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Michael Moore’s New Documatary On Economic Crisis Coming In October
I really enjoy Michael Moore’s films. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t agree with everything he says in his films, and I don’t like all his tactics… but if you can’t still appreciate hearing views and ideas that you don’t share despite the fact that you don’t share them, I think there is something seriously wrong.
I really get a kick out of people who say “his movies aren’t documentaries because documentaries aren’t supposed to be biased”. That’s total nonsense. All stories are told from a point of view, and every point of view has a bias. If you don’t want ANY bias, go watch the evening news… cause you’re talking about news reports, not movies. Anyway…
The newest movie Moore is coming out with revolves around the current economic crisis and the causes thereof. The folks over at Dark Horizons give us this:
Overture Films and Paramount Vantage have announced that Oscar-winner Michael Moore’s new documentary feature will be released domestically on October 2, 2009. The as-yet-untitled film will explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.
YIKES!!! Could Moore and Republicans actually have something in common now?!?!?! Either way I’m looking forward to seeing his take on things… even if I don’t end up agreeing with his conclusions.
“If you don’t want ANY bias, go watch the evening news”
As long as its not Fox news huh.
To be fair… Fox isn’t the only Bias news. MSNBC is just as bad in the opposite direction.
Lol, what?
Sure Fox News commentators are biased (as all commentators on every news network are), but John is saying “evening news” and fox’s general news reporting isnt biased at all!
Alex:
Really?? Have you watch Fox News in the past couple of years??
They don’t even have “general” news. Everything they say or do has a conservative slant. I don’t think they even know what investigative journalism is!
Too be fair most cable news is journalism at all its just talking heads spewing shit with pretty graphics in the background..
oh..yeah I can’t wait to see Moore’s new doc too!
wow i really need to spell check before I post.. LOL
“Could Moore and Republicans actually have something in common now?!?!?”
Not a chance. Moore will BLAME the Republicans and Capitalism, and do nothing but endorse moving closer to socialism – it’s been his philosophy for years.
I totally agree Jeremy, however; I may still end up watching the film anyway as it is sure to stir up some controversy, and I happen to like having insight on the causes of said controversy
You all know it was unregulated capitalism that got us on into the mess in the 1st place right?
And Socialism has worked well where? Just sayin. Both systems has flaws, but Capitalism hasn’t failed.
Why do harsh right wingers say that anything even remotely similar to a socialist philosophy is SOCIALISM.
Sorry USA… but to the rest of the world your health care system is archaic and down right disgraceful. Adopting a health care system that looks like a socialist health care system doesn’t mean your whole political philosophy is socialist. It’s just being practical.
As far as:
“Capitalism hasn’t failed” what do you call the current economic crisis?
You are right, our government sponsored health care is not the greatest in the world. However, the care our doctors gives is better. Also, the cost to have a better government system isn’t. I will take what America has any day of the week.
@goodbar1979: You are wrong. The reason we are in the economic situation is because of regulated capitalism. The whole sub-prime mortgage problem was ordered Clinton administration and was not the result of greedy wall street workers.
I’m not sure anyone can truly say that the reason we’re in recession now is because capitalism has failed. First of all anyone who has done any research on the subject knows that EVERY recession has many contributing factors as to its cause, and right now there are more than just a few explanations for exactly how the United States
came to be in this mess.So simply saying that capitalism is to blame without bothering to defend such a statement makes one sound ignorant. Secondly recession isn’t necessarily a sign of “failure”. As unpleasant as they may be, recessions happen. They are part of the buiness cycle, and expecting that ANY form of government
can obliterate their existence is ridiculous. Just look around, America is Not the only nation right now with a troubled economy.Clearly then capitalism alone can not be blamed.
Further to the point, recessions are actually inherent in every economic system.Recessions MUST happen.For one thing they are critical in the allowance of price corrections.If there weren’t any recessions prices would continually rise to the point that no one could afford to by products anymore.
But the wonderful thing about free market sytems is that they fix themselves. Anyway as far as Moore’s film is concerned I think I’ll have to see a trailer in order to make any accurate judgements.
