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Stephanie Keith / AP
Filmmaker Michael Moore visited the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York this week. He also planned to visit Oakland, where police have cracked down on protesters.
Anti-capitalist film director Michael Moore has drawn fire in recent days for standing with the Occupy Wall Street protesters while failing to acknowledge that he is part of the “1 percent,” not the 99 percent.
Now the director of “Capitalism: A Love Story” and other documentaries has come clean and admitted that he is indeed among the nation’s wealthiest citizens, but without providing details of just how rich he is.
In a post titled “Life Among the 1%” on his blog “Open Mike,” Moore recalls how he made his first millions when he sold the distribution rights to his 1989 breakthrough hit “Roger & Me.”
At the time of his $3 million windfall, Moore says he was just getting by on unemployment payments of $98 a week.
So what did he do with his newfound wealth? Moore says he “proudly” paid nearly $1 million in taxes, used $1 million to establish a charitable foundation and spent the other $1 million on a new car, payments on a New York City apartment and more donations, including helping to rebuild a church that had been burned down in his hometown of Flint, Mich.
“What remained went into a simple, low-interest savings account,” Moore said. “I made the decision that I would never buy a share of stock” – a resolution he said this week that he has kept to this day.
Of course Moore went on to become among the most successful documentary filmmakers in Hollywood. While “Roger & Me” made $6 million in box office receipts, later movies made far more, capped by his 2004 film “Fahrenheit 9/11” excoriating the Bush administration’s response to terrorism, which grossed over $222 million, according to IMDB.com.
That would certainly put him among the top 1 percent of earners (the current threshold is about $350,000 a year), although Moore said his income varies quite a bit from year to year, saying that some years “I don’t have a job … and so I make a lot less.”.
Moore does not mention how many more homes and cars he has bought in the past 22 years, but he does say he feels “very blessed” to have done as well as he has.
And he has not mellowed in his opposition to the capitalist system, saying it “exploits the vast majority so that the few at the top can enrich themselves more.”
Here is more of Moore, from his CNBC interview outside the New York Stock Exchange this week:
The liberal firebrand explains what the movement means to him and asks why he can't speak to the network from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Leave a Comment:
1% of the most annoying, fattest b*stards on the planet, too.
Oh Matt, chill out! At least he made it on his own by providing the public with what they should have been aware of.
You got it, Matt.. I hope this "revelation" by him is no surprise. He has exploited the very system he so called hates in order to get rich. I bet he pays little taxes or contributes very little to "the people" he so strongly advocates for. He is useless.
Did Moore just admit he was receiving unemployment benefits while making a film?
Yeah presenting one-sided biased views of controversial topics really helps to spread awareness in the general public. Moore is laughing all the way to the bank, I would guess with a bit of your hard earned $$.
Mr. Moore didn't make his money by lying and extolling lies by the worst offenders of our financial system, he hasn't contributed a cent to a corrupt politician, and he donates generously to charity.
There's no rule that a honest, honorable member of the 1 percent can't publicly stand up for the 99 percent.
Depends on your definition of a corrupt politician. weirdwriter. Maybe he is standing up for and representing you, but he doesn't come close to representing me.
isn't he one of the slave whales peta is complaining about
He's only annoying if your on the other side of his diatribe. There is no revelation here. Only a lunatic would make movies that get seen by millions of people and not get paid happily for it.
SKIDDY, clearly you didn't finish the article before spewing your poorly formed opinion. He paid his taxes and donated to charity; this escaped your myopic sensitivities.
Occam, there is nothing wrong with making a film while on unemployment as long as its your first film and you don't have a cache of cash nested away.
So heaven forbid if you make a grip of money by telling people how there getting f= = =ked over by Corporate america. We should all be so lucky and maybe we wouldn't be so F===ked
Moore didn't make his money by lying LMAO!!!!
Yes, 98 dollars a week. And to be technical, while filming a movie he was making, he wasn't getting paid a dime. He had to sell it to be able to make any money. That's like saying a writer has a job because he is writing a book. Well, maybe, but until the book is sold, there's no money in it. Can't line your stomach with hopes and dreams.
Instead of being mad at him, be mad at GE who shipped jobs to China while doing business in the U.S. and not paying a dime in taxes, in fact, getting a hefty tax return of OUR money. There's something to boil your blood. Who care's if in 1989 he collected 98 dollars a week, it's not like he was livin it up at the Ritz, and if he WAS, kudos to him for makin that somehow happen.
You know, he's allowed to agree with and support the occupy movements. In fact, any of the "1%" can support he movements. Just because you're rich doen't mean you can't support those who aren't. Look, he gives generously to charity and wants to help those who aren't as successful as he is.
@Jeff: So then why is there so much BS from the Occupiers when someone in the general public doesn't support them, like me. I am not in the top 1% of Americans, but I do not identify with this group, either. I don't like all the cries for bigger government, nor expanding social programs, nor any of the other crap people think are "rights" when they are clearly not.
Yet I get non-stop vitriol from Occupiers that think I'm "brainwashed" because I don't buy into their crap.
I have no problem with Moore making all that money since he epitomizes the American entrepreneurial spirit while he plays the socialist OWS idiots for the fools they are by pretending to be one of them.
BTW: DOH DOH 1.9, Moore certainly included embellishments, distortions and outright lies in his so-called documentaries to promote inflammatory effect and sell tickets, and he admitted as much which is why his movies aren't considered documentaries.
That said, Moore has done rather nicely for himself and there's no shame in that.
Occam
A film can be in the can for months before you managed to sell distribution rights. Just like an artist who has finished a painting, he would have no source of income from than painting until it is sold, but he may be actively showing it in galleries to find a buyer.
Wow, looks like Michael is sprouting a new chin. Does that make 3 or 4? Congrats!
@Matt-3468366
I'm not in the top 1%, not even close, and i don't fully identify with the movement either. Although, I think your statement is kind irrelevant ot what i said. If someone agrees with the movement, they can be a part of it, it doesn't really matter who they are. Ideology is ideology, plain and simple. I'm not sure what the occupy movements giving BS to dissenters has to do with that.
Matt,
You may not be a 1%er, but you sure fit the bill for a Teabagger!
Even that bimbo on FAUX went on maternity leave and bashed some guy for calling it a social program benefit when she herself said the exact same thing a year earlier when she wasn't pregnant.
Hypocrisy is alive and well.
PS You are not important enough for the Occupiers to waste their vitrol on you or care one way or another about what you think. Stop being so narcissistic.
There aren't many people I dislike, however, I absolutely loathe this man!
Says who? http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Michael_Moore.php
I think it's very important that people in the 1% support the 99%. You don't have to directly, personally, benefit from a cause to believe in it and support it. Plenty of whites supported the civil rights movement. Lots of men supported women's rights. And a whole lot of straight people support gay rights. As a member of the 1%, and a former member of the low end of the 99%, Michael Moore has plenty of perspective. He can see how the tax code is designed to benefit him more as a 1% person than as a 99%.
I've heard other people who have come into wealth say the same thing. Jerry Springer said on TV that once he became wealthy, he saw how the tax code benefitted him, where before it did not. He was surprised by that. As we all should be. Wealth is it's own reward. There shouldn't also be special tax privileges just because you've earned millions. The millions ARE the reward for earning millions!
He made it honestly, paid his taxes, gave to charity, didn't invest it with Madoff -- what more do you want? If, percentagewise, he paid less taxes than you all did, blame Bush and the money grubbing bunch that supported him. Unfortunately, a similar money-grubbing bunch (aka the party of NO) is once again trying to make the rich richer and the poor and middle class barely making a living, all the while obstructing every effort to create jobs and stimulate the economy. You really don't think that people like Boehner, Perry, Bachmann and Cain have your benefit at heart? Not that I agree with everything the other side has been doing, but at least they're not quite as ruthless, callous and irrational as the far right.
GTFO, I would have never known he was the 1% ........
Weirdwriter-
"Honest and honorable"?! Seriously? You obviously haven't seen the victims of his so-called "documentaries" who have stated that he twisted everything they said. War veteran's and others in his documentaries are completely outraged for the false way Michael Moore depicted them.
And only a hypocrite would make movies bashing the very system he uses to "get paid happily".
Yes and those same millions are the reward for those who do nothing more than walk out to the mailbox to collect their "bennies". Personally I'd rather get my share of those millions by working for and getting paid by that person rather than have the government collect it, waste half of it and then dole out whatever is left by some assbackward method dreamed up by some bureaucrat.
This is a bunch of hog wash. Because one is among the 1% they cannot identify with the plight of the other 99%.
How silly?
God said:" to whom much is given much more is required." Many cannot comprehend this command because they suffer from the sin of idolatry. Their money is their God.
Think not more highly of yourself that you ought. If two of us have fallen into a pit will it not require someone or something higher to get us out.
If someone has a trademark on Stupid, I know they are among the 1%.
How ironic that AMERICAN CAPITALISM is exactly what allowed Moore to achieve what he has. I don't agree with his views, but I am perfectly fine with him making a living the way he does. We all have the same opportunities.
The other ironic thing is that all those that are complaining about the 1% (particularly the OWS folks) probably would love to switch sides and be part of the 1%. Here is what is behind the movement:
Envy - a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.
Truthfully, both sides are wrong and both sides are right. Unfortunately the media focuses on the extreme cases on both sides rather than focusing on 98% that really fall somewhere in the middle.
He didn't pay less percentage wise. Despite what you've been conned into believing very, very few of the 1% pay a smaller percentage than the middle class. On average, those making a million+ per year pay 29% of their income in Federal taxes compared to the middle class who pay an average of 15%. So they are actually paying almost twice as much percentage wise. The AP broke this story shortly after Buffet started spewing his BS, why do so many of you still buy into the con even after the truth comes out?
Wow, now that Michael has outed himself, do you suppose the protestors will throw rocks and bottles at him?
I live in Detroit and have been to a few of Mr Moore's public events. I do not agree with his ideology, but I see people here saying that he is donating money to Charity so that makes it all ok. Ummmm I hate to break your bubble, but most of the 1% give way more to Charity than Mr Moore. And Im sure Mr. Moore just didnt give his money freely..... Mr Moore's accountant is freely taking charitable deductions.
Absolutely, jollyold... People forget that point and also forget the fact that they certainly take that tax deduction at the end of the year for their "charity" work. So tell you OWS people...how come you aren't after Michael?? I mean his effective tax rate is certainly going to be well below yours!! How come you aren't tying him down and defecating on him?? I mean you guys love to do that with police cars...
The 99%s need bailouts, and if ya ask me to work my ass off just like the 1%s "did", I'll kick you in the nuts, put you on a horse headin south of dodge...
Skiddy, did you not even read the article?
He has exploited the very system he so called hates
Oh, so Michael Moore caused the financial crisis by taking risks with your money?
Please.
And that defines Mr Moore.
Looks like the 1% collapsed this....
I think it actually irks some people that Moore has been pretty successful, but he still comes off as just a "regular slob". I don't always agree with him, but I give him credit for being true to his roots.
There is no doubt that Moore uses spin and exaggeration sometimes in his films, but then he isn't claiming that he is unbiased. He creates his documentaries to deliver a message, not to give a total unbiased story of both sides of an issue. That's no different than the spin that comes from his targeted groups. There is a big difference between a Micheal Moore documentary and a Ken Burns documentary. I think most of us recognize that.
Moore does a service in that he provides another side of many issues that otherwise wouldn't get attention. The wealthy and big business have plenty of resources available to get out their spin, but the average working American doesn't have that same kind of voice. Moore uses his money to provide a mechanism for that voice and he makes a decent living doing it. People can say what they want, but I think Moore is more concerned about getting the message out, than he is about getting rich in the process. He would be living a completely different lifestyle if making money was his primary goal.
