Whatever you might think about Michael Moore, the truth of these words cannot be denied. The inequities of wealth, income, and power in America have become extreme. We have been duped and robbed.
Let us put aside our differences, between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, religious or not, and let us take back our country by taking back our power over finance, credit, and exchange. –t.h.g.
VIDEO: America Is NOT Broke
America is not broke.
Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you’ll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It’s just that it’s not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined.
Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer “bailout” of 2008, now have as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can’t bring yourself to call that a financial coup d’état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.
And I can see why. For us to admit that we have let a small group of men abscond with and hoard the bulk of the wealth that runs our economy, would mean that we’d have to accept the humiliating acknowledgment that we have indeed surrendered our precious Democracy to the moneyed elite. Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic — and, until this past month, the rest of us have felt completely helpless, unable to find a way to do anything about it.
Beyond Money 
“But there have been times when unions represented the public, government represented the public, and corporations benefited the public.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just put it all together and say “they all represent the public”.
Unfortunately, it can’t be done. The very concept of “representation” assumes that there is a “they” or a “we’, who, by your own conclusions, are partially represented. Who, exactly, is going to decide which one wins “this time”?
It’s the nature of collectives to be at war, in one form or another, because the nature of organization mustr prescribe solutions in terms of a particular organization. But the organization can’t say “I am. I hurt. I exist”. At some point, it breaks down to “me” and “you’ and how much “I” care, and screw the collective. If morality could be translated into rules, we could all be “uploaded” into a computer, and life would be unnecessary.
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Ralph,
I tend to see your “control of information” as a product of “oppressive forces” which are primarily the wealthy, who have co-opted the Unions, Government, and Corporations to work on their behalf — and against the interest of the wider public.
But there have been times when unions represented the public, government represented the public, and corporations benefited the public.
To me, it is not always a case of “union=bad”. I’d like to see the public regain control of these organizations. Really, we need them to counterbalance the wealthy. (and control of credit is part of the solution, too.)
Really, just destroying unions, government, and banks doesn’t get us any closer to a good society. We have to regain control of our society.
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Good points, Tony. I don’t see the present battle in Wisconsin as labor rights vs big government. I see it as a battle for control over information.
By “information” I mean the form of information as it will be dispensed to future generations. The government has one version, the unions, another. Strictly speaking, it’s all about corporatons, since a government is a form of corporation, and so are unions. The battle, therefore, is merely an argument over who gets the right and power to distribute information, and with that the wealth of the nation.
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I don’t see support of the union as the solution. The strength of unions arose as a result of corporate growth and centralization created by the Federal Reserve Board. End the FED, remove corporations as “legal persons”, and the unions will not be needed.
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Michael Moore underestimates the guile of the wealthy. Over the course of my career I spent time as a Worldwide Product Manager at a Fortune 500 company. I heard about how the Big Five Accountants help “manage” the books.
Every major corporation uses offshore companies — quite legally — to hide their profit. It may take the form of an offshore company that may purchase from a Chinese manufacturer for a low cost, and sell to the US corporation at a higher cost. That allows the profit appearing on the US books to be lowered to any desired level. It also allows investment banks, wealthy executives, and others to pool money to create such companies and reap the profits that never appear on US personal or corporate balance sheets.
Those 400 wealthiest people are far more wealthy that we know.
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