Less Is Moore
Michael Moore's latest opens in a few days. Here's a promotional paragraph :
In Capitalism: A Love Story, filmmaker Michael Moore (Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Roger & Me) tackles an issue he has been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). Moore explores the root causes of the global economic meltdown and takes a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what he has described as the biggest robbery in the history of this country—the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.
Okay.
1) I could have sworn having corporate-dominated everyday lives in America and the rest of the world has helped lead to the highest standard of living for the most people the human race has ever known.
2) A corporation is a very useful way to set up a business. Corporations (just like other businesses, and just like people) can do bad things, and they should certainly be punished when that happens. But if you want to see true misery, go to a country that's banned corporations.
3) If we're going to blame corporate shenanigans for recessions, shouldn't we give them some credit for the good times?
4) There has been and continues to be a massive transfer of taxpayer money to various institutions. I've got plenty of problems with this, too. The way to stop it is to change how the government operates.
5) Corporate-dominated society has offered Michael Moore tremendous money and power, which he has no trouble enjoying.
6) Government has never been able to make everyone rich, but has shown an ability to make everyone poor.
7) Moore would like to see more wealth "redistributed" to create a fairer society. Alright, but just one thing--where do you think that wealth came from? If you believe it's simply lying around, and somehow a group called the rich figured out how to steal it, then you'll probably love Moore. But if you believe capitalism, with all its inequality, was the engine that helped generate the wealth, I hope you'd be a bit worried about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
In Capitalism: A Love Story, filmmaker Michael Moore (Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Roger & Me) tackles an issue he has been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). Moore explores the root causes of the global economic meltdown and takes a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what he has described as the biggest robbery in the history of this country—the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.
Okay.
1) I could have sworn having corporate-dominated everyday lives in America and the rest of the world has helped lead to the highest standard of living for the most people the human race has ever known.
2) A corporation is a very useful way to set up a business. Corporations (just like other businesses, and just like people) can do bad things, and they should certainly be punished when that happens. But if you want to see true misery, go to a country that's banned corporations.
3) If we're going to blame corporate shenanigans for recessions, shouldn't we give them some credit for the good times?
4) There has been and continues to be a massive transfer of taxpayer money to various institutions. I've got plenty of problems with this, too. The way to stop it is to change how the government operates.
5) Corporate-dominated society has offered Michael Moore tremendous money and power, which he has no trouble enjoying.
6) Government has never been able to make everyone rich, but has shown an ability to make everyone poor.
7) Moore would like to see more wealth "redistributed" to create a fairer society. Alright, but just one thing--where do you think that wealth came from? If you believe it's simply lying around, and somehow a group called the rich figured out how to steal it, then you'll probably love Moore. But if you believe capitalism, with all its inequality, was the engine that helped generate the wealth, I hope you'd be a bit worried about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:10 AM
5 Comments:
Moore does post-production on his films in Canada to avoid paying union rates. It's okay, because he's not greedy like all those corporations.
Frank Rich has an interesting take on the parallels between Moore and Glen Beck.
I read the article and there's only a passing mention of Michael Moore (which implies Beck occasionally agrees with Moore, too bad he does it for the wrong reasons).
Instead, it's just another loathsome attack on the right from the left. Loathsome in that Rich makes clear that any disagreement with Obama may be declared racist if Rich or his stand-ins say it is. Second, he claims there's a new paranoia, rage and demagoguery out there which is dangerous to our nation, when he should be noting that there's much less paranoia, rage and demagoguery out there now that the Left doesn't have the Bush administration around to attack regularly.
There's a good two or three paragraphs that made it pretty clear to me LAGuy's objections may apply equally to right-wing populism as left-wing populism. That's why I linked it. If you can't hold your nose and read around the semi-obligatory "right wing is bad and racist" portion of a NYTimes op-ed to find the possibly useful part, I'd suggest you should just close the link as soon as you see the source, anon.
The Left and Right are only right when expose each other
Post a Comment
<< Home