Moore is one of those guys who is good at being a pesky annoyance like a fly buzzing around you. And if there is a steaming pile somewhere, Moore will be attracted to it and make his presence known. That's his style and it is effective. Whether you like him or not, really has nothing to do with it. I think you have to give him credit for drawing attention to things that might otherwise be swept under the rug. If it creates controversy, so much the better, because it creates the discussion that otherwise wouldn't take place.
Matt (and other Moore haters)
I have discovered that most people who say they can't stand Michael Moore have never seen any of his movies. Others are offended because he called out Charlton Heston for what he is (was).
AW from KC...
I could less about Moore or your opinion about him but do you know for a fact that "while filming a movie he was making, he wasn't getting paid a dime?" Or is it he wasn't getting a dime for his movie?
If he collected a dime of unemployment while he was filming, then he broke the law. When one is collecting unemployment they must be actively looking for a job. How long does it take to make a film? Would it stop him for actively looking for a job? Yes.
Unemployment is not a substance allowance while you go to school, work under the table or make a film.
I'm with Moore Capitalism is communist, If these Tycoons could make the amounts they make and put it back into the Pot of which it came I'm all for it...But Noooo they'll pocket it like Madoff !
There have been a couple of articles about the 'kitchens' at OWS shutting down because the homeless and down and out folks have been eating too much of that 'free' food. The protesters told the homeless to go to a shelter 'just down the block' for food. Now, excuse me but aren't those homeless part of the 99%? So much for caring compassion. Seems like a whole lotta hypocrisy coming out of the OWS protesters, and Moore epitomises their brand of hypocrisy. He makes million using the system that he continuously bashes, ditto little celebrities like Sarandon. If they were for real, truly genuine in what they preach, they would give their evil, capitalist money away, redistribute it to even out the great disparity, don't see that happening now. do we?
@mygirl1....I haven't heard anything like that at all. Although, I'm not following the OWS movement every waking hour of my life, so I could have missed it. Do you have any links to back up what you supposedly read/heard about the protestors kicking the homeless out because they were eating too much of their food? That sounds both crazy and ridiculous. I would really like to see some proof after something so off the wall is stated.
lol, the same people who can't stand a poor Democrat and middle class Democrat, now suddenly can't stand a rich Democrat. What a bunch of hypocrites!
The Democrats, the Progressives, the Liberal never decried about the amount of money made. We decried about the method of how it is made. We decried about how Lobbyists are able to buy their way to our politicians. We decried about how our Conservative Supreme Court Justices consistently side with businesses on every issues when cases come up. We decried about treatment of fellow citizens at work. We decried about how improperly our tax dollars are funneled to generate wealth for the wealthy exclusively. We decried about how our social safety net is being tunneled out to fund the Financial Companies. We decried about how our private health companies abuse the monetary system we came to trust them with....
Yet you have no problem with any of such issues? Because you're rich? NO, I DOUBT IT. I PROMISE MAJORITY HERE IS NO WHERE NEAR THE 1%. You are sheep, and you are so proud to be ignorant. A classic symptom of anignoramus.
for a glimpse of who Michael (roundboy) Moore is try "Michael Moore Hates America"...interesting
oh, and he (you know the guy that a poster said doesn't lie) was on that Pierce Whateverhisnameis show and said he ISN'T part of the stupidly coined term "the 1%"...he denied it when asked and had some dumbazz babble to try and play off the question...probably had some caviar stuck in his dentures
@mygirl1
I always say "If you put up a sign that says FREE HAMBURGERS , it isn't just the hungry that show up"
and look at this boneheads chin , looks like that is where he keeps the cash that he doesn't have
Don97524- You obviously haven't seen the interviews with the people that WERE IN HIS MOVIES who explain how much Michael Moore lied about them and used editing and trickery to change their stories in his movies. The people in his movies consider themselves to be victims of Michael Moore. Your comment was beyond ignorant.
I love the comments. Again. THe government actually says that the rich people pay less then 17% tax on the income they pay. The rest pay more.
Thats not the whole story . Its actually worse. Read about transfer pricing and then think about how they can pay even less. The true story about the top 5% is that they can pay not even 1% of the tax the rest pay.
How? Read about transfer pricing. I really suspect now that the comments who lie about it are paid for buy rich folks or are even rich folks who write the rubbish themselves.
I do not know any millionaires who are nothing but bozos. They have the crapiest taste and are really stupid. They are jealous of other people and do there best to try to get the lime light. I have seen it myself. I have seen CEOs and corporate elites sack architects and engineering staff not because they didnt do there job, they were jealous of them.
The only way they can stay rich is from robing the poor by not pay there fair share in taxes. Anyone who disgrees with that is a fool.
Just read the Government reports on tax. Then read about transfer pricing. ITs all been there for years. The de regulation made it worse.
I see ordinary people with huge sums of cash and they fight tooth and nail to keep the ill gotten gains with the most powerful weapon they have. ITs the lie. They lie as much as they can.
Then pay people to lie for them.
The latest studies show that the economy has longer periods of growth with better income distrubtion.
Do a search on it. Science is against the weathy elite.
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny..... Do you progressives think your blatant lies will go unchallenged? Ever since Warren Buffet made that misleading statement about how his secretary paid a higher percentage of her income in taxes than he did (and by extension all "rich" people pay a smaller percentage then "everyone else") there have been many articles written, using IRS (government) data, charts and tables, proving the exact opposite. But since I know progressives are unwilling and/or unable to think for themselves or to do their own research I will make it easy for you. Here http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/09/19/media-myth-debunked-millionaires-dont-pay-less-tax-percentage-agi-low
Buffet did pay a smaller percentage of his total income on taxes than his secretary. But what he failed to explain was his secretary has a base salary of $150,000/yr and receives bonuses and other incentives over and above that which puts her in the highest tax bracket. While Buffet did not make squat in taxable income, he did make billions through investments and other financial maneuvers. This income is considered capital gains and is taxed at a much lower rate. So while Buffet's statement is true... it is also very misleading.
Then he might start sounding credible.
Yeah! Everyone who stands up for the poor has to LIVE IN POVERTY TOO.
That makes sense!
JK1963 wrote:
Yes, but giving to charity doesn't reduce your taxes by the amount you gave. For example, giving $100,000 to charity doesn't reduce your taxes by $100,000. It reduces your taxable income by $100,000, since by giving away that money, it's like you never earned it. So basically, if you are taxed at a 33% rate, your taxes would be reduced by $33,000. You're still out the $100,000, but you fairly only pay tax on income that you've kept.
I wanna see you give up what you got before you start preaching to me.
I guess the poor don't deserve any advocates who actually have money. Oh well, I'm rich so who cares.
According to Celebritynetworth.com Moore is worth $50 million.
@1NewDay
"He creates his documentaries to deliver a message"
websters definition of "documentary":
: being or consisting of documents : contained or certified in writing em evidence>
2
: of, relating to, or employing documentation in literature or art; broadly : factual, objective em film of the war>
I don't see anything in that that says " to deliver a message" or "to make the procucers point" , I do see words like "factual" and "objective"
hence using the word " documentary" while discussing anything Fatboy Moore has made is ridiculous , as well as ignorant...and your post akin to kool-aid drinking...isn't it cool?
dmac, Do you have anything to backup what you whine about? Warren Buffett made his tax return PUBLIC. In fact he talked about it on Charlie Rose Show: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/warren-buffett-gave-his-tax-return-to-charlie-rose-last-month.php so why are you cherry picking your source from Right Wing Blog, and worst choosing article from a Right Wing Blogger for Fox Forum!!!! hahaha.. talking about hard up for support... In addition, where is your proof of Warren Buffett's secretary's tax return (of the supposed addition). You do know that the addition would be tax about the same rate... Of course, you don't, sigh... Here is part of the transcript...
"BUFFETT: And — and they — they get — I get taxed on up to $100,000. And — and — and my super rich friends get taxed up to $100,000. And that tax hits the people in my office very, very hard. Often they have a spouse working, so they get taxed on up to $200,000 that payroll tax. And that’s at — this year we’ve had a waiver of two points but that’s normally at 15.3 percent. That alone is higher than the tax rate on capital gains or dividends.
ROSE: You point out that the average tax rate for people in your audience — in your — the average rate for people in your office is 36 percent of taxable income.
BUFFETT: Yes, 36 percent. And nobody’s below 33 percent. And incidentally, the lowest income person in the office is higher than the 33 percent. They don’t have the low rate. So from 33 percent to 41 percent they range and they average 36 percent and I’m in there with a fat 17.4 percent I think it is.
ROSE: And why is that?"
BUFFETT: Well, taxes — if you make money with money, you get taxed very — at very low rates; 15 percent dividends in capital gains. No payroll tax. If you make money with muscle or hard work or sweat of your brow, you get taxed at rates that move on up. And most of the people, the middle-class gets taxed at rates of either 15 percent or 25 percent on their income tax, but then they get really hit hard on the payroll tax and that’s what brings the rates in our office up to an average of 36 percent if you leave me out."
One of the previous posts was ignorant enough to say this fat slob made his money 'honestly'. Really? Lets take a bunch of footage, edit it, put our own soundtrack and sell it as 'gospel'. This worthless SOB made his money on trash that the National Enquirer wouldnt even take the bait on. He confesses to being the 1%. Good for him. Now go away.
I don't have a problem with people like Mike, he made it on his own taking very little from the taxpayer and still pays big time taxes. He is not looking for a way to cheat the system and look down his nose at the Great Unwashed.
No Michael Moore, you're not the 1%. You're merely an annoying documentary maker. The 1% is a reference to the absurdly rich people who control this nation and the political system. Being rich does not make you the target of this movement. For the last time, this is not a movement against the rich! It's against the abuse of power which the richest people wield like a child with a gun...it's more like the top .01% not the top 1%.
Just love how you libs make excuses for each other.
Shouldn't Fat A$$ Mike give more to the government like all you cry babies whine for.
I don't have problem with His Largnes making money. I do have a problem when he then turns around and slams the very system that allowed him to make his millions. What he does is say "Don't look at me. I am special. You can't make it, the system wont let you". There is a differnece between those who fight so there will not be any more rich and those who fight so there will not any more poor.
I'm glad this partisan hack fessed up to his wealth, but I will always consider Michael Moore one of the biggest wastes of natural talent on the planet !! He could have been one of the greatest documentary film makers of all time, if he hadn't decided to play (Democrat) politics !! What's truly disappointing is his partisan blinders have kept him from exposing the fact that BOTH parties have sold out the American Worker and very possibly the American Dream, which he has been fortunate (and talented) enough to be quite possibly among the last to achieve !!
How ironic that AMERICAN CAPITALISM is exactly what allowed Moore to achieve what he has. I don't agree with his views, but I am perfectly fine with him making a living the way he does. We all have the same opportunities.
The other ironic thing is that all those that are complaining about the 1% (particularly the OWS folks) probably would love to switch sides and be part of the 1%. Here is what is behind the movement:
Envy - a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.
Truthfully, both sides are wrong and both sides are right. Unfortunately the media focuses on the extreme cases on both sides rather than focusing on 98% that really fall somewhere in the middle.
commonsensedude-1080861: Yes, he SHOULD pay more taxes. The difference between him and the puppet masters controlling congress is that he'd willingly pay more taxes. He WANTS to pay more taxes.
There's the dilemma for the Occupy folks- Just which 1%ers are ok and which would you have drawn and quartered. While Mike made millions, he's ok folks. Russell Simmons, 100+ million but he's into pop culture so that's ok. The CEO of most companies would not be given such carte blanche treatment by the 99%ers, unless they enhance the lives of those same people(Apple, fashion companies, Mtv, etc.)
