Thread: Michael Moore In Madison

A FEW YEARS AGO i STEPPED OUTSIDE MY MENTAL BOX AND LISTENED TO THIS GUY - i LIKE MUCH OF WHAT HE SAYS. i HAVE A RULE THAT i TRY TO FOLLOW AND THAT IS; IF SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KEEP ME FROM HEARING SOMEONE ELSE'S TRUTH - THAT IS A HUGE RED FLAG AND THEREFORE i NEED TO GO AND HEAR THAT OTHER TRUTH.

iF WE HAD FULL GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT WITH CAREER PATHS FOR ALL u.s. CITIZENS AND STILL TOO MUCH WORK THAT WE CANNOT KEEP UP WITH, i MIGHT JUST HAVE TO REVISE MY POSITION ON IMMIGRATION, h1b1 vISAS AND EVEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION - BUT AT THIS POINT IN TIME OUR LEADERS PROVE WHERE THEIR REAL ALLEGIANCE IS - TO OUR MONEY - NOT TO US.



http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike- ... -not-broke

VIDEO: America Is NOT Broke

By Michael Moore

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.

I have nothing more than a high school degree. But back when I was in school, every student had to take one semester of economics in order to graduate. And here's what I learned: Money doesn't grow on trees. It grows when we make things. It grows when we have good jobs with good wages that we use to buy the things we need and thus create more jobs. It grows when we provide an outstanding educational system that then grows a new generation of inventors, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and thinkers who come up with the next great idea for the planet. And that new idea creates new jobs and that creates revenue for the state. But if those who have the most money don't pay their fair share of taxes, the state can't function. The schools can't produce the best and the brightest who will go on to create those jobs. If the wealthy get to keep most of their money, we have seen what they will do with it: recklessly gamble it on crazy Wall Street schemes and crash our economy. The crash they created cost us millions of jobs. That too caused a reduction in tax revenue. Everyone ended up suffering because of what the rich did.

The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. Saying that the country is broke is repeating a Big Lie. It's one of the three biggest lies of the decade: 1) America is broke, 2) Iraq has WMD, and 3) The Packers can't win the Super Bowl without Brett Favre.

The truth is, there's lots of money to go around. LOTS. It's just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates. They know they have committed crimes to make this happen and they know that someday you may want to see some of that money that used to be yours. So they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their bidding for them. But just in case that doesn't work, they've got their gated communities, and the luxury jet is always fully fueled, the engines running, waiting for that day they hope never comes. To help prevent that day when the people demand their country back, the wealthy have done two very smart things:

1. They control the message. By owning most of the media they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote for their politicians. Their version of the Dream says that you, too, might be rich some day -- this is America, where anything can happen if you just apply yourself! They have conveniently provided you with believable examples to show you how a poor boy can become a rich man, how the child of a single mother in Hawaii can become president, how a guy with a high school education can become a successful filmmaker. They will play these stories for you over and over again all day long so that the last thing you will want to do is upset the apple cart -- because you -- yes, you, too! -- might be rich/president/an Oscar-winner some day! The message is clear: keep you head down, your nose to the grindstone, don't rock the boat and be sure to vote for the party that protects the rich man that you might be some day.

2. They have created a poison pill that they know you will never want to take. It is their version of mutually assured destruction. And when they threatened to release this weapon of mass economic annihilation in September of 2008, we blinked. As the economy and the stock market went into a tailspin, and the banks were caught conducting a worldwide Ponzi scheme, Wall Street issued this threat: Either hand over trillions of dollars from the American taxpayers or we will crash this economy straight into the ground. Fork it over or it's Goodbye savings accounts. Goodbye pensions. Goodbye United States Treasury. Goodbye jobs and homes and future. It was friggin' awesome and it scared the shit out of everyone. "Here! Take our money! We don't care. We'll even print more for you! Just take it! But, please, leave our lives alone, PLEASE!"

The executives in the board rooms and hedge funds could not contain their laughter, their glee, and within three months they were writing each other huge bonus checks and marveling at how perfectly they had played a nation full of suckers. Millions lost their jobs anyway, and millions lost their homes. But there was no revolt (see #1).

Until now. On Wisconsin! Never has a Michigander been more happy to share a big, great lake with you! You have aroused the sleeping giant known as the working people of the United States of America. Right now the earth is shaking and the ground is shifting under the feet of those who are in charge. Your message has inspired people in all 50 states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT! We reject anyone who tells us America is broke and broken. It's just the opposite! We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and, yes, love. Love and compassion toward those who have, through no fault of their own, ended up as the least among us. But they still crave what we all crave: Our country back! Our democracy back! Our good name back! The United States of America. NOT the Corporate States of America. The United States of America!

So how do we make this happen? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on how a government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.

Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois -- whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning. The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn't have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn't be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more -- something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job -- their $19,000 a year job. That's how much some rookie pilots on commuter airlines make, maybe even the rookie pilot who flew me here to Madison today. He told me he's stopped hoping for a pay increase. All he's asking for now is enough down time so that he doesn't have to sleep in his car between shifts at O'Hare airport. That's how despicably low we have sunk! The wealthy couldn't be content with just paying this man $19,000 a year. They had to take away his sleep. They had to demean him and dehumanize him and rub his face in it. After all, he's just another slob, isn't he?

