capitalism, a love story review

Finally last night I was able to see the Michael Moore documentary Capitalism, A Love Story. Going into the movie I obviously knew that I would disagree with his stance but I was looking forward to being entertained and at least considering his point of view. I have enjoyed some of Moore's prior pieces such as Bowling for Columbine, and Sicko. While I don't always agree with him he usually gets his points across eloquently and makes a good case, until now....

Moore really dropped the ball with this one and from the opening scene this movie lacked any kind of direction and failed to make one sound point against a capitalist system. Many of the long drawn out points that Moore made such as corporations taking out insurance policies against employee deaths really did nothing to prove the thesis. I found myself thinking to myself 'So What' after many of the points. Interviewing priests to let them lambaste capitalism is really going straight to the lowest common denominator. No offence to the religious but are Catholic priests really the authority on what financial system works best? I wouldn't ask my dry cleaner for real estate legal advice. This is just an insult of the viewer's intelligence.

Yes, everyone and their dog had their home taken from under them by the evil banks. Some companies were forced to close their doors because they couldn't make a profit or banks stopped lending them money to lose. A few select companies employ a democratic system where everyone has a stake in the company and decisions are made by committee. All this comes as little surprise and proves nothing. If one can't pay their mortgage for an extended period should they really get to keep their house? What would forgiving this solve? Some companies have discovered a way to keep everyone engaged and driven to earn a collective profit. How is this not capitalism? Why do they come to work each day?

Another huge 'So What' point is one that was made at length about pilots being underpaid. If this is truly the case then people will stop becoming pilots. Eventually they will start getting paid more because they will be in demand graduates. Should we artificially provide them subsidies in order for them to earn more? Should we tax these high earning Taco Bell managers more?

Also, many of the points made in the movie have since been weakened by recent events. Case in point the U.S. government actually made money on the bank bailout investments that they made. Also American, General Motors and Ford are now profitable companies and are both looking pretty solid against Japanese, Toyota who has stepped on themselves recently. These ebbs and flows are what Capitalism is all about. The drive to make money, succeed, and raise your quality of life has led to most of the greatest discoveries and human achievements in history. So the guy who discovered a polio vaccine shared it with the masses instead of profiting from it, good from him but again so what!

This movie was neither thought provoking nor entertaining and in my opinion it failed to make one solid point against a system that has made the great countries of today great.