
And Moore underlines the irony of Larry Summers being put in charge of fixing the crisis he helped create. A little like asking Kanye West to plan a Taylor Swift tribute.
While taking no prisoners, and directing equal doses of ire at Republicans and Democrats alike, the film also features a number of heroes, including bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren; Wayne County, Michigan Sheriff Warren Evans, who announced in February: “I cannot in clear conscience allow one more family to be put out of their home until I am satisfied they have been afforded every option they are entitled to under the law to avoid foreclosure”; and Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who took to the House floor and offered a radical solution to the foreclosure crisis: “So I say to the American people, you be squatters in your own homes. Don’t you leave.”
In the film, Michael describes capitalism as evil. I disagree. I don’t think capitalism is evil. I think what we have right now is not capitalism.
In capitalism as envisioned by its leading lights, including Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall, you need a moral foundation in order for free markets to work. And when a company fails, it fails. It doesn’t get bailed out using trillions of dollars of taxpayer money. What we have right now is Corporatism. It’s welfare for the rich. It’s the government picking winners and losers. It’s Wall Street having their taxpayer-funded cake and eating it too. It’s socialized losses and privatized gains.
Which is why — although you can bet many will try – Capitalism: A Love Story can’t be dismissed as a left-wing tirade. Its condemnation of the status quo is too grounded in real stories and real suffering, its targets too evenly spread across the political spectrum. Indeed, Jay Leno, America’s designated Everyman, was so moved by the film he insisted that Moore appear on the second night of his new show, and told his audience that the film was “completely nonpartisan… I was stunned by it, and I think it is the most fair film” Moore has done.
After a preview screening last week (at which I did a Q&A session with Michael), he came over to my home for a late night bite. Over lasagna, he told me about an incident that occurred while he was filming that exemplifies how the economic crisis cannot be looked at through a left vs right prism.
It happened while he and his crew were shooting the climax of the movie, where Michael decides to mark Wall Street as a crime scene, putting up yellow police tape around some of the financial district’s towers of power.
While unfurling the tape in front of a “too big to fail” bank, he became aware of a group of New York’s finest approaching him. Moore has a long history of dealing with policemen and security guards trying to shut him down, but in this case he knew he was, however temporarily, defacing private property. And his shooting schedule didn’t leave room for a detour to the local jail. So, as the lead officer came closer, Moore tried to deflect him, saying: “Just doing a little comedy here, officer. I’ll be gone in a minute, and will clean up before I go.”
The officer looked at him for a moment, then leaned in: “Take all the time you need.” He nodded to the bank and said, “These guys wiped out a lot of our Police Pension Funds.” The officer turned and slowly headed back to his squad car. Moore wanted to put the moment in his film, but realized it could cost the cop his job, and decided to leave it out. “When they’ve lost the police,” he told me, “you know they’re in trouble.”
There is a real sense of urgency to Capitalism: A Love Story. I asked Michael what impact he hoped the film would have. He chuckled and said that, in some way, he had made the movie for “an audience of one. President Obama. I hope he sees it and remembers who put him in the White House… and it wasn’t Goldman Sachs.”
At the Q&A I did with Michael — and, indeed, wherever he goes — people who see the film are asking: What should I do to make a difference?
There are obviously many things people can do. At HuffPost, we are asking everyone to bear witness by putting flesh and blood on the tragic human cost of the greed and corruption that have brought us to where we are.
Tell us your story — or the stories about people you know whose home has been foreclosed, whose job has disappeared, whose kids can’t afford to go to college, whose credit card interest rate has been jacked up to 30 percent, etc, etc, etc. And tell us the positive stories too: the heroes — judges, lawyers, volunteers — who are helping people stay in their homes, the neighbors who are coming together to alleviate the pain and make their community a better place to live in. You can tell these stories in words, pictures, or videos. We’ll collect them on a special Bearing Witness 2.0 section.
When people are given the facts and shown the reality of what is happening, they will almost always do the right thing. Help us keep showing that reality.
Readers: So…is ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’, the next on your list for must see movies? I would say so. I am grateful to Michael Moore for putting in so much time and energy to exposing the truth. Thoughts? Blog me.
Hey Ruth: Thanks for posting your article. I was just hearing bits of it yesterday on my way to work. I have always taken supplements and rarely take meds unless absolutely necessary. The cost and side effects are not worth it to me. However, I do believe that meds can be helpful but full disclosure is most important. People have died or have gotten serious side effects from drugs but can you say that about supplements?Big Pharma doesn’t want people to be healed naturally, they want you to rely on their drugs, pay a pretty penny for them too, and be left in the dark. I agree, ‘enough’s enough’….and that goes for other areas in our lives too.
