Capitalism: WTF?!

I’m a huge fan of the director Michael Moore. His work is provocative (in a good way), loud (so you can’t ignore it) and thoughtful (although his critics accuse him of being slapdash).

From Roger and Me to Sicko, I have always experienced his documentaries as a call to arms. But after watching his latest offering, Capitalism: A Love Story, I feel hopeless. Stumped. Defeated. Not because he didn’t provide a compelling narrative, Moore says he’s been trying to bring “the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans” to our attention for the last twenty-years, but because he basically proved that the 99% of the American population has no chance up against the 1%.

The level of corporate greed on display in the film is mind blowing. It starts out with a “leaked” memo from Citigroup to its stakeholders (and no I’m not talking about us the consumer) lamenting the current state of our democracy.

You see, for all our imperfections, these United States still affords every adult one vote. That one vote, when counted, can equal up to a tremendous sea change (i.e. President Barack Hussein Obama) and that is what the one-percenters are concerned about. What if the 99% wise up and start voting in a way that could really mess up their good thing? And they have a good thing.

One percent of the population in the U.S. holds more assets, monies and power than the rest of the population - combined. The folks over at Citigroup were concerned that we are no longer happy to believe the tired trope that if you work really hard (or if you want to do it easy and get a bunch of credit cards) you too can have access to the “good life.” But after the financial free fall of 2008, Wall Street feared that we had caught on to their tricks and was about to derail their mission of economic world domination.


In his films I’m used to Moore presenting a glaring pile of bullshit behavior by some wrongdoer, and then close behind, a way to dismantle the machine is presented. But Capitalism is not structured that way. It is like a never-ending pile-up on a really long stretch of California freeway. One after another he pulls out examples of how Wall Street is screwing us, and they’ve long given up the courtesy of asking or using KY.

I think the most atrocious example is the story of a wife, who upon the death of her husband, a longtime employee of Walmart, finds out that they have taken out a secret life insurance policy on him. A paperwork snafu, on the part of the insurance company, is what inadvertently alerts her of the 1.5 million dollar payout that his employer will receive, of which; she will not see one thin dime.

And to prove that this is not just the case of a corporation covering their losses on a high end manager; Moore shows us a grieving husband who lost his wife, a cake decorator in the Walmart bakery, to an asthma attack and discovered that the company collected approximately $81,000.00 as a result of the life insurance policy they carried on her. Another spouse who had no idea about the policy or why Walmart didn’t need their permission to get one. And it seems like Moore couldn’t find anyone who could provide a satisfactory answer either. Of course, Walmart was mum on their practice (which is also carried out by at least 10 other corporations) and the consumer rights lawyer, who has been investigating this trend for the last few years, brought in to talk to Moore, couldn’t figure it out either and had only been able to dig up two very disturbing elements of the practice.

One: Corporations holding these policies call it “dead peasant insurance” – WTF!

Two: Collecting on these policies is built into the corporation’s projected profit sheets, with the expectation that at least 16% of the workforce will kick the bucket every year.

All this money is tax-free and amounts to billions of dollars each year.

As I watched the distressed husband and his children talk about their loss and the hospital bills and funeral cost that they were left with, I wondered what could we really do to bring down all these greedy monsters? Americans are always game for a David and Goliath showdown, but this heartless behavior seems like it’s in a world all to itself.

It seems that every part of the machine is greased with plenty of money, not even our elected officials seem immune from contamination, and those one-percenters have no intention of letting go of a single penny. And it’s not like they are off somewhere printing this money, they are squeezing it out of everyday folks with sky-high credit card fees (trust that they will find a way to get around the most recent reforms) and crippling the financial system with the fraudulent practice of credit default swaps (basically betting against itself with your money).

During a recent interview on NPR, Moore said, “We are in a place in history that we make money off of money. No longer are the best and the brightest bringing their innovations to the marketplace in a way that will better society” (and make money). And no, he is not talking about the guy who brought us the Snuggie. Please stop making him a millionaire!


FASCINATING FACT: Dr. Jonas Salk, who discovered the polio vaccine, gave it away for no financial compensation and never patented his discovery. A discovery that everyone agrees changed the history of public of health in 1955 and could have been easily monetized. When asked why he didn’t go for the duckets (clearly my wording), Salk said he couldn’t imagine putting a price on something so important, that so many people needed.

It seems there are very few 21st century Salks (just think about all the money being made on HIV medication) and everyone is out to make a dollar on the backs of whomever. The powers that be are only interested in keeping the masses numb, inactive or at least addicted to the idea of excess. Yes, you do need three flat screen televisions in your two-bedroom apartment. Your kids do need $200.00 sneakers on their feet when you can barely keep the lights on. Your cupboards should be stocked with more processed food than you could eat in a lifetime. More! More! More!

As the credits rolled over Moore stringing crime scene tape around the gleaming and formidable-looking New York Stock Exchange, declaring he was executing a citizen’s arrest, I wondered if Americans, even with unemployment at an all-time high, were aware enough to want to get off the corporate teat? Were they willing to give up the flimsy notion of prosperity? Anything that the bank can come and repossess is not truly yours.

Over the last year, I had already started downsizing my own life. No more duplicates of unnecessary shit. No more buying because it was put in front of me. No more stockpiling just so I can say I have. But how many people would have to do that to really get corporate America’s attention? Was it realistic to have an expectation of change within something that was so flushed with cash and gross with power?

Or did Mike Judge’s movie Idiocracy (that I wish had been better because it had so many truths running through it) have it right? Keep us pumped up on violent reality shows, Carl’s Jr. and Mountain Dew and we won’t even notice the clusterfuck that is happening right under our noses.



Michelle Sewell is a screenwriter and she is contemplating giving up everything, moving out into the desert of New Mexico and making a living as a “magical Negro.”