When you actually think about it, CEOs have substantially more responsibility to their workers and investors than anyone below them in the company. Let's say that you've got 1,000 workers depending on your product, marketing, infrastructure, R+D, etc. decisions and another 5,000 people whom invested their money in your company to make them a profit. As CEO you control the fates of 1,000 people every day and to some degree the financial stability of the other 5,000. Sure you make your $1M+/year, but if you screw it up usually the board of directors boots you out and in the worst case (Solyndra for example) everyone looses their jobs and the investors loose their investments.
I get it that market manipulators and bankers are the biggest targets as they force the stock market up and down to make a quick buck on algorithms while your investments just roll with the punches. They make the very wealthy more money, influence our government with lobbying and policymaking, and make bets against the country's well being. Take George Soros for example- he makes billions/year by destabolizing and crashing currencies, so he actively destroys millions of people's lives with his actions. Yes, these people are very dangerous to the world.
Apparently none of you watched "Capitalism: A love story". He crucified the right and the left for allowing Wall street to intimately bind itself to and corrupt our government. He highlights how it really doesn't matter where you fall politically, our system has been so corrupted with conflicts of interest that go back and forth between lobbyist firms, big banking, and the White House/Federal Reserve. There is no aspect of our government that isn't corrupted by the financial sector and NO ONE gets elected without the support of Wall street- Obama included.
Z-933870,
You are absolutely right!
According to Celebrity Networth, Michael Moore is worth $50,000,000.00
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/directors/michael-moore-net-worth/
Kind of reminds me of the foolish teaparty who said "get the government out of my SS and Medicare". But I'll bet that didn't bother you. How about whites supporting the end of segregation, have a problem with that?
So Michael Moore is a hypocrite, ha, who knew. Their is a huge difference between capitalism and corporatism. The first sets the individual free, while the other puts the individual in chains. Got three words that describes what this country needs right now: Teddy Roosevelt Republican, look into it.
Ilya: I don't begrudge him his money either. He has found a niche in the market place. He is a capitalist in spite of his protests to the same. He sells socialism and anti-capitalism. But, like all good marxists, he is only espousing his viewpoints against power, money and capitalism for the purpose of obtaining power, money and utilizing the capitalist system. What is funny (and sad) is that anyone would actually believe his anti-capitalist rants. He knows that if he lived in Russia, China or Cuba, he'd have nothing. He also believes that, like the other socialists in this country, including Obama, that they can't survive without capitalism.
commonsencedude I believe the 33% he paid is fair if all you people that want to play the stock market game and only pay 15% CAPITAL GAINS would pay 33% we would not be having this descussion.
So Michael Moore is a hypocrite, ha, who knew. Their is a huge difference between capitalism and corporatism. The first sets the individual free, while the other puts the individual in chains. Got three words that describes what this country needs right now: Teddy Roosevelt Republican, look into it.
A hypocrite doesnt go down to the site & protest with the other 99%....a hypocrite doesnt back a vaulted car up to JP Morgan to get OUR bailout money back....What did you think he was making movies for FREE.
Continue what you do Mike....there will ALWAYS be haters [meaning youre doing something RIGHT]
Lib50....... Do you know Rod Sterling, or hear the do do do do theme song when your typing.
lol... should he hold his hat in his hand and whisper thank you to the oh-so-kind system that "allowed" him to invest his money is his own productions? I guess you aren't familiar with Michael Moore's work, are you.
No one is blaming rich people for making money but they need the pay their fare share of taxes. Why did GE pay no taxes last year after making $14 Billion in profit? GE wrights the rules that benefit them and it gets passed by those politicians who are bought and paid for and than they claim that they are just following the rules, yea right. Why can't the 99% get the same treatment? Why did Goldman get bailed out with the 99% working Americans and all we get is more layoffs and cuts in pay? I am all for the protesters, not because I wan't something from government but for what I don't want from government and that is NO BAILOUTS for ANYONE, NO TAX WRITE OFFS.
There is this deliberate misconception on the right that everyone on the left and in the OWS movement are socialists. Really anyone that is not into Laisse-faire Capitalism...minus some of the restrictions imposed by the bible and of couse excluding the bail-outs...is a Socialist according to the looney tunes right. If there was some consistency on the right, like if we are going to end all socialism for U.S. citizens, lets stop providing free security and other perks to foriegn countries.
He's a true patriot. He has found a way to make a killing...by drubbing the hypocrites and liars and pointing out the (glaring) flaws in our system. He doesn't want to bring down America, he wants to make it a better place and for us to be a better people to each other and the world. He will use his money wisely for HIS free speech and he will pay WAY MORE in taxes than 99.99% of these readers and he wants to pay even more! Anyone who thinks the system is just peachy keen is full of crap, delusional or just plain ignorant.
Steve-1962 Capital gains are because of a gain in a stock in a personal account using after tax money. Do you really think it's right to tax more than the already overbearing 15% (long term btw) on money that they have invested after already being taxed. As far as I am concerned, that's double taxation.
What part of my comment brought that to mind, jolly? I do sometimes feel like I am in the twilight zone when I read ridiculous comments and people purposefully trying to misrepresent what the 99% think.
I agree Peter M. This story and most posters talk about Michael Moore as if he is a socialist completely against capitalism. He is not and mentions that quite often. He is for a more European version of Capitalism with strict regulations and oversight so the rich don't steal money from the poor and middle class. Something they have been doing for the last 40 years starting with Ronald Reagan's term. Thank God we have him making these documentaries. It is an "in your face" reminder of why we need to stay active in our Republic and vote 'em out if they don't do what we want them to do.
I'm having a little trouble understanding this first batch of comments. Michael Moore created a product (documentary) and sold it. That is not the same as an investment banker inventing a way to make the Monopoly money grow exponentially then cashing it in for real money when it was time for the bonuses to be paid. Then when it was exposed that the Monopoly money truly was Monopoly money the market needed to adjust against the over inflated fictional wealth which was the housing bubble and all the other associated business that is connected to the housing market.
Michael Moore didn't farm jobs out to foreign countries. Michael Moore didn't start wars where we had no business fighting. Michael Moore didn't suggest bailing out the countries phony banks and insurance companies. Michael Moore didn't shift the power of government to the major corporations that have a larger footprint overseas.......etc etc etc..........
I have never seen a Michael Moore documentary all the way through. I have seen bits and pieces here and there and he is no different than a Rush or Beck spewing their own opinion and trying to convince everyone they are correct.
Michael Moore did what is defined as the American way of doing business, he created a product and sold it for a profit. He didn't dictate how much he should get, WE did. We are foolish enough to pay the price for a movie ticket, sporting event or concert therefore we set the price.
We have become lazy puppets and then proceed to point the finger at political parties, corporations and regulations. We can take back control by targeting one business at a time. You don't like what you are paying to see a movie, STOP GOING. The trickle down effect, actors won't get paid obscene amounts of money but be prepared for layoffs to camera operators, writers etc.
Are you as sick as I am of everything coming from China? Pick an American company that moved the jobs their and STOP BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS. Eventually we will have to start making it here again.
Yes I am over simplifying but we need to stop complaining about the 1% and hit them where it hurts. Occupy has got the right idea I just think they have the wrong approach. Instead of the 99% trying to get something we need to take away from the 1%-----the balance will equal out eventually but be prepared because it wont be easy.
I'm done because I could write for the entire weekend and still not get it all off my chest.
Now stop trashing a guy for making money the good old fashioned way, he earned it. Focus on the ones that created it.
Re: Michael Moore: The 1% is divided into 2 parts: those who obtain their wealth ethically, and those who use deceit to gain their fortune. The unethical intend to grab as much as they can, and when America appears to be drowning financially, they will transfer their wealth to another country and move away.
There appears to be some confusion over the definition of success. Everyone wants to be successful in their lives, but that has nothing to do with wealth. After all, Bernie Madoff was successful. So are big corporations and banks. But we see they have no ethics and prey on people and game the system--rip them off--to gain their wealth. Success making money is a hollow, meaningless success.
People want to have a meaningful life with equal access to opportunities and an expectation of playing on a level field. With the 1% buying up elected officials and controlling govt so that laws are stacked in their favor and against most of the people in this country, then, Houston, we have a problem.
Michael Moore does not want to pay more taxes. If he did, he would. It's as simple as that. He doesn't have to wait for the rates to raise to give more. He can give more than he's required to, and they'll accept it.
Here's the thing - if rich people like the wall street thugs figure out how to manipulate the system for their advantage and make millions, it's ok, because that's how capitalism works. If poor people figure out hot to manipulate the system and collect $75 in unemployment benefits, that's not ok, because that's socialism
@Graeme-514256
But just him paying more won't fix the deficit. Let's just raise the top tax rate to 90% like it was in the 60s and our deficit will be gone in 10 years
The government should freeze Michael Moore's bank accounts and take all of his money away and distribute it to the protesters. Leave him with $20,000. Then let's see if Michael Moore still feels all "giddy" about Socialism being better...
After all, Socialism IS about equalizing incomes, everyone gets the same income and no billionaires. No more incentive for innovation and becoming a millionaire. What's the point when your income is fixed by the government...
That couldn't be said more perfectly...to sit there and listen to him bloviate about how horrible "the system" is, all the while making millions upon millions off that exact system.
Hypocrisy your sting has been felt and it was harsh. Hopefully people will begin to wake up (though I doubt it)...
About that - How do you know Michael MOORE pays big taxes, are you his accountant? There are a vast majority of people who make it on their own and have had little or no help from the Government. And done it in ways a Hell of a lot more benificial to mankind than making "B" movies. Michael MOORE should watch the documentary "Super Size Me", if he quit eating for a month they could feed all the people in Somalia for a year.
Enjoy that government paycheck Veteran? Or is that just a fake name you like to use?
And this should be a surprise to whom, exactly? The Occutards?
@superayr - I understand your point on double taxation. However, this occurs all over the place. Sales tax on goods purchased with after tax income, income tax on insurance such as unemployment, annual vehicle taxes, etc. Even these taxes vary. Cigarettes are deemed harmful and thus are taxed at a higher rate. Annual vehicle taxes are based on the estimated value of the vehicle at the time, whether you're upside down or not. So maybe the transaction tax in the financial sector isn't such a bad idea. Why tax just capital gains? If Mr. Smith decides to invest in old Coca Cola memorabilia with the intent on it increasing in price and selling it, he pays sales tax. Why shouldn't Mr. Jones buying a piece of Coca Cola stock with the intent on making money in the same fashion pay the same tax? Take it a step further, and just like it's determined cigarettes are taxed higher, tax commodities transactions on goods that aren't taken ownership of (oil) at a higher rate at well. Responsible investors can still do well in the stock market with these taxes, but the fly by the seat of your pants day trader may not be so fortunate unless they become more responsible themselves.
Of course he is wealthy, duh. He has written 8 books, written, directed and produced 11 movies, and three TV shows. That makes him a job creator. The difference is what he has done with his money. He owns no stock so he has no untaxed wealth in capital gains. He owns a movie theater in Michigan that allows veterans and their families to see movies for free. He has had to hire security for himself and his family due to threats and physical attacks. All because he exercises his right to speak freely. You know the first amendment thing. He is not anti-gun he is against kids having access to guns.( Bowling for Columbine) He is for everyone having access to good medical care. (Sicko) He is against the mass exportation of our econony overseas and against the excesses of capitalism. (not against capitalism just it's abuses)When all you can criticize is his weight then you should really shut up.
What most of you don't grasp is that Moore is exactly representative of the 1% you profess to hate so much. He started out with very little. He sold a product (documentary films) that people wanted. He got rich off his talents. Just like Sam Walton. Just like Bill Gates. Just like Steve Jobs, Michael Dell , Ted Turner,etc.etc. Along the way Moore provided jobs for editors, gaffers, camera, sound, light crew, ticket takers, pop corn makers, etc. Just like Walton, Gates, Jobs, Dell and Turner.
