Moore exposes vacancy of capitalist system

Michael Moore's new movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story," drew applause from the viewers at the Kendall Square Cinema Sunday night. Despite the note of guarded optimism at the end, most of the scenes in the film were hardly cause to cheer. A family burning their possessions after getting evicted from their home in Peoria, Ill. ... blue-chip companies cashing in on life-insurance policies when their employees die ... a window worker in Chicago choking up when he and his colleagues lose their jobs when the company folds ...
Like a latter-day Dickens, Moore shows us the inhumane side of capitalism, and the very visible damage that the invisible hand of Adam Smith has wrought lately. It's perversely appropriate that the front page of the Boston Metro Monday morning is devoted to an auction of abandoned property in Detroit -- an amount "so massive it would fill all of the Hub."
Moore reveals the human faces beyond the statistics (including his own father, who discusses the better days of Detroit's auto industry), and while the New York Times criticized him for being short on solutions, he shows several examples of communities coming together to fight for the victims of capitalism in Chicago and Florida. At times the film seems longer than its two-hour, six-minute length, and at times it ignores history (Moore fusses over the crossover between Goldman Sachs and the Treasury Department but doesn't mention the tradition of such crossovers, as was the case with former Treasury boss/plutocrat Andrew Mellon in the early 20th century).
Still, Moore deserves praise for another timely expose, this one of the timeless problem of human greed.

Obama tru$tworthy on economy?

Obama Economy Cartoon
Originally uploaded by rbtenorio

In the presidential debate with Sen. John McCain on Tuesday night, Sen. Barack Obama came across as compassionate in discussing the economic crisis with members of the audience. Does this qualify him to lead our nation? Mephistopheles thinks not in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Why Congress bucked the bailout

Looks like it's easier to convince Congress to get into Iraq than it is to get us out of an economic crisis.
President Bush's bailout bill failed in the House on Tuesday, so today it's the Senate's turn to vote on an aid package. Why is this slam dunk becoming an airball? Or, for non-sports fans, why are our Congressmen and women refusing to go along with Bush when he had such an easy time convincing the legislative branch to go to war with Iraq in 2002?
I'd say that the House, at least, has displayed more partisanship -- on both the left and the right -- in recent years. Those who voted against the bailout bill on Tuesday include not only hard-core right-wingers like Texas Rep. Ron Paul and California Congressman Duncan Hunter, but also such progressive phenoms as Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire.
Congressmen and women aren't so willing anymore to abandon their principles for their party and/or president. But is this demonstration of principle may lead us into as disastrous a spot as the result of the pragmatism of 2002.

Liberals partying like it's 1929?

Crisis Cartoon
Originally uploaded by rbtenorio

The US economy is in financial freefall, with the Bush Administration trying to rescue it with a Brobdingnagian bailout. (The House of Representatives rejected it today.) Yet amid all the dire forecasts, are liberals secretly (or not-so-secretly) loving the sight of Wall Street laid low? Find out in "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!