Capitalism: A Love Story -- Synopsis and Review

Capitalism: A Love Story is a must-see video. It's an eye opener that reaches a far more radical conclusion than I expected. Somehow, Michael Moore manages to keep a sense of humor throughout it all, so the video winds up being entertaining, rather than depressing (no small trick). It's full of things you probably knew, but contains quite a few surprises as well.

Did you know:

• In America, 1% of the population owns more wealth than the other 95% put together? (But they only have 1% of the votes--so true democracy is something to fear. That probably makes the ideas espoused at CitizensAdvisory.org into their #1 enemy.)
   
• The extreme misery of the plighted poor in cities across the country have prompted a couple of Catholic priests and even a bishop to declare Capitalism as an "evil" that must be eradicated. (That sounds extreme. But consider this: Capitalism is an extremely powerful tool--like a chainsaw. Used well, it can do a lot of good. But in the hands of the immoral and unscrupulous, it can do a lot of damage in a hurry.)
  
  
• FDR proposed a second "Bill of Rights" that included:
• The right to a decent home.
• The right to a decent education. 
• The right to a decent job.
• The right to decent health care.
• The right to a decent retirement.
   
• That proposal was intended to guarantee individual security.
   
• FDR's Bill of Rights never got enacted in the United States, but...
   
• FDR's officials put them into the new constitutions they created when rebuilding post-WWII Germany and Japan.

Now then, did you know that the European Union requires member countries to agree to a laundry list of social changes? Read a lot more about that in Europe's Promise. Here's the short version:

• Eurpoe's economy is a lot more balanced than hours, and growing nicely. They never participated in the mortgage melt-down, because they never repealed the banking regulations to allow for rampant speculation--because their political systems are not fully owned and operated by corporate wealth.
   
• In Europe, corporations are required to have union representatives and community representatives on the board. So they make decisions for the sake of profit, but not at the expense of every other human and social value.
  
  
• Europeans pay about the same in taxes as Americans. They're said to pay more, but the figures don't include social security, medicare, and other taxes on American income. And they don't pay for education or health care. Nor are speculators allowed to bid up the price of housing to astronomical rates. So overall, they have more disposable income, are generally happier, and a much more secure.
  
  
• In some countries, you even get paid to go to school--ensuring that everyone reaches the level of productivity they are truly capable of, and that everyone has the capacity to get the training they need to work at things they truly enjoy.
  
  
• Most important of all, those principles are not just a one-country, here-and-there thing. The European Union has made them viral. To join the European Union, a country must agree to a laundry-list of changes that puts FDR's principles into effect and keeps them strong!

 In short, European economies are prospering. They have a strong middle class, because the principles of economic equality that create it have not been repealed by monetary interests. They have a well-educated, productive, and healthy workforce--not only because they have universal health care, but because profit-seeking corporations have not been allowed to pollute the food supply with the metabolic poisons that produce obesity and disease. (See What's Wrong with American Foods?)

After a lifetime spent in useful, productive pursuits and contributing to society, Europeans are not being forced into bankruptcy by financial schemers, usurious credit card rates, or extreme medical expenses. They are not being denied needed medical care. And they are not being forced to subsist on dog food when their pensions fail to keep up with inflation.

In short, Europeans are living the dream, from cradle to grave. They have more individual security, more financial stability, and a better, stronger economy overall. They're even investing more in green technology than America! And they're doing it all using ideas originally proposed here--ideas that put the societal protections in place necessary to keep the financially greedy from profiting at everyone else's expense.

Wow.