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Michael Moore talks 'Capitalism' and how Irish background shapes his views

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Filmmaker Michael Moore pays a visit to the U.S. Capitol in his new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story”

Sometimes capitalism is evil. That’s the conclusion that documentary filmmaker Michael Moore comes to in his latest film “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which opens nationally on Friday.

But how evil exactly? Well, Moore suggests, you could start by asking the hardworking American people who are being pushed out of their homes in record numbers as a direct result of corporate greed.

“I realize that to some people this is going to seem like blasphemy. To speak against capitalism means you’re speaking against America,” Moore told IrishCentral’s sister publication the Irish Voice during an interview on Monday.

“But my view is that capitalism now is against America. Capitalism is against the things that we say we believe in -- democracy, freedom of choice, fairness. It’s not about any of those things now. It’s about protecting the wealthy and legalizing greed.”

But what, Moore’s critics demand, are the alternatives -- socialism, communism, anarchy? For Moore the answer is simple. The alternative is democracy, including a new bill of rights that would give the working people a fairer shake than the gamed system that they’re buckling under now.

“The option is to create an economic order that has two major underpinnings -- democracy and a moral and ethical code,” says Moore. “No decisions should ever be made without asking the question, is this for the common good?”

To illustrate just how far modern capitalism has strayed from the common good, Moore’s film examines so-called dead peasant insurance policies. Did you know, he asks, that blue chip employers like Wal-Mart, AT&T, Proctor & Gamble, Winn Dixie, Dow Chemicals and even Walt Disney take out what they call dead peasant insurance policies on their employees?

The name, Moore says, is as insulting as the practice. Companies here can legally take out life insurance policies on their employees (after one year). Should the employee die the company can cash in and give nothing to the surviving family – not one thin dime.

If you die, corporations here can profit in the millions, and frankly, Moore says, in many cases you are worth much more to them dead than alive. A whopping 25 percent of all life insurance policies in the U.S. are so-called dead peasant policies. The name itself should tip you off to what the big corporations think of you, Moore says.

Warming to his capitalism is exploitation theme, Moore also follows a day in the life the Florida real estate tycoon Peter Zalewski, head of an operation called Condo Vultures, a man who openly admits he profits off the misery of others -- every day he matches foreclosed properties with buyers, who then resell them for a profit. It’s capitalism eating itself, ethics and the common good be damned.

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