They fix themselves only if they are not regulated.
@ John
““Capitalism hasn’t failed” what do you call the current economic crisis?”
Its called a recession, something that has happened many, MANY times before in capitalist societies and also happens in socialist societies!
Its a basic scenario that ever ecenomic system faces here and there! In short, yes, saying “capitalism hasnt failed” is 100% right, its hasnt!
People need to quite over reacting and thinking the whole system is “failing” and the world is ending, its just a phase and like all phases it will come to an end, Obama even says by the end of this year, I’d probably give it a year and a half at most….
lol at the pic, and im with john, while his tactics may go too far sometimes, i do enjoy his films
Great timing. When the movie comes out in October we will be able to see how much Obama’s Trillion dollar stimulus is working.
Yeah, considering most of the money gets dropped after 2010. The shine is coming off of this administration more and more every day – Obama is this generations Jimmy Carter, except on steroids.
John your right about MSNBC but they only exist because of Fox. Keith Olbermann practically winks at the camera when doing his thing because he knows he exists only to counteract O’Reilly,Hannity and Beck over at Fox.
Personally I hated what Moore did to Charlton Heston in Bowling for Columbine but I respect much of his work. You are right he is biased. How can you have a passion like that and not be biased. How can any decent human being not have a problem with 48 million people in the U.S without health care. Does anyone thing its fun if ones wife, mother,father or kid gets cancer and not have health insurance. Well watch the Fox newschannel- They laugh at those people. I watch all news and thats an accurate statment. Do you know how many people live in the U.S and stay at a job they hate because they need that job for there health benefits- MILLIONS. “Sicko” had bias and there was some exageration but it was an Important film. Much of it is true. People are buried in this country with health care bills even ones with insurance. It is the next big bubble to pop in this country. I have NO doubt about that.
Im also amazed how many people take Wall Streets side even though the ripple effect of there greed has destroyed many small business people and wiped out significant wealth in 401k’s. If people don’t have money they don’t spend and we all lose one way or another. I respect Moore for making a film on this issue because Wall Street needs to be held accountable for much of what has happened. People do also but Wall Street is a vicious animal. I look forward to this film!
chuck
If wall street was to be held accountable then there shouldn’t have been any bail out. You screw up and get handed more money, I wish that was the way I was disciplined. But the problem isn’t with Wall Street. The problem was with Clinton and the millions of greedy americans. People who could not afford to buy a house wanted to buy house and didn’t think that it was fair that for some reason they couldn’t buy a house. So the great Clinton in all his brilliance said that banks have to allow the sub-prime mortgages. The only reason you don’t like Wall Street is because the gov has cast the blame on them and there is no one around to tell the truth.
John,
Saying MSNBC “exists” to counter Fox presupposes they actually have some semblence of market share. In fact it’s ratings are so poor I don’t think it’s accurate to say they counteract anything.
This is what bugs me the most about Michael Moore: I already know what he is going to say before he says it. Also his viewpoint is neither intelligent or well thought out. Just on the face of what is said when they say “the biggest robbery in history” as the “transferring money from taxpayers to private financial institutions”. Whether we purchased assets or bought stock in these banks, we got something in return for the money. Even if you don’t like what is being done with the car companies, we own part of them. We are calling shots because of that investment. We can sell that ownership in car companies or banks and get money back. When assets are no longer toxic you can sell them and get money. I could go on and on about him. I disagree with him but I can make more coherent and intelligent arguments against my own beliefs and ideas than he could. I never feel like I learn anything and I don’t find him that entertaining. He is as much of a one trick pony as Larry the Cable Guy. You can only do the “blue collar social gadfly” so much before you want to punch him in the face.
1. The news is biased, all of it. Everything is biased, when you learn to look for it, it’s all over the place. An unbiased source of information is impossible.
2. Moore’s films should not be called documentaries because he manipulates the footage beyond that which I find acceptable for the term, and creates new narratives from them.
3. You imply that disliking Moore’s films must mean a viewer is close-minded and unable to listen to or appreciate a view other than their own. That is rather insulting.
