“Please sir, may I have some Moore?”

So Brad and I saw the most recent Michael Moore movie on Friday night. I saw this movie of my own free will, which I think warrants a pat on my back for open mindedness on my part! As with most Michael Moor movies, I am confident that it will be widely accepted as dogmatic truth without anyone doing their homework and looking into the claims he is making. That's not how I roll though. Severe fact checking will follow on my part.

What I liked (yes, there were things I liked!):

1. He pointed out how many high ranking members (including Tim Geithner) of the U.S. Dept. of Treasury in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations were high ranking executives at many of the banks that failed and/or were bailed out. Hmm… Work for a huge bank, run it into the ground, get hired by the U.S. Treasury then make policy to prop up the bank you ran like crap… can you say "conflict of interest"?
   
2. Moore brings attention to the "Friends of Angelo", people who received special rates on mortgages from Angelo Mozilo (CEO – Countrywide), among them, Sen. Christopher Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad. Moore calls for the Dept. of Justice investigation of people "… in BOTH the Clinton and Bush administration who benefited from this." (Emphasis added) His lack of partisanship in looking at some of these issues in the movie is actually quite refreshing!
   
3. He interviewed Democrat representatives who complained about how the very first bailout package from Sec. Paulson was was so forcefully rushed through the voting process. There was much more apprehension and opposition from the Democratic party towards this bailout than I thought.
   

What I didn't like:

1. Moore's use of the Flight 3407 Plane crash that occurred near Buffalo as an example of Capitalism gone wrong. Flight tapes indicate that among other things, the pilots were discussing how they were not paid much and had to work second jobs. Moore's claim, if the pilots were better paid they would not be so tired from working second jobs and would not have lost control of the plane. Exploiting the loss of innocent life in an accident to promote one's anti-capitalist agenda disgusted me almost to the point where I left the theater.
   
2. Throughout the movie, Moore shows footage of people being evicted from their foreclosed homes, sometimes by law enforcement. Though it is sad and somewhat disturbing to watch, there is no explanation as to how those people got to that point. Did they have emergency savings accounts? Were they living beyond their means? Were they greedy/irresponsible with credit card debt, borrowing against the equity of their home or sub-prime mortgages they could not pay back? Believe it or not banks don't just decide to take your house for shits and giggles… you have to give them a good reason for them to do so!
   
3. His use of the "promote the general welfare" clause of the Constitution to call for such things as universal housing, healthcare, etc. This meaning is COMPLETELY contrary to what The Father of the Constitution James Madison has stated. Think of how this Madison quote fits in today! Chilling huh?
   
4. Moore closes the movie by suggesting that the solution to the problem is to replace capitalism with democracy. What? This makes no sense. The last time I checked, democracy is a system of government while capitalism is an economic system. Categorically, two completely different (though not totally unrelated) things.
   

What I need to learn more about:

1. The Carter and Regan administrations. I was not alive for Carter and I was 6 when Regan left office… forgive me if my history of that era is a little blurred!
   
2. "Dead peasant" life insurance policies taken out by companies to cover the death of their employees.