Grace: I always like to go au natural. No Botox for this girl. I thought your article was real interesting. Thanks for posting. I am tempted to try a few. :)
Hi Zen Lill: I’m getting a kick out of your stuff too. Maybe you have found your calling :)
Hello Helena!
Got to run.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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September 23rd, 2009 at 9:07 am
FIVE THINGS MEN CAN DO TO LIVE LONGER
These are difficult times for everyone, but especially men. Compared with women, men have lost more jobs in this recession and are struggling to get back on track in an increasingly competitive work environment while balancing ever-mounting pressures and responsibilities at home.
Compounding these stresses are the inherent health disadvantages men face that have wedged five years in life expectancy between the sexes. The average woman lives to the ripe old age of 80, but the average man lives only to age 75. Moreover, in every age group, men are more likely than women to die, with the leading causes of death for men in the US including heart disease, cancer, injuries, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, infections such as flu and pneumonia, and suicide.
Yes, times are tough, but it’s time that the tough… men, that is… get going so they can live longer and healthier lives. Women have done a great job of joining together in assorted advocacy groups that help protect and advance their issues. Men, however, have not created the same support structure. This is a shame because, in truth, men face unique challenges and would benefit from collective efforts to address their particular health needs.
HOW MEN CAN LENGTHEN THEIR LIVES
I spoke to Marianne J. Legato, MD, professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University and author of Why Men Die First: How to Lengthen Your Lifespan, about men’s unique challenges. She explained to me that the combination of genetics, physiology and the way our society conditions and trains men to behave has resulted in “unique fragilities” that include a weaker immune system, earlier onset of coronary artery disease (CAD) and a tendency to tough it out and not admit to pain or emotional difficulties.
Consequently men are less proactive than women when it comes to their physical and mental health, resulting in missed opportunities to catch illnesses in their earlier stages, when they can be effectively treated. Moreover, in these stressful times, many men are not admitting to or recognizing their own feelings of depression, which itself is a risk for serious illness.
Dr. Legato offered some suggestions on what specific steps men can take to lengthen their lives.
1. Bolster Your Immune System
Generally speaking, the male immune system has a less vigorous response to diseases and infections, leaving men more vulnerable to heart disease; colorectal, lung and liver cancers, melanoma; and infectious diseases such as influenza and pneumonia. Because this somewhat weaker immune system is hardwired, Dr. Legato told me that it becomes even more important for men to make lifestyle choices that help them stay strong and healthy.
2. Prevent Early Onset of Heart Disease
Men tend to develop CAD about 10 to 20 years before women, often in the prime of their lives — in fact, the symptoms can appear in men as early as the mid-30s and they are also likely to die from it at younger ages.
Blame hormones — estrogen helps protect women from CAD until they are well into midlife by elevating levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and keeping blood vessel walls relaxed, whereas in men, testosterone is thought to increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL — the so-called bad cholesterol), which, if it oxidizes, raises risk of heart disease and stroke.
Dr. Legato advises men to get an annual screening for CAD, which should include a careful assessment of their risk factors, starting with a baseline in their 20s. Tests should include an electrocardiogram… a test for inflammatory markers identifying factors that can contribute to serum cholesterol damage of vessel walls… and a cholesterol panel, paying particular attention to the ratio of good HDL to triglycerides and HDL to LDL.
Also important: Follow an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, eating nutritious foods (including plenty of fruits and vegetables and not too much animal protein), exercising regularly and getting sufficient omega-3 fatty acids, either by eating fish twice weekly or taking fish oil supplements.
3. Get Early Cancer Screenings
Cancer is the other main killer of men in middle and older age, said Dr. Legato. Early detection is the key to surviving the three most common (and lethal) cancers in men — prostate, lung and colon.
To screen for prostate cancer, Dr. Legato recommended digital rectal exams beginning at age 45, followed by an ultrasound of the prostate when necessary. For lung cancer, those at high risk (smokers, men with a history of exposure to radon) should have annual or biannual chest X-rays. All men should begin colon cancer screening at age 50 and even earlier for those with family history of the disease.
4. Recognize and Treat Depression
Unlike women, who tend to express their emotions and have broader social networks to get help, men often struggle silently, holding in their feelings. The result, said Dr. Legato, is an “under-recognized epidemic of depression, which leaches the color out of men’s lives.”
Depressed men tend to neglect their health, smoke more, self-medicate with alcohol and other drugs and exercise less. Heart disease is three times higher among men who are clinically depressed. Finally, depression sometimes leads to suicide, which is four times more likely in men compared with women.