4. I dislike Moore’s films because I think his filmmaking is terrible, his morals are suspect, and if the man wants to get up in front of the country and spout a bunch of rhetoric about “truth” then he should back it up with some honesty of his own, which he frequently does NOT do.
5. I’ve heard that Sicko is in fact a rather honest but a lot of people will never watch it because of his history. That’s kind of tragic.
of course his films aren’t documentaries, not because they are biased, but because he alters facts and situations to fit his movies themes. documentaries are meant to be a film DOCUMENTING an issue or theme, he doesn’t document, he cherry picks and edits to paint his picture properly.
he creates great propaganda with an honest message, not documentaries.
IMO John’s right, it is the Capitalist system that got us in this mess in the first place. Look at the situation Bush put Obama in, people are blaming the wrong guy, it’s all Bush’s administration’s fault
Wrong, it is Clinton. He is the one that forced the banks to take sub-prime mortgages. So yes they are blaming the wrong person but so are you. The problem with Obama is he is using misguided and just down right wrong methods to fix the situation. Methods that have been tried before and proved to not work. Capitalism works when people don’t try and fix it. When you try and regulate it then it fails. The people who don’t want capitalism are greedy. They don’t like that there are rich people who have made lots of money while hey themselves don’t have much. So they tear down these rich people to build to make everyone not have much money. What they don’t realize is that these rich people actually make them live better off. But the majority of the population of the world is too pin headed to realize that.
Michael Moore’s movies are funny with a play on politics. People should not take it too serious. As for myself , I am a moderate but the two most important things for the nation to be concerned with is the economy and national security.
http://blackrational.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=2
“We can quantify the deaths caused by both communism and fascism, but we will never know how many deaths have been the result of capitalism; of nothing more noble than a rich man wanting to be even richer, and sacrificing the health and lives of millions of workers to achieve this. Don’t even try to count how many people capitalism has killed, because not only will you not know where to begin, but also it will never end.”
Lenin
You act like greed only exists in a capitalist system. Greed is universal and exists in communism and facism and all political/economic systems. Greed has caused deaths from day one. In fact I would argue that abuse by those in power under a capitalist society would be more controled and in check in a capitalist society. You don’t see lawsuits against cigaratte companies winning millions in communist countries.
Socialism is the natural way of being. Human cannot survive alone. We live in commmunal society, share police, public works, emergency response, we all pay taxes so the government can decide how best to use it. All of these things are derived from a SOCIAL order. If you people would have been here during McCarthyism, you would have made the French Revolution’s guillotining look like Hop-skotch. “He’s wearing a red hat, KILL HIM!!!”
“but if you can’t still appreciate hearing views and ideas that you don’t share despite the fact that you don’t share them, I think there is something seriously wrong.”
What I can’t appreciate is someone who through clever editing creates his OWN truth – one that flies in the face of facts. Calling his films documentaries is a joke at best.
And regarding capitalism, yes, it was back during the Clinton administration that it was put forth that “everyone” should be able to own a home – apparently whether they could afford one or not, starting the whole sub-prime mess. Also Elmer Fudd (aka Barney Frank) was AGAINST more regulation for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
And now Obama is undermining the capitalistic system, which in the long run rewards well run companies and buries poorly run ones – by not allowing these major investment banks and auto manufacturers to reap what they have sown and declare bankruptcy. It’s a lesson well-learned from the previous Savings & Loan fiasco where the gov’t stepped in to bail THEM out years ago.
What lesson learned? If we screw up big enough the gov’t will save us – so why should we be fiscally responsible as corporations?
I am SO AGAINST all this bailout crap that is indebting the U.S. for generations to come.
Vic
“And now Obama is undermining the capitalistic system, which in the long run rewards well run companies and buries poorly run ones” Buries poorly run companies? So i guess when AIG went to into the financial industry game instead of sticking with insurance, that is an example of being well-run. Not to mention all the 1000’s of other companies who also have ridiculous business practices. Just think about all the debacles this crisis has unearthed (Madoff, Freddie & Fannie, all the stories about $1000 trashcans in CEO’s offices and other wasteful spending) These are not “well-run”. They are simply able to fly beneath the radar b/c all the talented people who could stop this don’t go to work at the SEC, they work for greedy multi-nationals b/c all that matters in capitalist society is: CAPITAL. Not quality of life.