The really wealthy people in this country are business owners, risk takers, entrepreneurs. They put their time, money, and talent to work and they also create jobs and opportunities for other people. There are a whole bunch of nice homes,boats, cars, and retirements financed by those that invested in Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, Dell, Walmart stock and on and on.
I don't care for Moore's films. I abhor his politics. I think he is a hypocrite for making millions and millions of of a system he claims to hate ( he has not made any movies in Siberia, now has he). But I don't begrudge him making a buck. Methinks this is a Public Relations stunt by Mr. Moore. He has not had much of a career since George W Bush moved back to Texas!
Stop hating. Start Working. Start Investing. If an idiot like Michael Moore can make millions from crappy movies, just think what you can do!!!!
hate to burst your bubble 10010 1111 10, but just because you are a veteran does not mean you get a govt paycheck, you only get payed if you are still active duty protecting our country and citizens, or if you are retired after putting in 20+ years of 24/7 work, or are disabled from you service. guess what they deserve to get payed more then what they are currently getting payed for damn sure.
Very well said, Gary 420!!
Michael Moore's appearance, at this Occupy site, was a 10% effort of support and a 90% effort of scoping out his next documentary (for which he probably already has an advance). However, in a show of unbiased goodwill, I offer these oobservations to Michael (without fee I might add) for his forthcoming project!
Many of those complaining that the rich not paying enough in income taxes, pay no income taxes themselves.
Some of those demanding student loan debt forgiveness don't have a college degree, and some of those who do, have a degree in a subject where the only jobs that exist for that subject...are teaching that subject.
The absence of Hollywood celebrities, camping out overnight with them, has not yet been explained. I suggest interviews here, with Michael showing up unexpected and uninvited...I will (again at no charge) provide the list of celebrities to be interviewed.
Occupiers are not maintaining the Occupy sites, and Occupy supporters, while offering moral support, are not...as yet...offering to repay taxpayers for the maintenance and repair of those sites! (Michael could request donations during his celebrity interviews).
Judging from the pictures there no barbers among the protesters...at least none who would apply their trade for free...also he can confirm the rumor that this is also a protest against deodorant.
Watch for this documentary, coming to a theatre near you, in the summer of 2012!
Gary 420
No, they do not hate the 1%... they hate the 1% WHO USE THEIR MONEY TO INFLUENCE LEGISLATION. There is a big difference.
If you are a 1%er and you spend millions, through lobbyists, to pass legislation that benefits YOU and hurts everyone else... that is who we hate.
If you are a 1%er and you do NOT spend millions, through lobbyists or political donations... great, you are cool. No hate here.
Do you understand the difference, cupcake?
I believe it - Michael Moore and his ego are certainly BIG ENOUGH to be the ENTIRE 1%!
@ William: It's amazing how some people can not understand what the occupy movement is about, no matter how many times it is explained. It is not about socialism or communism. It never was. It's about having the rich pay at least the same percentage in taxes as the middle class. And it is about removing Wall street from government. I do not understand how that equates socialism in your mind. Maybe it is a lack of education which keeps you from being able to read and understand what the movement is about.
@Gary 420 says "Stop hating. Start Working. Start Investing. If an idiot like Michael Moore can make millions from crappy movies, just think what you can do!!!!"
I'd argue that the occupy movement is protesting about the type of things Moore made his money off of. So, in your eyes, if a handful of people decide to film, edit and release a documentary on the Occupy movement to make money then suddenly they're not hating and lazy?
As far as your "start investing" comment, why would I? Three years ago a large number of people lost everything, their retirement, their kids college funds, because of crooked investors and banks crashing the financial system. Seemingly nothing is different in that world, so what's the reward for that type of risk in the financial sector as is? If I was playing with anothers money or had money to lose, sure, maybe it's worth the risk. But like most Americans, my money is going towards real life things that simply can't be pushed aside when Wall Street greed screws it all up.
@superayr - Capital gains taxes are placed on GAINS from money that was invested. The original investment is not taxed! The double taxation claim is bogus. Why would earnings made any other way be treated differently and taxed at a much higher rate? I invested money into my college education and now my paycheck is a gain on that original investment....so why am I taxed more than 15%?
eric1964, what's your point? Or are you just looking to argue for the sake OF arguing?
What a hypocrite and liar Moore is. His 1 million dollar foundation is actually a tax dodge. On top of this, his foundation has heavily invested in the very corporations he hates, such as halliburton. He is an unethical liar. He uses his foundation due to tax reasons.
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/11/3/150518.shtml
Excellent point. On top of that, many CEOs have a salary of $1 per year... yes, one whole dollar... Steve Jobs(RIP) was one. BUT, they made all their money off capital gains.
So what Republicans are really saying is that rich CEOs, who use this tactic, should pay ZERO taxes. They just don't have the balls to come out and say, "They should pay zero while everyone else pays something"... because that doesn't sit too well with voters. So they separate capital gains from income, pretend they are two different things even though they are both income, and get the message across in a way that sounds better.
If you have read this far you should be climbing the walls. But, in your search for the ceiling remember that if your conscience tells you that you should pay more taxes, for God's sake write a check to the Treasury of the United States of America and do it now so your guilt will not bother you anymore. Michael......are you listening?
I'm with Moore Capitalism is communist, If these Tycoons could make the amounts they make and put it back into the Pot of which it came I'm all for it...But Noooo they'll pocket it like Madoff !
Michael Moore is not a hypocrite in the least! He paid 1M in taxes on the first 3M he made (33%) and I am sure is paying around 30-35% on all the money he makes. He is riling against the wallstreeters who hire high priced lawyers and accountants to find loopholes to reduce their taxes and manipulate the financial sytem to rake in the money that most of us are losing!!
Too many people here really seem to not comprehend the difference between wanting the system to be fair and thinking wealth itself is immoral. If you would bother to learn ANYTHING about Moore, you would learn that he not only pays his full taxes but gives a large percentage of what's left to charity. He is the farthest thing from a hypocrite. In fact, one of the guiding principles of his life is that we are put here to help the less fortunate. He truly believes the Christian principles he absorbed in his childhood. That doesn't end just because he's made a leap upward in his own finances, due to making movies that a great many people want to see and enjoy, and most recently to becoming a best-selling author.
It is truly sad that so many people sneering at him and his films have never actually seen one of his films. There was a concerted effort by those in power to keep people from seeing "Fahrenheit 911" because even Republican test audiences were changing their views in enough numbers that it could have stopped Bush from being re-elected. They did a great job of making far too many voters think that Michael Moore was such a horrible person that they would be a traitor to America to spend a dime on his movies.
Moore isn't perfect. His movies aren't perfect. But he's willing to get out there and put his life on the line - literally - to help others improve their quality of life. And he absolutely gets his facts straight.
10010 1111 10 - What the heck does my name have to do with receiving a government paycheck? Send me a personal e-mail and we'll discuss it privately.
Generalized comments like this are where OWS falls down. No one disagrees that everyone should pay "their fair share". But what is "fair"? Why is 33% "fair" but 20% "unfair"? (All numbers pulled out of my, erm, hat.) Why is one person paying millions "unfair" but someone else only paying hundreds "fair"?
These people have some vague sense of discontent with the system, and want to blame it on those snooty rich people, I guess because there are few enough of them that they make an easy target. But really, apart from the idealized goal of "fairness" what is this supposed to accomplish?
Stop worrying about what is "fair" and just go produce something of value! If you are constantly worrying about whether your neighbor is being taxed at the same rate you are, you'll never be happy. This obsession with everything being "fair" ends up costing us a lot more than we would ever get from actually achieving it. OWS is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Since when is ANYTHING fair in life? All this talk about 'fairness' reminds of a bunch of kindergarters. If you don't like your position in life, DO SOMETHING!! Protesting, destroying property, etc... Contrary to popular belief, its still very possible to succeed with alot of hard work. Working 40 hours a week isn't how its done. Double it and then we can talk.
BillBodine and Dan-451372
I think you are missing the point. No one is saying it is not fair that they have millions and I don't so they should pay more. People are saying it's not fair that people with milliions are paying a smaller percentage than the people that don't have a million or $100,000 or for a lot of people don't even have $10,000 or $1,000. That's what's not fair!!
What is also not fair is these people with millions using their money to influence government!! Do you think if there were no lobbyists, no campaign donors, etc. the outcomes of elections over the past 50 years would be the same? Do you think the legislation in that time period would be the same? This undue influence that these people have and use is what's not fair.
The protesters don't hate capitalism, they don't hate rich people, they hate manipulating the system to make a quick buck without regard for the consequences. We teach our children that our actions have consequences but seem not to hold these people and corporations to the same standards.
When you lobby against EPA regulations because you want to dump your toxic waste in the lake by the school it's not really fair to the people living by that lake. The consequences of their actions are people, their lives, their childrens lives, their property values and more. But some people think that is okay all to make some more money.
Some people actually do work double that just to get by. It is hard to be innovative and entrepreneurial when you are working 80 hours a week just to pay the essentials. An illness on top of that could be disastrous to a family especially if they do not have health insurance.
I find it interesting that the people screaming that the Unites States is a "Christian" nation are the same people that think a sick man should be left to die because he doesn't have the money to pay the doctor or buy health insurance. When did Christians become so un-Christ-like?
By fat content, he might be more than 1%.
jollyoldsoul1 - Good Morning my Friend. If you will look the Gentleman who wrote Twilight Zone's name is Rod SERLING, I watched Twilight Zone since episode 1 and I always thought it was Rod STERLING too, but my Grandson brought it to my attention. That sign post up ahead.
10010 1111 10 - eric1964 was just stating a fact. And you never answered my question. Please, if you will, explain 10010 1111 10.
Kudos to Mike. He does good things with his new-found wealth unlike many of the other 1%ers who put their money in foreign banks, buy multiple estates, and donate to politicians and lobbyists to make sure that the money will keep flowing in.
Are you referring to the President's lobbyist and $1 billion campaign goal (running in an uncontested primary)?
He''s worthless. He scams the very system he is so against. He has his agenda, and besides being quite political, it's to make money for him.
No kudos to Mike. He jumps on the bandwagon and makes a killing off of poor saps like you. Whatever is the popular (or I guess I should say "unpopular") topic of the year, he simply films it and all you sheep get your cash out and flock to the theater. I could make a $1million by presenting one-sided biased views that are popular at the time, only I have ethics.
if u had such a good idea about a film to make 1 million u would do it. I dont know anyone that wouldnt and if u say u would but wouldnt ur just a tard. I will say ive never seen one of his films and dont care too. Kudos to him for making money off the other tards though. (i bet uve seen all his films to)
Anoyone that listens to Moore is a clone, uncapable of having their own thoughts. OWS=clones.
So he got busted for his repeated denials (LIES) when on CNN, and had to finally spill the truth.
He is just another con-man / fraud, living one way and criticizing others for doing the same.
The guy puts his money in a BANK ACCOUNT, supporting bankers. Yeah, real committed to his "cause'.
Liars like Mikey and AlGore only make honest believers look bad.
Beermmm'r--You don't have to like him but you are wrong on your accusations. Michael doesn't just sit back and film popular issues, he brings attention to issues that the general public isn't aware of and encourages them to get active. He has uncovered many things that have shown a huge spotlight that the public might otherwise not have known: like when Bush joked that the uber rich weren't the elites, they were "his base", the secret conversations between Nixon and Henry Kiser that paved the way for our for-profit, immoral HMO system, showed Bush just sitting there reading My Pet Goat for 7 minutes while the nation was being attacked, highlighted the unnerving fact that companies are putting life insurance policies on their workers, nicknamed Peasant Policies, that pay the company if the employee dies (and this is not disclosed to the worker or the family). They were not "popular" at the time but unknown and he brought them out in the open. Again, you may not like his style or him personally, but he has done a significant service to the public and filled in some of the gaping holes that the corporate media ignores.
