Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story and Michigan
If you've ever seen a Michael Moore movie, you know two things about the filmmaker: he is from Flint, Michigan and he definitely has a point of view. Both things come through loud and clear in his newest movie, Capitalism: A Love Story.
The movie features both Detroit and Flint in supporting roles, but, outside of Moore's almost obligatory standoff with security guards at the GM Renaissance Center, the scenes filmed in both cities are used more as representations of anywhere U.S.A. That's because the film is about something much larger than the evils of a particular company or industry. This time around, Moore goes after Capitalism, the economic concept itself. In fact, the movie is set up to challenge our knee-jerk, negative reaction to the word socialism and dispel the notion that capitalism is somehow inexorably entwined with patriotism and democracy.
Per usual, Moore makes a lot of good points in his droll voice-overs, and, whether or not he converts you to his point of view by movie's end, he definitely makes you think. Whether you love him, hate him or dispute the idea that his films are documentaries, you have to admit there is something winsome about his unfailing support of the little guy. And I don't care what your politics, you have to respect his loyalty to his hometown.
Comments
Mr. Moore is fat jerk, he is a disgrace.
He lives off of capitalism, quite well, and every one of his films has been a sad affair. If he ever had to make a real living he would starve without the support of his ignorant following.
Most folks have better things to do than contributing to the wealth of this imbecile’s fantasy ramblings.
If this passes for culture and class in Michigan then it is no wonder that the state has the highest unemployment in the country. The message from the Obama supports sounds so wonderful but lacks substance and does not recognize reality. But, then what would one expect from such a “great leader” that never had a single accomplishment, aside from playing sharp elbow politics in Chicago while being put in positions of power and money by eager benefactors. (check out his wife’s employment history, his real estate transactions, etc.)
The political factors of Michigan, by that I mean the democratic control of the state, have contributed to the demise of the state. Until the voters wake up and recognize that sending the same lame politicians to office every year is not advancing the well being of the state, I fail to see a solution. (e.g., the same family controlling one congressional seat for over seventy years!)
But, in keeping with the best tradition of Chicago, the mindless masses will continue to vote the same bozos into office and expect a miracle.
I do not regret having left Michigan when I was 17, and that was 46 years ago!
The union mentality of not having to provide for one’s best interest by one’s own actions and intentions stifles one’s potential to succeed. The days of competitive manufacturing in the world market are rapidly diminishing. $75 per hour (benefits and salary costs) cannot compete with Asian labor rates. Try and buy a shirt or pair of pants or a dress that is made in the continental US. Look at what happened to clothing manufacturing in America. Consumers won’t spend the money to purchase locally produced items when the price differential is such a large margin. Price a laptop or a computer, where are they manufactured?
It is a new world and old solutions are not viable.
The last person to leave Detroit (or Fint) will not have to turn out the lights, the lights will most likely have been stolen or vandalized.
Thomas you are a boatload of contradictions. You want people to buy American but then rail against the unioins who offer people a decent wage, health care benifits and retirement. You seem to think it’s fine to ship jobs overseas so we can be competitive and exploit the workers there while we send millions of jobs offshore. You put down the Obamas for having a silver spoon while all your Redumblican friends are the ones that are filthy rich and fleeced the American people to where we are today. You think Bush had any major accomplishments while he was raised by the elite and got his way paid into
Harvard where he barely had a C average. He was a Govenor of Texas who prided himself on the death penalty and derailed education there. Reagon was an idiot actor who also caved into and was bought by the barons of wallstreet. He busted the unions and made the rich richcer by cutting their taxes. You are really the idiot to have bought his all.
Mr. S.
Granted, Al Gore was a model student (with a GPA below George Bush) and Ted (the hero of Chappaquiddick) Kennedy was kicked out of Harvard for cheating, but that is not relevant to W’s accomplishments. Please give me some other great examples of democrap successes in the last 20 years. Joe Biden with his plagiarism, Obama with his ACORN and Rev. Wright, and buddy Bill Ayers (now claiming to have “Ghosted” the chosen one’s “Dreams From My Father” , not possible, they hardly know each other according to Obama).