@Marxman
First of all, Fannie and Freddie are government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), not private companies. Using those institutions as an example of a failed private company is like me saying all sports suck because I don’t enjoy watching a small child throw a ball against the wall.
Secondly, Using one bad egg, such as Madoff, as an example is just as stupid as me saying all government entities are corrupt because the last 3 speakers of the house in Massachusetts got caught stealing.
As for “well run” companies, any company that breaks even or turns a profit could easily be considered as such, regardless of how much they spend on trash cans. That’s hardly a basis for judgement.
Socialism has never worked. There is no example to fall back on as a reason to adopt it. On the other hand, the US has been the world powerhouse for over a hundred years with capitalism. A few recessions is hardly “failure”.
The beautiful thing about capitalism is that it breeds innovation and hard work. If everyone was rewarded the same for any level of contribution or output, there would be absolutely no reason to work harder than the guy next to you. Call it “greed” or whatever you want, but the bottom line is that without something to aspire to, there’s no reason to put in any effort. Americans work a lot harder than other countries. I’d love to take the entire month of August off like in Spain for Siesta. I get paid to work 12 months a year though.
I recommend everyone check out these 2 things:
1. Milton Friedman on Greed – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
2. Google Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 to see what Clinton did to cause the housing mess. It’s just as much a part of the recession as what happened on Wall Street. Also, as was mentioned Barney Frank is the reason Fannie and Freddie weren’t fixed earlier.
Both sides are to blame, which is why it’s time for major changes. We need to go back to Libertarian philosophies. Less government is better. The only thing that matters is personal liberty. The government can’t even balance the budget, yet people are so fast to accuse private companies of being poorly run and look to government to fix it. I guarantee you most private companies can’t get away with what our government does.
At first I was going to applaud John for recognizing that MSNBC is just as biased as Fox, just in the opposite direction…But then I read the comment about how “capitalism as failed” as evidenced by the economic crisis.
Capitalism has had like ten bad years out of the previous one hundred years. Capitalism is batting .900. The larger issue is that what caused the system to falter was quite anti-capitalist involving government involvement. In some ways, the government has been TOO involving in the banking industry and the mortgage business. When the government ties capitalism up, it’s not capitalism’s fault that it can’t function properly. Of course, yes, greedy business practices, and lying on Wall Street, also contributed significantly to the mess.
But I love it when people say “Capitalism failed!” It’s like people saying, if the sun was behind storm clouds all day long “We can’t count on the sun ANYMORE! The sun has failed us! Hurry, we must build more streetlights because we’ll now need them on permanently!”
As to Moore, I think John has it right. Documentarians don’t have to be honest or honest to be interesting, intelligent filmmakers. Just look at The Triumph of the Will–a Nazi propaganda film that earned a high-regard in film history and criticism because it had innovative camera techniques. I put Moore in the same camp: a very dishonest man who knows the technical aspects of making a film very well. Moore knows how to brainwash people just about as well as the Nazi propagandists did.
apologies for my english, which is not so good. I am actually originally from a country which did not have capitalism for a time. I find it very troubling that young (under 40) people in the first world would be so willing to “give socialism a hearty try”. To be clear, not all socialsm is bad, of course, and there are different degrees, but it is a much more slippery slope than naive people who have never lived in it suspect. Social health care is all good, when you are a young healthy person who has generally good health. Try, instead, watching your parents and your uncles and aunts waiting for many months to receive any assistance, because they are judged “too old” and thus the government will take more time in serving them. There is a lot of naivity out there, and I feel that people like Moore only add to gullible people’s confusion. In the end, however, it is sad to say, but if America and the West in general is so stupid and naive to fall for it, then so be it. People are so gullible, completely controlled by media and the suggestions of movies.
All Michael Moore’s films are bias also he want socialist government.