I could go on but like many postings I read, just parrots stating tired talking points but no facts.
Moore is a phony. I pay taxes and give to charity and Ive been doing it longer than he has, why does that make him a hero. Im not in the 1%, not even close, but I am sick of this game people play of blaming the rich or Wall St or anyone else for the problems in America. The problem is in Washington where we send people to keep America on track but nothing is getting done there these days. They should occupy the white house and congress and they would if there was a republican in office but they are scared to death of offending Obama.
You'd think that if they are the 1%, there is no way they have more power than the 99 combined. Problem is that they are 1% or 99%. Like I've been saying about this whole thing from the beginning, if the top 400 make more money than the bottom 150 million, and there are 300 million people, what about the middle 149,999,600. Stop talking about the 1% and 99% like that is where the division is. It just give people like me the chance to call the occupied stupid. No wonder they are poor, they can't do simple math.
Aronnnie, that is funny. Most of the filthy rich do give back. Here is a funny thought. If all the occupy people had all the money and power that the rich had.
Wow, is that a bad thought or not!!!!!!!
The guy`s like an annoying itch.
@MmmMmmBeer
please don't flatter yourself. Repugs tried to make a "movie" called Farenhype 9/11. Nobody saw it.
envirogirl,
Michael Moore is the same as Rush Limbaugh. You can't just watch Fahrenheit 911, or Bowling for Columbine and believe them as truth (haven't seen others). If you disect his films, you will understand my RL comment very well. For example, in F.911 when Bush made the elite comment you mentioned, he was actually poking fun at himself for a common catholic charity event (if I remember correctly) which candidates normally support during election seasons. Standing next to him was his opposition, Al Gore, doing the exact same. Didn't see that part in MM's film though, did you? Didn't even see Al standing next to him. Completely out of context.
My favorite of many other inaccuracies, embelishments, etc... is how he took a local paper from Bloomington, Illinois and completely revised the entire paper to make a citizen's back page opinion look like it was on the front page about Bush cheating to win the election. He enlarged the print, changed the date, changed the location of the article, etc, etc, etc... Such revision / deceit is pathetic.
This is not a person to get accurate information from. Research Moore and you will find plenty of examples of his BS. If you like being deceived, and receiving biased, inaccurate information as entertainment, he's your guy. Just like Rush Limbaugh is for the republicans. Together, they have gotten rich lying, to help grow the hatred between parties (and voting public), increasing the gridlock, and inefficiency of our government to compromise, which is what our nation was built upon. Not sure either made a difference in corruption though, which is just as big of problem.
Name one lie, Paul.
That's right, I didn't think so...
Here you go, Toastedbrain... suck it up like a good little mindless useful idiot liberal:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2004/06/unfairenheit_911.single.html
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/10/26/ows-supporter-michael-moore-lies-national-television-about-his-wealth
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/07/06/2007-07-06_more_lies_from_moore.html
I remember watching "Roger & Me" is school. I don't think it was his intent to make the kind of money he did off that, I give him a pass. "Fahrenheit 911" is a different story. He know it'd make a ton of money, no matter how strongly he believe he just needed to get his view of the story out there. It is what it is, I'm sort of indifferent towards him because there's much worse scum out there.
I've heard many people say lately something along the lines of "don't tell me you don't want to be part of the 1% if you could", and I think that's true. I don't think there's a person that can honestly say that at some point they said to themselves, or out loud "if only I won the lottery." It's human nature in this world we live in. That being said, when you do the calculation of winning $100 million bucks, you automatically cut it in half because you know the other half is going to taxes. Most people wouldn't have a problem with it at all. So how is it that you can invest in the lottery and accept that you'll pay 50% in taxes and not have a problem with it, but then an investor in the stock market cries about having to pay 15% in capital gains? Lottery ticket money (supposedly) goes to back to the community (schools). Stock money goes to dividends for your preferred investors and executive bonuses, and not so much research and development and jobs anymore. So that discrepancy of 35% in taxes goes back to the government, which then goes to God knows what (Wall Street bailouts?). Whose to say the lottery winner wouldn't take that 35% and give it to charity, or create jobs? Wall Street certainly isn't doing either.
And how is that any different than Sarah Palin?
Her daughter admitted that she had made her presidential-run decision back in May, but her PAC continued to accept donations through September. On top of that, her finances show that she paid family members out of her PAC for duties like "mail stuffer".
So basically, Sarah Palin knew she would not run for President... but continued to scam money from idiot Republicans through her PAC. She literally screwed the Republican base out of millions of their own money, and you call her a "patriot". She is one of the biggest con artists in history, and you grovel at her feet.
LOL... how is that any different?
Really: that 15% capital gains is not earned income. That's investment. Investment should not EVER be taxed, but it is. What's next with you tax lovers, taxing 401k results? OH wait, liberal Democrats are already drooling at the prospect of taking over those accounts because they aren't "fair."
http://moneymorning.com/2010/01/27/retirement-plans/
And another pathetic tax that you didn't mention is the Death Tax, or Estate Tax. Why should a family who has worked three generations on a farm who have it handed down to them have to pay some of the proceeds to the government? Can you give me one single good reason? And don't give me that crap about "reinvestment" to the government nonsense. That's what we ALREADY are taxed for from the federal to the local level and everywhere in between (much of which is wasted and/or abused as we know).
And that differs from your hero Obama and what he's done to his base how, praytell?
Oh, and based on your screen name, good riddance!
He actually ran for President... he actually used the PAC money how it was supposed to. Of course I don't donate to ANY political program, because I am not that stupid. I know that they are ALL liars.
But I can see why you are lashing out, frustrated and angry. I would be mad too if I was stupid enough to donate money to a scam artist. She literally stole from you... LOL. She had no intention of running, ZERO intention, but lied to your face so that you would give her money. You did, and she ran off with it. LMAO.
There is just something so satisfying about millions and millions of tea party morons getting f---ed over by the very person they bow down to. LOLOLOLOLOL
Oh that's so typical of a brainless, emotion driven liberal hysteric to make assumptions on someone he or she doesn't know personally. Actually, I have not donated one red cent to her. I would not vote for her. But I do like some of her ideas. So big shot liberal, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I could care less what you mouth breathers on the deranged left think about Palin. I find it humorous that you people start frothing at the very mention of the Tea Party and Palin (and I'm not a member of the TP either, but again, like some of their ideas and what they stand for).
I'm upset at the state of this nation, big shot liberal. So are over 50% who disapprove of the way your Dear Leader is running things. Here's laughing at you all the way to the polls in November 2012....LOL LOL LOL. (God how childish can you overgrown bed wetting liberal children get).
LOL... Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night, sweetheart.
Let him claim to be that 1% largness, glad i'm not even -1%, A largness that's thumping against the very system that allows him to make his money. He's n opportunist and will produce a non thrutfull video that's one sided about this movement. I'm not even sure if he knows what this Occupy movement is for
Really, Tentacle? Your "sources" are op-eds? Hell, just look at the biased websites they come from. You're going to have to do a lot better than that, kiddo.
Wow, just a few day ago Michael Moore was on CNN flat out denying he was part of the 1% several times when being asked a direct questions. He danced around to not tell the truth. Now he comes out and admits it? He was also recently forced to admit that he flies around in is own private jet.
Why do people fall so blindly for his BS? His movies are slanted propanda. He must have to film thousands of hours to get the edited 2 hours that he needs. He cuts out all the stuff he wouldn't want everyone to see, just to make himself sound good.
why on earth did the community collapse ( about that ) post .
are you the judge and allow your views only ?????????????///
So Michael Moore got rich doing documentaries about those of us with compelling stories that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the theatres...and exactly what did those people with the compelling stories get out of it...NOTHING...aside from the enjoyment of seeing themselves on film!
Note to the Occupy organizers (although it is quite possible that Michael is one of the behind the scenes organizers); demand payment at union scale for everyone appearing in his upcoming Occupy documentary (note: those that speak on film must be paid more, per union contract). I point this out because Michael did not use all union workers on his film Capitalism, a Love Story (perhaps by design since the story is...well...about Capitalism)!
I suggest you get this in writing...Michael was sued by a double amputee Irag war Vet who feels he was mis-represented in the Fahrenheit 9-11 movie (a clip from an ABC interview was used in the movie, without his consent, or evidently, compensation I might add). Fact check: Google "Michael Moore Sued by Veteran".
There is just something very wrong with getting very rich by taking advantage of the subjects of your film, especially when the very film itself is based on those of us who were taken advantage of. Oh well, Michael may have learned from P. T. Barnum...there is one born every minute!
Yes Michael I agree with you...YOU ARE ONE OF THE 1 PER-CENT!
As a left-wing, liberal, anti-corporate Democrat, I find Moore to be nothing but a phoney limousine-liberal. He makes tons of money going after other people who have made tons of money and he keeps it (save for his token "charitable contributions"). If he really cared, he'd give most of it away and would live simply and frugally (I'd even let him keep a bit more here and there to get a nice TV or go on a cruise every once in awhile). But he's just like all those other fake limousine-liberals, like Oprah, Rosie, Barbra, etc.
People need to wake up and realize that the problems we are facing aren't between liberals and conservatives - they are between the rich and everyone else. Moore is a problem, not a solution. Besides, his "documentaries" are all fallacious. As a liberal left-winger, I've been able to disect and destroy every one of them to my "liberal" friends who fawn over him. When I point out how he deliberately distorts the truth, they can't answer.
There are con men and then there are fat con men. Guess which one Moore is?
That's strange, Scott. Moore's been nothing but correct in his films and statements. The cons seem to be coming from only one side of this debate.
Only fools believe he is in the 99%. I never believed him. Always knew he's in the 1%. Wonder if he going to do a documentary on Solyndra? Or maybe a documentary on Obama going back on his word in closing Gitmo, being transparent, against lobbyists, etc.
Just look at those stupid people standing behind him all smiling. What fools.
Bankers manipulate the system to make money, Michael Moore manipulates the truth to make money; not much of a difference if you ask me. Michael Moore's "documentaries" are nothing of the sort. They are nothing but a collection of half truths, out of context statements, misrepresentations, and outright lies. There is a reason they are not considered to be documentaries by and respectable news organization. Anyone with a brain recognizes Moore's films for what they are, feature length propaganda ads. Michael More wouldn't know the truth if he tripped over it. Moore has been caught telling so many lies and half truths that even he has lost track of what stories he has told whom. This leads Moore to regularly contradicting himself. I think that he has so convinced himself of his own propaganda that he can not even recognize the truth any more. He publicly bashes the capitalist system that he has taken full advantage of to become a multimillionaire. The people he tries to bash like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet give away a far higher percentage of their incomes to charity than Moore does. In fact Buffet and Gates are both planning to give away almost all of their fortunes. They both only intend to leave enough to family so that they can live reasonably comfortably and certainly not the lives of billionaires. Michael Moore is a hypocrite of the first order and anyone who takes what More portrays in his films as anything even close to resembling the truth is either brain dead or completely brainwashed.
JS - I will tell you one truth Michael Moore said and that is the Iraq war was a huge mistake, based on lies and further designed to make money for Haliburton and other friends of Bush and Cheney. That fact alone puts him miles above you, GW Bush and the fool of a chicken hawk, named Dick Cheney.
Uh, Jo Ann? Obama tried to close it. The teabaggers blocked it, remember?
Michael Moore is part of the 1%, nah, really? How come this doesn't surprise me?
I disagree with Alot of things Michale Moore says. I think the right to bear arms is an important part of being american.
If you can't trust the populace with guns, how can you trust the government. We put them in there. I like to think we elect them. ha ha.
No Toasty. Obama wanted to move it, not close it. Huge difference.
Obama promised to close it. Shut it down.