You should remember the impact of democraps seeking to really fix the “rich” with New England boat yards in 1990 with the 10% luxury tax.
The democraps decided to really tax the wealthy where it would hurt them to ensure the masses would benefit from the taxes to “spread the wealth around” (sound familiar?). Boat yards that had skilled craftsmen and had been in business for over one hundred years were put out of business and the wealthy bought their expensive toys from Asian and other foreign builders.
The boat business never returned despite the best efforts of the democraps in New England to remove the tax after two years.
The jobs and the skilled workers were gone.
Now fastening a nut, or installing a door, dropping a windshield on frame is indeed dignified work but it is a skill that is readily achieved in short period of time. One’s income should reflect the skills and knowledge necessary to perform one’s tasks (“would you like fries with that”). Repairing today’s micro-chip controlled vehicles does require training, the ability to fault detect and fault isolate is a skill that requires knowledge and reasoning.
Detroit is full of burned out houses, left by a population that will never return to manufacture vehicles.
Ronald Reagan brought down the Soviet Union and the Berlin wall, the Texas of George Bush is a much better place to live than Michigan. Doctors are flocking to Texas for work because of Tort reform. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize we were better off with Ronald Reagan than noble laureate Carter and his 18% mortgages.
Unions were fantastic for cigar rollers, for early manufacturing folks, but in today’s multi-national market unions must change or become a part of the dust bin. The recent bailout for the UAW (fifty billion dollars of taxpayer money) to give control of General Motors to the UAW will never achieve a payback to the tax payers. I used to buy GM products, in fact the last my last four (of the six) new vehicles I purchased were two Chevy three-quarter-ton pickups, a Corvette and a Malibu. They were preceded by Ford pickup and a Chrysler sedan.
I will never purchase another GM product, I may consider a Ford, but I’m inclined towards a VW diesel.
No one has repealed the “Law of Supply and Demand”.
Automated assembly, computer controlled machining, and the rapid decline of America’s educational institutions with the “dumbing down” of schools, to give dignity to under-achievers so as to not allow them to fail, have contributed to the decline of our once great nation. Translation: most minorities (meaning Black students not Asians) are not equipped to function in a structured educational environment. What is the graduation rate for Detroit schools (or Washington, DC)? Is it the responsibility of parents or the government to ensure that children behave, do their home work, speak proper English (one shouldn’t “axe” such a question), and become an enlightened citizen.
When a Michigan teacher’s union demands a signed statement from a member that they promise to vote for a democrat or be fired I am appalled.
I recall being forced to join a union when I was 16, when I left to join the Navy I was assured my job would be waiting. Strange, but when I visited years, later the store was gone. When minimum wage clerks at a supermarket are forced to pay an outrageous “initiation” fee (over two hundred dollars) and pay weekly dues to ensure the union management gets by with an upper white collar wage, what is the benefit? There is no health plan, no retirement, and aside from becoming mouthy ingrates to customers without fear of being fired, I see no benefit. Face it, low skill workers are essentially entry level workers and shouldn’t plan on being a life time in such jobs. At some point in time one should aspire to acquire new skills that lead to a productive position.
I went to night school to earn a bachelor’s degree (no one “gave” it to me) while working a full time job and married with four children. The Navy had already sent me to three years of technical training. Later, I realized my skills and knowledge were being overtaken by changes in technology. At that time I returned to night school, took an additional ten undergraduate courses, studied to pass the GRE and entered graduate school. Then, after another two years of night school I earned an MS degree.
I have relocated to different states to ensure I was employed. I do not really like the area where I now live but I am employed. When I was 12 I delivered newspapers, I cut lawns, I shoveled snow, and I have never received an unemployment check. I have worked menial jobs; I am now in a window office looking out towards the Washington monument, counting the days until I can leave this crowded and expensive area.
The plan that I see from the democraps is to enslave the masses with taxpayer handouts and such largesse will never succeed. We need to secure our borders; the use of illegal immigrants to fill low skill jobs is driving down the wages of such employment. If there were not illegal immigrants filling the low skill tasks I would envision at some point in time the wages would rise to the point where unemployed citizens would seek employment. This would be particularly true if the alternative were to live a substandard level of existence on government dole