And that, my friends, is Corporate America's fatal mistake. But trying to destroy us they have given birth to a movement -- a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country. We all knew there had to be a breaking point some day, and that point is upon us. Many people in the media don't understand this. They say they were caught off guard about Egypt, never saw it coming. Now they act surprised and flummoxed about why so many hundreds of thousands have come to Madison over the last three weeks during brutal winter weather. "Why are they all standing out there in the cold?" I mean, there was that election in November and that was supposed to be that!

"There's something happening here, and you don't know what it is, do you ...?"

America ain't broke! The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers. And we aim to fix that compass and steer the ship ourselves from now on. Never forget, as long as that Constitution of ours still stands, it's one person, one vote, and it's the thing the rich hate most about America -- because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakeable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!

Madison, do not retreat. We are with you. We will win together.

This blog has been slightly edited for clarity since being posted.
Tags:

* Wisconsin


Guess What? I just got a call from a very reliable source from the Wisconsin STate Motorpool. Walker spent $70,000 x 3 on 3 new Suburbans totally outfitted and detailed for himself and also 2 staffers. Our previous Gov Doyle drove around in retired state cars aka junkers (I know, I used to wave to him) When I'm broke, I generally don't go out and spend $210,000 on 3 cars. Think about it.
Madison, Wisconsin
Reply Flag
wetware
Posted March 7th, 2011 1:53 PM

Michael, please publish the names of the 400. The people need to know who has defrauded them.
Reply Flag
russulrey
Posted March 7th, 2011 1:18 PM

Michael
Good stuff and very arousing. However would like to point out that wealth is not a crime. The issue of goveners and state senetors taking away the right to collective barganing is one worth examining. How do the senetors get a pay raise? they vote for one for themselves? let's look at interest groups and campaign contributions. If the working people are not allowed to have collective barganing but companies are allowed to collectively bargan for their interest??? It is one thing to declair an executive order, but it might be time to look at the purity of the platform of those that want to take away the rights of the public employees.
We do have a budget problem and we do have to find a solution for the future and in the process of looking for solutions, then we need to get the same magfnifying glass and take a close look at all.
Regarding morality and the legality of the actions on wall street, No question that we are as a country not willing to take them to task for their actions, We are affraid of rocking any boat. Use your resources and help your followers make a case. We will rally!!!
Reply Flag
mom
Posted March 7th, 2011 1:14 PM

What we have lost, may never return. All of the factors and players that put us in this place are still calling the shots--nothing has changed, I repeat, nothing has CHANGED. Elections are designed to be stollen. When we blindly accepted the Supreme Court slight of hand, freedom died. All three branches have been corrupted.

And they have won, because they own the hearts and minds of our youth. The new working class will make no waves, they have been raised in institutions as pack animals with pack mentalities. They will not question "authority." The long-term, abuse accustomed, shadow labor immigrants will stay and lead us in the transformation--be grateful for crumbs, sacrifice everything that is you for the masters.

My son enjoys blowing away the "enemy" for his nightly entertainment. My daughter thinks that it is fine that she can be locked into a barbed- wire fenced school and not be allowed to leave to go out for lunch, even though she is an 18- year-old adult. "Aw Mom, you don't understand," they say.

Sadly, I do.
Reply Flag
anotherbozo
Posted March 7th, 2011 1:04 PM

That statistic freezes the blood. 400 = 155 million. Wow.

However, your opposition to the "Wall Street bailout" may be too simplistic. I'd love to see a dialogue between MM and Paul Krugman, both of whom I respect immensely, on some media outlet sometime. (Not a pie-in-the-sky idea, since you're both on TV a lot) I think Krugman viewed the bailout as loathsome but necessary. It would be an encounter I could learn from, since you both command a lot of facts.
Reply Flag
harlean
Posted March 7th, 2011 12:25 PM

We have the votes and we have the financial power to boycott companies we don't like and patronize those we do. I also know a lot of middle class people who are bartering more. I want to pay taxes to help the disabled, feed hungry children, and tide over the unemployed until they can get a new job, but I don't want my money lining the pockets of corporate pigs with no moral center, or paying for immoral wars. If bartering gets rid of the middle man that takes a bite out of every dollar earned and spent then bartering it has to be until we regain control of this country and do something about the corruption. It's not that taxes are a problem--Swedes pay far more than we do, but the money goes right back to them in an efficent way. Don't take my money to pay Dick Cheney, Halliburton, and the greedy pigs at Goldman Sachs!
We have got to get positive, now--no more despair, no more free floating rage and anxiety. We've got to help each other out, keep the creative energy going, keep OUR conversations positive and productive, and keep the faith that our numbers are growing. I can't tell you how many people I know who were very pro Bush are now firmly independent, their eyes open to what happened in the Republican party and to how the Dems like Obama are owned by the elite. WE have to take our country back.
Reply Flag
Bill Walster
Posted March 7th, 2011 11:50 AM

Great speech, Michael. The truth is so simple and easy to understand.

