Capitalism: A Love Story

Spoiler Alert: this love story does not end happily-ever-after.

While Mr. Moore’s humor makes the movie uproariously entertaining, I found myself feeling sad and desperate during this film. It all boils down to one simple phrase. The problem is profit. Eric has been saying this to me for quite some time now; I only hope that Moore’s audience will also interpret the moral of the story as such.

Profit is why our Capitalistic society, isn’t actually Capitalistic. Excuse me if I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but when you get a glimpse of the corruption that is government (not just in the U.S.), the wheels should start turning. If your wheels don’t start turning, you should have them checked out.

I am compelled to clarify the difference between profit and an exchange. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m a crazy breed of communist…I’m trying to establish myself as a source for information! When you go to work, you get paid. You are being paid in exchange for your work.  According to Dictionary.com, profit is  “the monetary surplus left to a producer or employer after deducting wages, rent, cost of raw materials.”  My question, and possibly the solution to many of the world’s problems, is this: why do we need so much money left over once employees, rent, and cost of raw materials are paid? I understand the value in having money set aside for expansion, emergencies and even reasonable investments. However, if this obsession with profit didn’t exist, our economy wouldn’t be melting. What good does it do banks to give  loans to people who can’t pay them back? We know now that not only does it not do any good, but can cause entire economies to collapse. Why didn’t they think of that before they started “giving away loans?” The problem is profit.

Back to my theory, not a conspiracy! Capitalism, “typically refers to an economic and social system in which the means of production (also known as capital) are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in new technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor” (wikipedia). I know…Wikipedia is hardly a reliable source, but it’s working in supporting my point.

Let’s start with “in which the means of production are privately controlled.” It appears that our government has blurred this line. Actually, they’ve completely eliminated this line. We have corporation owners in politics and politicians in corporation owning. These people are looking out for their own interests, just like everyone else. Aww how can we blame them? Reality is that when I look out for my own interests I purchase a new shirt instead of donating to charity. Mr. Corporation-Owning-Politician-Man, however, is capable of destroying the lives of the general public (think economic collapse or private insurance companies), because he was looking out for his bottom line a little too much. Don’t these people have any common sense, self-respect, or maybe just a friend with morals that they could run this stuff by?

Michael Moore proposes a call to action at the end of his movie. Sitting here ranting about how profit is the problem won’t solve anything. Unfortunately, I don’t quite have the complete solution.  Education might help. What if people knew and believed that in a democracy, the people are supposed to have the power? What if the people were motivated and educated enough to take the power back?

I know I’ve simplified this. I have books to read and news publications to study, before I can understand the true severity of the issues at hand. But I know this is important and I know that my generation is about to inherit this corruption. Now I just have to figure out what we’re going to do about it.