Capitalism: A Love Story - A Movie Review

Michael Moore's recent documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story, no doubt will cause many to chuckle and shake their heads.  The prolific documentarian has been a controversial figure.  If you like him, people will often get the faint impression that you must be a radical liberal, out to demolish all common sense in a childish Utopian quest.  Moore's scathing criticism of George W. Bush's presidency in Fahrenheit 9/11, earned him this title.  Whether this extreme caricature is true, though, is another question.  It's better to watch a person's documentaries before you make a judgment of him though.  In this documentary about the political genuflection of the elite in congress to big banks, there is a lot of interesting, and factual information.  Perhaps instead of shaking our heads we should raise eyebrow and engage with the subject.

Moore traces the evolution of a more free market approach to economics in the 80s as a major culprit of our current troubles.  In the 50s, apparently the rich were taxed at a much higher rate.  This website confirms the data that Moore presented in the film: http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php.  In the 80s, as you can see from this chart, the wealthy did receive very large tax cuts.  This has continued into the present day. 

Moore also accuses President Reagan of being a corporate Manchurian candidate.  Perhaps he is, indeed, correct in this assertion.  He does point out that some of the wealthiest business elites in America were on Reagan's staff.  Are republicans a tad bit too trusting of these associations?  You can be the judge of that.

Moore also uses many emotional appeals in the movie.  Mostly it concerns working class people being evicted from their homes due to mortgage problems.  One family had a graduated mortgage payment that they couldn't pay.  Another family was evicted but then came back to live on the property in defiance of the eviction.  A group of workers decided to protest GM's mismanagement by staying in their factory after it was going to be closed.  All of these scenes were very emotionally moving.  It's very sad what's happening to so many Americans these days.  Sure, many of them should have known that they couldn't afford the mortgage payments.  You could make the same argument about people who fall victim to scam artists, yet we still punish the scam artists.  In the case of these crooked loans, we reward the banks with 700 billion dollar bailouts.

Perhaps the most provoking part of the film was the footage and interviews of the 2008 banking crisis and the negotiations in congress to bail out the banks.  Goldman Sachs and other big banking firms apparently have a very cozy relationship with the office of the Presidency and the big wigs in Congress.  It doesn't matter who is in the oval office;  it appears that they appoint Wallstreet heavyweights to be the Secretary of the Treasury every time.  Whether it's Henry Paulson, or Timothy Geithner, it doesn't matter.

Wait a minute, I thought republicans were the only ones who were into cozy, corporate relations.  Nope, it's the leaders of the democratic party as well.  Barack Obama, himself, was a very vocal supporter of the Bail out.  Moore hints at this gently, but it doesn't appear that he has the kahonas to take on Obama.  That would probably lose him a lot of support from his fan base.

Moore should have come right out and talked about Obama's deep entrenchment in corporate ties.  He would have gained more fans than he lost, in my opinion.

While Moore's documentary was very thought provoking, I think he fails to really address the problem.  He does this by associating all of this corruption with Capitalism in general.  Capitalism in general is not the problem.  Monopology Capitalism and corporatism is the problem.  Real free market capitalism does conjure up images of small shops and the economic enterprise of the little guy, as one guest on the film accurately stated (it was the guy who played the leader of the gang in the Princess Bride).  Monopoly Capitalism, however, destroys the real free market because it dodges the market by government aid and corporate cartels (corporations working together to fix prices etc...). 

In summary, I find a lot of value in Moore's work.  I cannot agree that we need more top-down, central economic planning to fix the problems, however.  We do need regulations of banks and we do need to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act to separate commercial and investment banks again.  We also need leadership who will not bow to the filthy lucre of corporate lobbyists anymore.  It doesn't matter if they call themselves Democrats, Republicans, or Independents.

How is this possible without a radical intellectual, ethical, and moral change in America?  Many historians believe that the Great Awakening gave a great impetus to the American Revolution.  Perhaps we need a new Great Awakening if we want to see another American Revolution.  Let's hope and pray for that and seek a peaceful revolution.