Suggestion: Please encourage EVERYBODY to join Democracy is for People and work to pass the constitutional amendment removing corporation's status as people.

I can think of nothing better that we the people can do to quickly and effectively start the process of regaining our democracy.

Thanks again for all you are doing.
Reply Flag
Marcus Skeptus
Posted March 7th, 2011 11:41 AM

The comparison here between obscene wealth and public unions is irrelevant. To say that we 'unions' outnumber the rich, again is irrelevant. The wages and pensions of the public sector are funded through taxes paid by the masses of the private working class. A $46K pension would require a nest egg of $860K today. Too many people want a government job now, because the benefits and security are superior to the private sector median. The failure to address the real issues that face this exclusive movement will only create division in America. The real issues that threaten the power structure is free trade and the lobby of corporate interests. What have government employees and unions done to promote a fair minimum wage?
Reply Flag
Porter
Posted March 7th, 2011 1:59 PM

Please remember that public employees are taxpayers, too. I recently retired after 35 years of public service in the State of Florida. My pension is about $23K. Florida state employees have gone 6 years without a raise. Before that, if we were lucky, we would get a 2.5% annual raise. Most of us went to work for the state because we wanted to serve the people of our state. What most people fail to understand is that we worked for crappy wages which were, in part, offset by health insurance and earned paid leave. With the Jeb Bush administration, many jobs were contracted out to the private sector and remain this way today.
Tomorrow, our Legislature goes into session. The new Governor is proposing a budget that will be devastating to current public servants...almost identical to what is happening in Wisconsin. Protests are planned around the state, the largest in Tallahassee. Please see www.AwaketheState.com.
Reply Flag
Xmitome
Posted March 7th, 2011 11:37 AM

Wow, thank you. Where in the world have I been? Until I read this blog, I don't think I understood ? It all came crashing in my head at once and what Michael Moore is saying is TRUE ! And how did I forget that in the mid 80's I worked in mortgage banking and how did I forget those crooks that stole so much money, billion and billions, from unknowing investor's , lost my job and career and the mortgage banking market went crashing as the Saving and Loan industry went defunct. The be more specific, it was Epic Mortgage, Inc., The owner Bill (i can't remember the last name) did end up doing jail time but by then all his holding were put into his wife name or a name where they couldn't retrieve the loss and the S&L's in Maryland were not FDIC insured they were State Insured so the. The Feds avoided bailout. And the "rich" got "richer".and still getting away with it.
Thanks for the re-awaking.
Reply Flag
Xmitome
Posted March 7th, 2011 11:35 AM

Wow, thank you. Where in the world have I been? Until I read this blog, I don't think I understood ? It all came crashing in my head at once and what Michael Moore is saying is TRUE ! And how did I forget that in the mid 80's I worked in mortgage banking and how did I forget those crooks that stole so much money, billion and billions, from unknowing investor's , lost my job and career and the mortgage banking market went crashing as the Saving and Loan industry went defunct. The be more specific, it was Epic Mortgage, Inc., The owner Bill (i can't remember the last name) did end up doing jail time but by then all his holding were put into his wife name or a name where they couldn't retrieve the loss and the S&L's in Maryland were not FDIC insured they were State Insured so the. The Feds avoided bailout. And the "rich" got "richer".and still getting away with it.
Thanks for the re-awaking.
Reply Flag
kuiperssm
Posted March 7th, 2011 11:25 AM

What an inspirational speech!! It made me want to get on a plane and fly to Madison. How about Californians? Lets do the same. It is time for all Americans to stand up and say enough is enough. Lets take back this country and do it now.
Reply Flag
craigperko
Posted March 7th, 2011 11:02 AM

Thank you Michael for your relentless fight for the little guy. It's given me some hope that we here in America have finally begun to wake up from our media-induced coma and are admitting what we know to be true: we've have been played and financially raped and it has been going on for years and years. Finally, we are beginning to accept that we are not free in any real sense when the wheels of democracy are controlled by a small uber-rich clan. Maybe the Tea-baggers will wake up too and realize that they are being used by the Becks, the Limbaughs, the Palins and the like who, when they criticize a working class movement, show their true colors. They are the rich elites controlling the conversation. Rise up working Americans and refuse to be distracted by non-issues. Wake up and take the country back from the real thieves. There are more of us then there are of them--and they know it and they are terrified.
Reply Flag
cjvwise1
Posted March 7th, 2011 11:02 AM

Historically, when a nation collapses, Religion takes a seat next to the richest of men to control land, food, water and law. Can anyone else beside me see these dominos aligning? When the "have nots" become desperate, they will desperately align themselves to work for slave wages just to survive, which in my opinion is the goal of the Republicans. They have developed a taste for "low investment, high return" labor. Instead of China upgrading their money to meet the market, they want to downgrade the standards of the US market to bow to foreign markets.
Reply Flag
jujujoint
Posted March 7th, 2011 10:42 AM

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I wonder if this guy could ever change his mind on certain issues (like ours.) Is he capable of admitting that he has had a change of heart? A change of thought? A revision considering the circumstances?