Jo, if you close the prison you have to move the prisoners. This isn't @!$%#ing rocket surgery here.
How can you be former GOP? From the way you sound you're only 12. And that's being generous.
Toasty, If Obama knows that if he closed the prison, he'd have to move the prisoners, why did he state that he would do it in the first place?
Also the Republican are in no position to block anything, President Obama had a majority for two years. The Senate which is still held by the Democrats are blocking President Obama's progress now. And don't try the old filibuster excuse, it doesn't cut it here.
OK, so he has done a lot of good things with his wealth, like pay a lot of dollars in taxes and donate a lot of money. So have many other wealthy people. Why vilify the rich? They employ people, which helps people have better lives. People don't get jobs from poor people. Don't understand the anti-capitalism. I guess socialist Greece should be our model?
The only reason I villify him is because he's a hypocrit, he attacks the very system he has exploited to make him rich.
Twix, If you look at how much our national debt is per capita you will find we are pretty much like Greece in that regard. The collapse of Wall Street affected more countries than just the U,S.
Skiddy. Mike didn't exploit the system that made him rich! He just enlightened people to injustices that are rampant in this country.
Louie he sure did exploit the system, he meets all three definitions found in the dictionary:
ex·ploit
2 [ik-sploit] Show IPA
verb (used with object)
1. to utilize, especially for profit; turn to practical account.
2. to use selfishly for one's own ends.
3. to advance or further through exploitation; promote.
Furthermore, in none of his films does he present an informative, two-sided argument. I would hardly call that enlightening. I would call that playing into and exploiting people's emotions, for profit.
Nobody's vilifying the rich, just for being rich., aside from a few slogans that generalize. Few among the Occupied movement are even anti-capitalist.
Like Michael Moore, they recognize a rigged system when they see it, and they are against the excesses, the recklessness, the fraud and the unfair breaks that enabled some people to take advantage of a whole lot more people.
Beer man, tell Louis Bee that I guess as long as it's someone way liberal, it must be called enlighment. If they aren't liberal, then it's exploitation. Now I get it.
Come on folks. It's OK to take advantage of people and make up lies to get money as long as you tell everyone you're liberal and that the true enemies are the ones that hire and pay them to work.
MmmMmm...4.4,
Our system is all about exploitation, requiring people to make money just to survive, for Mr. Moore this is no different than for anyone else. You knock him for working within that system, while attempting to inform his audiences of truths which expose the failings of the same system. Sometimes there are arguments with no "other side", that is to say the other side is so heinous that they have no valid argument. That may not be the case with whatever topic of Moore's work, but the point stands regardless.
I hope he can make a trip down to San Diego while he's in the state.
These ridiculous statements that attempt to frame OWS people as somehow a bunch of pro-capitalist idealists is ridiculous. You, all of you, and me, we have no idea what really makes up OWS protesters. We see idiots on YouTube from their cause spouting communist rhetoric, socialist rhetoric, hate, outrageous judgments based on half-truths, and some who at least try to not bite the hand that feeds them, but it is clear to anyone surveying the national landscape that there is no central cause, no central belief, and certainly there is no survey or reliable data as to who these knuckleheads are.
But nice try spinning this cause to whatever your belief system is.
Of course his movies are one sided. We already KNOW the other side if we pick up a newspaper or turn on the T.V. because THOSE institutions are owned by the same people who want us all to forget there is another side. Like, I give a rat's tail part about stock prices plummeting because they had another big disaster in China and it wiped out some factory that AMERICANS don't work at.
Because they destroyed our economy, Twix.
Coming soon to a theater near you.. Michael Occupies Wall Street
Newsflash: Moore will make many more millions on OWS supporters who although not employed have $ to go to the theater to watch this drivel.
Michael has more common sense than all of you name callers and muckrakers. He has also given millions away to charities. Back off and instead read some of the Anmerican history of how America became so big and keep a bucket near to puke in at some of the gfenocides and massacres like the murder of the Lakotas, the trail of tears, the battler of Wounded knee, The Battle of the little Big Horn, The battle of the Alamo to steal Texas from the Mexicans. All of the SouthWest was once Mexico so our freedom loving government connived to steal it.Amerca was not founded as a free nation rather the founding fathers promised the people freedom and liberty so that they could take over the nation after the declaration was signed and ratified. Alexander immediately worked with others to estrablish the first Federal Reserve Bank with a twenty year charter read about some of out financial history and just why Pres. Lincoln and Pres Kennedy were really assasinated and how they tried to assasinate Pres. Jackson. Americans need to get smart and learn of the deceptions heaped upon them for the past 200 years and how this world globalization started 300 years ago. During the communist rule and their manifesto looking to dominate the world, the USA also had plans many years to do the same. need to educate ourselves because the Federal Goverments education system teaches people to be stupid instead of intelligent.
Repost from collapsed thread #2
Michael Moore's appearance, at this Occupy site, was a 1% effort of support and a 99% effort of scoping out his next documentary (for which he probably already has an advance). However, in a show of unbiased goodwill, I offer these oobservations to Michael (without fee I might add) for his forthcoming project!
Many of those complaining that the rich not paying enough in income taxes, pay no income taxes themselves.
Some of those demanding student loan debt forgiveness don't have a college degree, and some of those who do, have a degree in a subject where the only jobs that exist for that subject...are teaching that subject.
The absence of Hollywood celebrities, camping out overnight with them, has not yet been explained. I suggest interviews here, with Michael showing up unexpected and uninvited...I will (again at no charge) provide the list of celebrities to be interviewed.
Occupiers are not maintaining the Occupy sites, and Occupy supporters, while offering moral support, are not...as yet...offering to repay taxpayers for the maintenance and repair of those sites! (Michael could request donations during his celebrity interviews).
Judging from the pictures there no barbers among the protesters...at least none who would apply their trade for free...also he can confirm the rumor that this is also a protest against deodorant.
Watch for this documentary, coming to a theatre near you, in the summer of 2012!
Why vilify the rich? They stole and lie and have blood on there hands. Check out business plot and USMC Smedley. YOu can find out about " War is a racket". YOu can find out how they made there millions. There is blood on the hands of these people.
I do not know anyone who is rich that didnt scam the system sadly. ITs alike everyone has dubious pasts . Its like this. The rich folk like to say, to get rich you need to get dirty hands. The dirty hands are also bloody hands.
Many people here do not know the real meaning of "rich"===it is not money---
RE: Moore. He is not an interesting, nor informed character. No one takes him seriously---Someone mentioned he gives to a lot of Charities---which ones.
I have a feeling he is his own Charity---
To the person who said the rich employ the people.. B.S. Horse doo doo. They send our jobs oversees thus creating- cheaper labor=more profit, it also helps the u.s. with all the foreign trade schemes and what not. No one has any idea the amount of work some poor ass person across seas does in order to make 1-2 dollars a day which includes the outsourced work from the big time u.s. companies. Everything's about profit, profit, profit.
So, Michael Moore is wealthy? Good for him. The issue isn't the wealth people hold honestly. It's the use of that wealth to rig systems to their favor, at the expense of those who are not so well off. It's the use of that wealth to hamper opportunities for those who wish to make their own way. It's the use of that wealth to hoodwink the have nots into buying claptrap that yields self exploitation and failure. It's the use of that wealth to use slave labor to produce things to sell to those who have no other choice. Mostly, it is the use of that wealth to corrupt a governing system to the extent, the great majority are excessively burdened, and afforded no representative correction.
The reason he has never bought stock is he has so much money, and he can't figure out how to keep up with it if it's in stock. H'd have to pay someone to do it for him.
Skiddy. You are grasping at straws with your comments.
totally, and if he was a tax dodger like so many others the fee would be more than worth it paying 15% capital gains taxes for dividends rather than earned income tax rate of 33%<
@skiddy
Where did you learn that? teabagcomonics 101?
They teach "pulling statements out of your ass" in week 2.
If he has all that money then he could afford someone to watch his stocks for him, but he choses not to invest in a corrupt system. Your own statements show you do not understand.
Toasty McGrath post #5.4 -
That comment is totally uncalled for. Reported! I like you and the differing views that we have, but this is out of bounds.
Now, back on topic: IMHO, Mike Moore is just a capitalist trying to capitalize on the people that follow his opinions and philosophies. He'll make a lot of money off of you.
I wouldn't pay a cent to that man or to any of his entertainment features.
Notice I didn't capitalize 'Man,'. And, yes I know 'Man' doesn't need to be capitilized.
What a surprise, Michael Moore's appearance, at this Occupy site, was a 1% effort of support and a 99% effort of scoping out his next documentary (for which he probably already has an advance). However, in a show of unbiased goodwill, I offer these oobservations to Michael (without fee I might add) for his forthcoming project!
Many of those complaining that the rich not paying enough in income taxes, pay no income taxes themselves.
Some of those demanding student loan debt forgiveness don't have a college degree, and some of those who do, have a degree in a subject where the only jobs that exist for that subject...are teaching that subject.
The absence of Hollywood celebrities, camping out overnight with them, has not yet been explained. I suggest interviews here, with Michael showing up unexpected and uninvited...I will (again at no charge) provide the list of celebrities to be interviewed.
Occupiers are not maintaining the Occupy sites, and Occupy supporters, while offering moral support, are not...as yet...offering to repay taxpayers for the maintenance and repair of those sites! (Michael could request donations during his celebrity interviews).
Judging from the pictures there no barbers among the protesters...at least none who would apply their trade for free...also he can confirm the rumor that this is also a protest against deodorant.
Watch for this documentary, coming to a theatre near you, in the summer of 2012!
you know.. there are thousands maybe even hundreds of thousands of people out there standing up for what they think is right... out of all those people how many do you think are part of the 1%? So far I only know of 1. Doesn't that mean anything?
I don't understand why everyone is focusing on how unphotogenic he is or why everyone is criticizing his work.. that's besides the point...
michael moore is also 99% a-shole. he is an idiot
Herbert have you had you head in there and looked around? That's all I can derive from your comment.
Nothing sucks more than a wealthy man with a soul; Right?
"Occupiers are not maintaining the Occupy sites, and Occupy supporters, while offering moral support, are not...as yet...offering to repay taxpayers for the maintenance and repair of those sites! (Michael could request donations during his celebrity interviews)."
Just exactly WHO do you think 'Occupiers' and 'Occupy supporters' are? That's right. TAXPAYERS who already pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the sites.
Just another celebutard that has to be tolerated from time to time. Go have a donut Mikey.
Steve. I disagree with your posts but you're right in that I tolerate you from time to time.
Handy that your opinions have no value to me. Adios LB
Steve. My opinions don't have any value to a hard rock either.
LOL, your a follower of that Rachal Maddow dude! We're done here.
Racheal Maddow looks like she had a stroke.
@Steve-2057180
As compared to Sarah Palin, which makes my brain cells die every time I hear her talk
Minor correction; Sarah Palin is an "attention whore".
Maui2
Many people here do not know the real meaning of "rich"===it is not money---
RE: Moore. He is not an interesting, nor informed character. No one takes him seriously---Someone mentioned he gives to a lot of Charities---which ones.
I have a feeling he is his own Charity---
You know Michael Moore got rich doing documentaries about those of us with compelling stories that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the theatres...and exactly what did those people with the compelling stories get out of it...NOTHING...aside from the enjoyment of seeing themselves on film!
Note to the Occupy organizers (although it is quite possible that Michael is one of the behind the scenes organizers); demand payment at union scale for everyone appearing in his upcoming Occupy documentary (note: those that speak on film must be paid more, per union contract). I point this out because Michael did not use all union workers on his film Capitalism, a Love Story (perhaps by design since the story is...well...about Capitalism)!
I suggest you get this in writing...Michael was sued by a double amputee Irag war Vet who feels he was mis-represented in the Fahrenheit 9-11 movie (a clip from an ABC interview was used in the movie, without his consent, or evidently, compensation I might add). Fact check: Google "Michael Moore Sued by Veteran".
