Michael Moore proclaims “Capitalism did nothing for me.”

You’re wrong, Michael. Dead wrong. Capitalism has done plenty for you, sport.

1. American Capitalism made your 7,500 calorie per day diet cheaper (and tastier) here than anywhere else in the world.
2. That shirt you’re wearing. Polo, by Ralph Lauren. $80 in size XXXL, available at Big and Tall Mens shops nationwide.
3. Horizontal stripes. A guy your size would be locked up in most socialist countries for that fashion faux pas. Probably executed in Italy, France or Sweden.
4. The world’s best health care system, good for taking care of behavior-related chronic health care issues like cardio-vascular disease, type II diabetes, and gout.
5. Intellectual property rights are protected under capitalism. (It makes me shudder to refer to your, ahem, body of work as “intellectual property”, but there you have it.)
6. If you subtract out the rentals and royalties you’ve earned from theaters and distributors who are capitalists, you’d be living under a bridge somewhere.
7. Your freedom to ambush corporate CEOs made you rich. You try that stunt with the new owners of GM, and you’ll have your kneecaps broken.
8. Or worse, your next movie will be called Jimmy Hoffa and Me.
9. A cushy apartment in Manhattan, the Bolshevik paradise.
10. Most of all, you should be thankful that capitalism has given you an affluent, liberal, self-loathing audience which eagerly laps up your tripe.

H/T cnsnews via the Drudge Report

[h/t Hunter Baker and Robert Sloan at AmSpec]

In an interview this week with Wall Street Journal’s “Deal Journal” column, noted film-maker Michael Moore speaks out about soon-to-be released Capitalism: A Love Story, produced by his own film production company, Dog Eat Dog Films. In the interview he suggested some changes in the ownership and decision-making structure of his own company*:

My role is not to applaud half measures. My job isn’t to start from a position of compromise. The workers need to own [100%] of Dog Eat Dog Films, Inc. The workers decide whether to accept investors. The consumer who watches the movie needs to have a representative on the board. If you let them have a say, the company will make a better movie….I didn’t deal with [the film industry] very much in the movie… I started to construct some scenes, but it felt like been there done that.

OK, that’s quite an interesting viewpoint. Let’s see, Michael Moore:

• went through all the trouble to begin the new company (in something like 1989), filled out forms, paid fees, and followed strict incorporating requirements
• at the beginning, took considerable personal financial risks on a venture that might or might not succeed
• writes, directs, stars, produces, and maintains creative control over all major processes
• makes many, many public appearances on behalf of the company
• risks considerable capital and his own reputation every time he takes on a film project, in an industry notoriously subject to the fickle imaginations and desires of the public

All that, but he thinks he’s not entitled to ownership or the profits. This part is important: He’s not being charitable. He BELIEVES he is not entitled to ownership or the profits.

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