One step that men who suspect they’re suffering from depression can take is to ask their doctor to check testosterone levels, as both high and low levels can cause symptoms of depression. Low testosterone negatively affects energy, muscle mass, ability to perform prolonged exercise, memory, concentration and libido.
High testosterone can cause restlessness, aggressive behavior and a general sense of dispiritedness. There are several different forms of treatment, including gels, patches and injections, to help restore testosterone to clinically functional levels.
It’s also important to talk about your feelings and concerns with friends or family and, if that’s not very helpful, seek professional counseling.
5. Reduce Stress
While stress can be motivating and challenging, it can also be physically and mentally exhausting. Strategies for stress management recommended by Dr. Legato include making a list of the factors that cause stress in your life, prioritizing those you can work on and crossing out the ones that you can’t control. She says it is important to steal a few hours away from your busy day for just yourself.
Figure out what helps you decompress — maybe the aromatherapy or morning walk with friends through the neighborhood that your wife finds helpful isn’t your style, but here’s your excuse to go fishing… take the dog for a spirit-boosting run… or find a men-only yoga class or martial arts program that incorporates meditative exercise (such as Hatha Yoga, Tae Kwon Do or Tai Chi). Anything you can do to make life better will likely help make it longer, too.
Source(s): ??Marianne J. Legato, MD, is an expert in gender-specific medicine and Founder of Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine and a professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Legato is author of Why Men Die First: How to Lengthen Your Lifespan (Palgrave Macmillan) and editor of The Journal of Gender Specific Medicine.?
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Hi Mischa, I saw this trailer, cannot wait to see it, it’ll be somewhere this weekend here in LA I’m sure.
Funny you would say my ZL program is a possible ‘calling’ – I know I haven’t mentioned it here but I have a roomate living here now, she was the first person I met in LA 20+ years ago, and now she’s a roommate once again (my kid is in love with her), she’s an educator, she’s a lesbian (fun convos about sex all the time, too fun), and she saw me trying to figure out some French to respond yesterday and she’s going to tutor me (she’s very fluent in French and Spanish) – I’m excited – but this is what she said to me yesterday with her jaw dropped, (I was juicing beets/carrots/celery) you’re unbelievable, I READ about people who live like this but it’s been 3 weeks and I swear I have not seen you eat or drink one crappy thing, you’re off to the gym/tennis court everyday and now you’re, you’re juicing?! You need to write a book, babe!
She’s right, selling clothes is quite fun and money is OK but living in LA costs coin and I need more : ) little capitalist pig that I am. So, Mischa, I’m asking you, can I advertise me and my line here, donations will bring abundance to us both perhaps. Let me know.
Be back – are all women of MM blog wrting down what they’re eating this week??? I hope so – review is Friday!
Caio! Zen Lill
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Hi Michelle,
I too like Michael Moore documentaries and was just downloading a few more of his documentaries yesterday. One of them “Michael Moore Hates America” wasn’t one of ‘his’ and had a few things to say about Mr. Moore’s tactics that I have to admit made him look a little flaky, more on that after a thorough viewing. I want to view “Capitalism, a Love Song”, whenever it becomes available.
With all of MM’s flicks, Zietgiest and about a half dozen others, I am beginning to wonder if we will ever see true democracy again.
More people are becoming aware to what’s up, but even much of this info is questionable.
Here is another of those I’ve been posting.
TRUTH
On television and in print both the news media and politicians take great pride in the appearance of truth, honesty and lack of bias. Nothing could be further from the truth. The mass media exists for one reason only; to turn a profit. While their business is indeed the dissemination of current information, every facet of their operation, from which stories are covered to the editorialization of said stories, is designed to increase their profit. Stories of rape, murder, child abuse, conflict, all of these make entertaining television spots and engrossing blurbs in a newspaper. For this reason these types of stories are included in far higher proportion to ‘happy’ news stories, thereby altering the public’s view of the world and their own safety. The media also puts a spin on current politics, showing the government and the president in the best light possible. This is especially true since 9/11 and the ‘war on terror.’ While this may or may not be patriotic, it is not unbiased coverage of events and decisions that affect us all as citizens. Politicians themselves are no better. While the goal of the media is increased revenues, the politicians strive for broader voter bases and election or reelection. Their solutions and stances are modulated to be as bland and middle-of-the-road as possible. No question is answered straightforwardly when it can be avoided. By making every statement and stance as vague as possible, politicians avoid decisively eliminating anyone from their voter base. While the tactics of the media are excellent for making a profit, and the tactics of the politicians are superb for keeping a broad voter base, they both fail miserably at the jobs they profess to be doing; those of informing the public of current events in the world and in political thought. As Americans we need to take these ulterior motives into account before accepting politicians and the news media at face value.
Al
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
spot on Al!