There is just something very wrong with getting very rich by taking advantage of the subjects of your film, especially when the very film itself is based on those of us who were taken advantage of. Oh well, Michael may have learned from P. T. Barnum...there is one born every minute!
Yes Michael I agree with you...YOU ARE ONE OF THE 1 PER-CENT!
Micheal Moore is a fatass and not very appealing to the senses, he is probably filthy rich and has made alot of movies about a corrupt system, and he's probably going to make another one after all this dies down.....
but one thing you can't take away is the fact that he's out there apart of this movement.. just another person among thousands. Maybe even hundreds of thousands. That is an inspiring thing. Discredit him all you want.
Michael Moore is the typical limousine liberal.
Let's see that fat so-and-so write a big, fat check to the Government.
I won't be holding by breath.
Um, he did. If you'd actually read the article, you'd know that.
DrDr
So he says. Anyone can say I did this & I did that. But that doesn't prove a thing. Until he shows proof that he did.
@StevenB
Romney stole $10 Billion from states funds when he was the governor. Perry stole $20 Billion.
See I can make up facts too
JEsus Steve, how hard is it to actually read the article before you post?
" Anyone can say I did this & I did that. But that doesn't prove a thing. Until he shows proof that he did."
Using your logic, then the OP has to prove he didn't.
DrDr: Moore may have written the check, and he can claim "proudly" if he wants, but the fact of the matter is he had no choice about writing the check unless he wanted to go to jail.
And, I'll bet if I had a chance to look at that tax return, I bet I would find that he used every deduction, credit and loophole he could find to keep from paying even more.
But that's the typical M.O. of liberals; claim you should be paying more, or even that you want to pay more.... and then doing everything you can to avoid doing just that.
Moore makes his money selling movies to the 99% that criticize the wealthy to earn him enough to be the 1%.
DrDr,
The burden of proof is on the positive, not the negative. In other words, the burden is on Michael to prove that he indeed has donated millions to charity; not on his opponents to prove that he didn't.
Doesn't look like he's missed any meals either.
BlackBerry
The burden of proof is on the accuser.
Yes floyd, I have to agree with you on that. I read an article about Moore and what he's like when he eats out and at home or at parties which he actually has catered even if the host does too. The article said he has eatin a party out of food before. If he goes out to eat and he really likes what he's eating he'll order as many as a dozen entree's to take with him, but he won't eat them at the resturant. At home it said his dinners could be a leg of lamb, a pot of mashed potates and whatever other side dishes he may want, or as much as 7 lbs of pasta when he's eating italian. He has an incredible appetite. Oh yeah, he'll knock off at least a half a gal. of ice cream too if he's in the mood, or maybe a half dozen pies, I believe apple was his favorite. The guy has a good appetite but when he's at a resturant he'll just order one entree and ask if they can supersize it for him or else give him two if they are smaller entree's, he won't put on a show when he's eating out. I guess its more like he's out for a snack and when he gets home he will eat the dozen orders he takes home with him. He does have his favorite resturants and he orders his take out along with his meal so he dosen't have to wait long after he's done eating. He calls the resturant at least a day in advance when he's going to some of his favorite ones, so they have enough food for him along with the diners. I'll bet he has a heavy duty commoder at home, probably one of those power flush ones you see in airports. Probably has a two inch water line hooked up to the thing. I guess he likes to eat when he's not making movies.
Oh, my. It is indeed lovely that Mr. Moore takes care of his responsibilities...and quite vocally, I might add.
Celebrities jumping onto the big pile (coincidentally AFTER the movement has moved to a respectable place in the headlines) have never impressed me.
What would impress me? Fork it over for the cause, Mr. Moore...in a nice, quite unassuming way. Let your deeds speak for you. Those kinds of things always have a way of becoming known. But even if they don't, wouldn't it feel fabulous to support a cause in which you truly believed anyway...without a press release? Perhaps you could help swing this grass roots movement back to the positive direction it was taking before the disappointing news of late with the violence and other nonsense.
By the way, why bring up the fact that he hasn't missed any meals? What on earth does that have to do with the issue at hand?
hey drdrgimmethenews: This altruistic documentary god you appear to worship, who appears to rail against the evils of capitalism, somehow managed to keep enough money to buy beachfront property in Michigan and a condo in probably the most expensive part of Midtown Manhattan (Columbus Circle). Hypocrite.
Of course, perhaps there are capitalism credits that work similarly to carbon credits for the all-consuming Al Gore. Leftist hypocrisy on parade.
I'm going to assume that most of the people criticizing Michael Moore have not seen a single film of his. Making fun of his weight is juvenile. I don't agree with everything he says, but he does make strong arguments....
Part of living in a capitalist society is living with the protection of our rights. Michael Moore criticizes the governments inability to do so...or its intentional refusal to do so. I personally disagree with the suggestion that Capitalism is evil, but he does raise good points about its corruption. The line between Capitalism and greed is fairly blurred...Michael Moore is a part of the very same system he despises, however, he is trying to make a change for the better.
I see, if conservatives mention Moore's weight that is juvenile. If Lib's make endless jokes about Chris Christie then that is OK and not a peep from any of them about how juvenile that is.
seen them all...they blow...pure drivel and made up shyte , oh ya, it's hollyturd... for a glimpse of what Mikey is all about try "Michael Moore Hates America"
Before making up your mind about Michael Moore we should consider all the relevant facts.
Most importantly Michael Moore got rich doing documentaries about those of us with compelling stories that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the theatres...and exactly what did those people with the compelling stories get out of it...NOTHING...aside from the enjoyment of seeing themselves on film!
Note to the Occupy organizers (although it is quite possible that Michael is one of the behind the scenes organizers); demand payment at union scale for everyone appearing in his upcoming Occupy documentary (note: those that speak on film must be paid more, per union contract). I point this out because Michael did not use all union workers on his film Capitalism, a Love Story (perhaps by design since the story is...well...about Capitalism)!
I suggest you get this in writing...Michael was sued by a double amputee Irag war Vet who feels he was mis-represented in the Fahrenheit 9-11 movie (a clip from an ABC interview was used in the movie, without his consent, or evidently, compensation I might add). Fact check: Google "Michael Moore Sued by Veteran".
There is just something very wrong with getting very rich by taking advantage of the subjects of your film, especially when the very film itself is based on those of us who were taken advantage of. Oh well, Michael may have learned from P. T. Barnum...there is one born every minute!
Yes Michael I agree with you...YOU ARE ONE OF THE 1 PER-CENT!
Well then, jaden, please tell that to the atheists who accuse Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. of believing in something that does not exist (God). I guess the burden of proof (against God's existence) is on the atheists, according to you?
Moore is certainly a hippocrit, perhaps not by design, but by fortune. It's always been my problem with the wealthy left. They preach the evils of big business, and capitalism, but are more than happy to participate and pad their pockets. Extremism breeds hippocracy.
"This altruistic documentary god you appear to worship"
Have NO idea where you got this rant.
Well he is no different from the Capitalism system that he is criticizing because ideally he should have shared the profits from his movies with every cause he espoused in the documentaries. If he really does not want to be a hypocrite then he needs to come out with figures on how much money he paid to the suffering people whether its in Roger & Me or Sicko or 9/11 farenheit or Capitalism: Love story. Let all the numbers & details come clear and people can make their judgement on how much he made vs shared. I still admire Michael & want to give benefit of doubt but this movement needs to aim for absolute purity & there are no sacred cows.
I am glad Occupy Wall Street is forcing every hypocrite to show his or her colors clean - time has come for new renaissance and hopefully Occupy Wall Street will not Settle for nothing but the Ideal system. Listen to Steve Jobs and Never Settle as the time has come for True Champions.
Moral Nirvana
Well Nirvana it's like this. If you want everyone to disclose where every dime they earn is going then maybe we should start with the Koch brothers or the Walton heirs. Sound fair to you?
Don't forget to include the currency-wrecking George Soros.
"Well he is no different from the Capitalism system that he is criticizing because ideally he should have shared the profits from his movies with every cause he espoused in the documentaries."
Wow. Who died and made you the keeper of all "The Rules"?
Ideally no one should be off the hook - including George Soros and same goes for every politician, movies stars, sporting stars, media pundits or talking heads. Like I said there should be no Sacred Cows and let the True Champions stand the trial. You want people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela to be able to make the cut.
Its not just Wall Street that has messed with the system - it goes much beyond that and anyone that unfairly enriched themselves at the expense of innocent person should be on the chopping block. It could be your neighbor next door or your family person. So be it - let people pay for their sins.
I know it sounds like day dreaming but it feels good to hope for the Ultimate Utopia.
Peace & Hope
Louie Bee
Why didn't you add George Soros with the others that you mentioned ?
Oh, thats right I almost forgot. You liberals only mention people from your oppostion.
Talk about hyprocrisy.
I take it you didn't bother to read the article, MN?
So you want to strip all the people who worked hard to make something of themselves of everything and give it to others? What do you do when the 1%'s money runs out. Or were you planning on leaving the 1% stockbrokers to invest the money you took from them.
Then the federal reserve will bail us out, who will bail them out, R-TARD. 1 Example- A corporation is essentially a person fyi; government bails out GM... then the gov. needs a bail out so who follows through, Federal Reserve. They are a private bank. occupy wallstreet crap needs to grow up and be mature enough to fight for a freaking cause, I agree with it to an extent except they are all retarded no offense to r-tards out there.. Pick up some reading material, read, learn what is actually going on. Don't look at the links and rungs of the ladder, look at the top. who supplies everyone, where do all of these problems stem from.. .. .. Fight to ban the dumb a.s.s. federal reserve, fight to not allow jobs to be shipped oversees, fight for things that matter. im done
when fat a$$ gives away all his money, lives in a cave and walks everywhere then he then can be a critic of capitalism.
Moore isn't a critic of capitalism. In fact he is a capitalist. He, like many of us, doesn't believe wealth should be used to control governmental systems, especially at the expense and exclusion of those who wish the opportunity to seek self betterment by their own means.
According to Celebritynetworth.com Moore is worth $50 million.
Louie
should maybe start with George Soros , John Kerry , and the rest of the demothief members in Congress...their are more "rich" demoshlongs in there than repugs
Was it surprising to anyone that Michael Moore visited the Occupy site noted in the article, really didn't you expect that this would happen!
Michael Moore's appearance, at this Occupy site, was a 1% effort of support and a 99% effort of scoping out his next documentary (for which he probably already has an advance). However, in a show of unbiased goodwill, I offer these oobservations to Michael (without fee I might add) for his forthcoming project!
Many of those complaining that the rich not paying enough in income taxes, pay no income taxes themselves.
Some of those demanding student loan debt forgiveness don't have a college degree, and some of those who do, have a degree in a subject where the only jobs that exist for that subject...are teaching that subject.
The absence of Hollywood celebrities, camping out overnight with them, has not yet been explained. I suggest interviews here, with Michael showing up unexpected and uninvited...I will (again at no charge) provide the list of celebrities to be interviewed.
Occupiers are not maintaining the Occupy sites, and Occupy supporters, while offering moral support, are not...as yet...offering to repay taxpayers for the maintenance and repair of those sites! (Michael could request donations during his celebrity interviews).
Judging from the pictures there no barbers among the protesters...at least none who would apply their trade for free...also he can confirm the rumor that this is also a protest against deodorant.
Watch for this documentary, coming to a theatre near you, in the summer of 2012!
