Michael Moore & Me

This week's Senator Sanders Unfiltered features a question from filmmaker Michael Moore. Submit your own video question for next week's show here. "Unfiltered" is produced by Brave New Films.

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Capitalism does a number of things very well: it helps create an entrepreneurial spirit, it gets people motivated to come up with new ideas and that's a good thing. But on the other hand, especially since the Reagan era, what we have seen in this country is an unfettered type of cowboy capitalism, and the result of that has been, that the people on top have made out like bandits and many of them are bandits. Today in America we have a situation that is quickly moving out of control.

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Comments

[LMPE]

A challenge just as great as fixing our system will be convincing the dittoheads to understand why our country is like this.

[leduck]

i saw the movie several days ago
and i thought it was OK
it was entertainng at times
i did like the graphs early on

I can think of one comment that was wrong off the top of my head
he said the middle class was built by unions

no

the middle class always existed by it expanded into the dominante class because of industrialism
that feeds on hydrocarbons such as oil, natrual gas, and coal

the massive middle class owes it's existance to these hydrocarbons

but like i said..., it is amusing toward the end

[research]

So, Unions did not create the middle class, they just expanded it from say 1% in the "middle" to 80% in the middle, correct?

[brady61995]

the unions were the balance until late 70's early 80's then they started to drink the kool aid and became part of the problem which left it all unbalanced

[themainpoint]

I just saw the film and it is brilliant. Definitely Michael Moore's best film yet.

[granny104]

Went to Michael Moore's new movie last night and it is absolutely his best work. I was pleased to see seniors like my husband and I, and young folks alike giving Moore the PROFIT he deserves for this venture. You will laugh; you will cry. I will not be a spoiler, but yes, the Jesus part is so true and so funny. I feel energized now to carry on the battle for affordable health care for all of us, especially after a week of seeing what insurance company $$$ can do in D.C. It's time for the Dems and our good President to be fearless in the face of the $$ they have taken from the robber barons. It's time for them to say," I don't care if I serve another term, I'll just do the right thing." Power to the people.

[brady61995]

the problem is they are in so deep and most likely guily of cr imes. they will not come to the plate for americans. they the left and right are all cowards and are controlled by the lobby

[Alabama John]

CAPITALISM ---- ILLUSION OF EQUALITY

Capitalism is the illusion that we all have the identical ability and desire to achieve. The result of which is a government that enhances achievement, places no regulations, oversight or caps on achievement, and gives all control, power and wealth and to those who have amassed the most excessive wealth.

In short, they control the deadly force of government and terrorize us into submission.

[research]

It's about time we prosecuted "Contribution" and "lobbying" as the

Bribery they are.

Free prime time for all candidates on the ballot.

A small travel stipend.

That's all it takes.

[Alabama John]

OK a man after my own heart. Now we have to put our heads together, what with a majority of our capitalist Congress knowing that campaign finance reform would put them out of politics all together.

Not that its impossible, just that from 1776 it has not been possible.

[krocklin]

Where you end up economically depends on two things: Luck and the corollary that you are born into the right situation.

[josephXY]

It is, on top of what the senator says and the cheers he gets fun to see how on the other hand
those financial experts and pundits who hyped up the whole bubble are not getting much
praise lately for what they said on TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

[Alabama John]

No praise from the public, but immense praise from those who force a rich man’s dictatorship on us lesser beings, us slow thinkers who have not their ability or desire to compete, achieve, hoard and plunder.

[Norge]

It is a very subjective target film with heart rendering parts though the economics of it is really kool aid
economics.

[Alabama John]

To the reverse, for Bernie’s video is a broad overview of the ultimate corruption in unregulated capitalism.

And it appeals greatly to that broad spectrum of society who feel that control of government should not be given blindly to those with power and wealth, those with the greatest ability and desire to achieve.

[genmanager]

Do us all a favor and not post less than snippets like this. I adore Bernie Sanders. Perhaps an essay or column?

[KarlaElisa]

JUST returned from seeing Moore's film and it was FANTASTIC!

Especially the Jesus part.

[dteg]

I am looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.

[Khirad]

You go Bernie! And, it still amuses me that conservatives bewailing socialism haven't gone after an actual one, but create bogeymen instead. After all, why talk to an actual social democrat - when the McCarthyite straw man is so much more effective to the perpetually paranoid and credulous?

[berrycooda]

How ironic...

Capitalism is what has made M. Moore rich.

[ydrittmann]

No one subsidizes him and if he fails, no one bails him out. That is how I describe capitalism. What is it that banks and Wall Street practice?

[Alabama John]

Actually it all depends on what Michael feels he deserves. For if our hero feels he deserves less, then he’s for democracy and gives all he can give. But if he feels deserving of more, then he’s a capitalist and with a clear conscience takes all that the law will allow.

[andycan]

It is important to stifle the obscene squealings of the Darwinian nuts and of their benighted fundamentalsit cohorts.

[StevenevetS]

Huh???

[schatsie]

The Movie is FAAAABUUUU­LOUS....Yo­u will love it, go see it and get the movies to keep it around for every one to see....SHOULD BE MANDATORY FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS before they get suckered into $100,000 in education loans....

[JusdaTruth]

I agree.

[Alabama John]

“People are not ready for democracy,
they are ignorant and unable to govern themselves”

Above is what the rich nobility have told us since the beginning of civilization, and what rich capitalists tell us to this very today.

UNTRUE: ---- UNTRUE ---- UNTRUE
For though the rich have made government and laws super complex to deny us equal access to power, democracy is a super simple thing.

Equality:
“No one shall enrich themselves upon the misery of another”

Democracy:
All men have a different ability to gain wealth. Therefore all should pass our excessive wealth down to those less fortunate where it belongs.

[Alabama John]

Capitalism:
All men have an equal ability to gain.
Therefore we owe nothing to those less fortunate.

Democracy:
All men have a different ability to gain wealth.
Therefore we should pass our excessive wealth down to those less fortunate where it belongs.

[Clarabell]

Democracy: "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." (The American College Dictionary - (1964). Sorry for the age of the dict., but it's the one that's closest at hand right now. But democracy only works well, in my opinion, when you have a property informed citizenry, and that we do not have.

[Alabama John]

We agree, democracy is equal access to power.

We agree, most people are self-absorbed, brainwashed and ignorant of the harm that they do, or how to properly run society.

So we need a fundamential principle for all of government that would guide every aspect of government. Would you agree the following is it?

Democracy:
All men have a different ability to gain wealth.
Therefore we should pass our excessive wealth down to those less fortunate where it belongs.