@Kenn the Dem
most up front and "right on" thing I have seen posted by a "Dem" in quite some time...thanks
It's not a hate fest for the rich, it's more a commentary on how the rich and corporations have corrupted the federal, state, and local governments on the executive, legislative, and judicial level. The rich control the news outlets and dictate the talking points to their pretty blond journalists.  We're at a point where it doesn't matter which party you vote for. It doesn't matter what's in the best interest of our country. The people in power want to stay that way, so they follow the orders from their rich overlords. If you have no money the only way to get politicians or news outlets to pay any attention : occupy something.
Rambo Jimbo
It is against the rich.
You stated that the rich have corrupted our government on all 3 levels. Then you stated how the people in power want to stay there.
The people should be protesting at the politicians campaign rallies.
If these protesters really want change. Then they should vote outside their party line for a third party or idependant. But i don't see that happening, so they really ought to shut up and go home.
BTW Liberals love how you put down the tea party and how violent they will get. Who's getting arrested
BTWW Just to let you know i'm an independant and I blame everyone of you out there thats registered as a republican and democrat and who voted for either party.
Agreed.
I don't even know what the solution is, I just know that we have just woken up from a dream--not reality. This stuff had been boiling up for so long that it could very well have always been the case but we were just to 'hopeful' to see it (hope can be both the best thing about the human condition and the most destructive thing, sadly).
It's nothing new that the rich have always been able to 'buy' themselves out of, or into things. It doesn't matter whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or otherwise--money will interrupt any ethical system, situation period.
There is nothing wrong with being rich, there IS something wrong when it can circumvent your humanity.
more like how the "entitlement" crowd and unions have corrupted the federal , state , and local economies
Golly Gee Aunt Molly! Some of these folks posting today are doing the same thing that they attribute to the liberals. They are jealous of Mike for making money on his god-given talents.
hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!! God given talents or just stuffing his fat pie hole with more food. Mr I want more more more food !!!!!!!!!!!!
Just me really. What a stupid riposte! But I guess that is just you. Really?
Not jealous. Just amused at his hypocrisy - and the hypocrisy of all the liberals that praise him.
Hi Louie,
Think about it for a moment. The ruthless Capitalistic corporations have put the people in misery and Michael Moore makes money out of the their Misery. I am not entirely sure how he is different until he proves it how he has helped the people in his movies & causes. I know he talked abt how he shared the first 3 million but what about the rest millions.
Not jealous of anyone making money but the key is Fair Share & Fair Play. Koch Brothers or Walton heirs are not becoming part of Occupy Wall Street movement. My only point is anyone who wants to ride this wave needs to be Squeaky Clean otherwise you should not have a chance.
Still want to give benefit of doubt to Michael Moore but he needs to divulge the details of how much he paid to the poor people in Sicko Movie or what benefit the people in his movies make. Think about it actors get paid pretty well in normal movies but no one knows how much the sufferers get paid in Documentaries. Its deeper than you can imagine.
My only hope is that Occupy Wall Street gets to the bottom of every ethic in every system and it needs to root out all rats whether its in Wall Street, Politics , Media, Entertainers & Sports Personalities etc. Time for real Big Goals but lets see how far we get there.
Hope & Peace
Moral Nirvana
Well Louis bee bee you see stupid everyday in the mirror so I guess you would know.
Ummmm its going to get very cold very soon and Im betting most of these people are going to go home to mommy. In london they used a device to measure heat inside the tents......lmao, they were 90% empty. They all pitched a tent and went home.
Not jealous son, We could care less. Now the word Talent and Moore in the same sentence that kind of humors me.
When a liberal makes money,he's no good.He's corrupt.When a neocon makes money,it's for the good of everyone.I don't see very many neocons announcing they are the 1%.
This man is making movies that expose the arrogance of the rich and the laws they pay for.By Michael Moore being at the protest, it can only mean one thing.If the movement doesn't get traction,the movie will.
Don't think for one minute, that this movie will not make a difference in the next election.Go Mike!
Taking things out of context and spouting statistics is not the truth.
This just goes to prove 100% that he lied on the Piers Morgan show the other night. He flatly denied being in the 1%, said he wasn't worth more than a million dollars, and stated he could show the tax forms to back that up. He is a liar and a hypocrite. Direct correlation to his slanted and dishonest filmmaking as well. Sham...
He also said he doesn't own stock, he most certainly does and lots of it.
he sucks rooster and supports gay marriage. and he tries to dress like he has no money. smoke more wacky tobacky .
See....Michael Moore, among others who have made millions, yet gladly pay their taxes and donate monies to charities (doing so without expectation of tax breaks), he and his kind will always have my respect! I don't begrudge him his millions. He earned that money. I didn't, so I don't expect him to share it. Yet, he, and Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett, among others, will always get props from people like the OWS protestors because they are willing to share. They are willing to stand up against their fellow millionaires, who claim that they, themselves, earned their loot (with no help from anyone else) and should not be made to do the responsible thing and S-H-A-R-E! No man or woman on earth earns their wealth by themselves! They have subordinates who actually are the direct reason for their profits!
All the OWS people are wanting is a proper share of the pie. They want a stop to all of the excessive "nickle & dime" tactics of the banks, who are making record profits now after being bailed out. They are wanting those who can pay their fair share of taxes to do so, without whining or complaining. Why should they whine??? I mean, if they pay 35% in taxes, and they make $50 million in salary, that leaves them $32.5 million!!!! My God.....that's more than anyone can spend in a lifetime!! And you all are whining about that??? REALLY???!!!
The uber-wealthy who cry about such things have never been downtrodden like those below the poverty line these days. They want to somehow say it's only fair that the poor pay their share of taxes, too.....but you can't get blood out of a turnip. That tax burden could be the difference in paying for the bare amount of groceries for the week or going hungry. Tax the wealthy the same percentage, and they still have more money than God!
You wealthy CEO's and business owners want to tax the rest of us fairly? How about creating jobs and paying wages based on your profits and building a healthier middle class instead of trying to destroy it!! Sharing the wealth helps build demand for goods, which is good for your businesses. Stop crying about your taxes and let's get busy putting Americans back to work! You'll win in the long run.....we ALL will!
I hardly think that what the OWS people want is "fair." They want all their debts - financial responsibilities that they entered in good faith - completely wiped out. They want their mortgage loans eliminated, their student loans eliminated (among other lofty demands)... why not just let them break the windows of the nearest car dealership and drive away in whatever vehicle they want or loot the closest mall for clothing? The OWS mob is the biggest collection of self-entitled leeches I have ever seen. Good for nothing but creating a distraction.
Let me tell you something....you give the died-in-the-wool OWS student protester a job that pays good wages, and then ask that person if he would rather destroy his credit by defaulting on his student loan debt or would he rather begin paying that loan back to the loan institution per his contract. I'd bet the farm he would rather pay that loan back. What these students are protesting about is that they have no jobs....no jobs means no way to pay back the loan. The loan institutions should have put into every loan contract that payback of loans is based on ability to pay. Look....the banks and the government student loan agencies all saw this coming down the road!! They saw the rising unemployment happening, the housing bubble bursting well before it actually became reality. They kept offering loans at these steep interest rates and payback schedules, knowing that if the young people wanted a halfway decent paying job, they had to go to college. Going to college costs money! I don't care if it's a community college.....it's all expensive. The kids have no choice but to sign on the dotted line!! And now corporate America and the banks are holding these people hostage.
I don't know a single student who would not want to pay back their loan if they could....not one!
Merely your opinion, your entitled to it. And to be honest, you really dont have the right to tell anyone anything.
You think it's fair and equitable that these "occupiers" camp out, not work and expect handouts from those of us that do work? I went to law school 12 years ago on student loans, I currently work 10-12 hours per day 6 days per week, own a small law firm, employ 11 people and make close to half a million per year. I have paid my student loans back because I signed a promissory note agreeing to do so. I made my monthly payments when I was struggling my first year out of school; it was tough but it was my responsibility and what I agreed to do... key word being "promissory"... I pay my my fair share of taxes and resent you and others who are able bodied yet stand there with you hand out crying because someone owes you; your like thinks every problem is someone else's fault. Its sickening and pathetic. If you dont think corporate America creates jobs then visualize America without corporations. Corporations exist to make a profit. You think it's fair to heavily tax the rich and the corporations then cry foul because the corporations move jobs to countries with better tax benefits. I read an article in my local paper regarding a woman who quit her job and was making pinatas for some unknown reason at an occupy event in my city. She had a job and quit... For what? To protest their are no jobs? The occupy "movement" is nothing but a disorganized and problemic epidemic with absolutely no focus except for the lazy to disavow their own personal responsibility. No one owes you or you like anything. Grow up. Here is a thought: Occupy Responsibility.
The real secret to this charade is that the left hand should never know what the right hand does. He should never have told a person about his charity. Only the highest artists need not sign their offerings. The would be greats (Moore) want 30 point type and 50 point hype. Less is always more.
It's not 35% of their income that is taxed. It is 35% of the part of their income that is in that tax bracket. They pay the same tax rate that you and I do on the first portion of their income. A $50 mil income level isn't always straight salary either. Much of it is capital gains, which is taxed at less than half that rate, and capital gains don't even involve working to earn the money. Well they do, but someone else is doing the work and you're getting the money. Isn't that just swell for anyone with enough money to gamble on investments? Maybe if the 1% were actually doing something that's worth their income, they'd garner a lot less hatred from the other 99% they're getting their money from. Then again, as long as the 1% own the means of production, the 99% can hate them all they want but they're still their slaves because really, what are the options? Become a slave for the 1%, starve, or become a leech. The 1% on top are no better than the welfare queens at the bottom. They both seem to enjoy legally stealing money that everyone else is working for.
You bring up a valid point here. I know of exactly no one who makes over a quarter million dollars a year in straight salary (not including company perks) that actually earns that salary! I'd say maybe brain surgeons come the closest (because they are actually doing the surgeries)....but lawyers? They have paralegals doing all the research. Entertainers? Oh hell no!! Ball players.....yeah, right. And there's no freaking way anyone can tell me that CEO's or other corporate execs actually "earn" more than, say, $100,000 a year.
The sooner we link salaries to actual work produced rather than "what the market dictates", the sooner the actual working class in this country will start getting compensated properly.
I don't hate Moore because he is rich. I hate him because he is a total liar and fraud. He is a propagandist masquerading as a documentary filmmaker. The bias in his films is shockingly evident once you get past his selective editing and strategic factual omissions. Real documentarians are impartial; they simply report the facts. Moore does not; he constructs false "truths". He's made millions of dollars lying to people while constructing a facade of being some kind of crusading reformer. The fact that he has given away much of his ill-gotten gains doesn't change the fact that they are ill-gotten in the first place. Maybe he had some credibility with Roger & Me, but after that the money and adulation went to his head.
This guy is just a blowhard and a pig.
Name one lie, Chris.
That's right, I didn't think so.
He ambushed Charlton Heston at his home in Bowling for Columbine and edited two of his speeches into one to imply something that Heston never said.
He also allowed himself to be completely manipulated by the Cuban Castro government in Sicko. Those 9/11 workers who got "free" health care in Cuba -- total con game by the Cuban government, but Moore presented the viewpoint of the totalitarian government of the Socialist Worker's Paradise free of charge and without any contrasting point of view.
That's just what I can pull off the top of my head.
Toasty, you are a smart poster. Michael Moore is little more than a muckracking snake oil salesman old time revivalist and you know it. If Moore simply admitted that he was a propagandist, I would let him go on his way. But he insists (and gets awards for being) a "documentary filmmaker." It's total bullsh*t. David L. Wolper was a documentary filmmaker. Michael Moore is not.
You should also seach for Mr. Wolper's 11/02/2004 column in Variety about Michael Moore.
You can call the man names all you like, but it doesn't change the fact that he's right.
Your an idiot.
Chris, good post and follow IMHO.
Interesting factoid: I started making "art" after becoming "mentally ill". I soon began to sell the art. But one day, it struck me. I am "selling" piles of sh## to people and becoming richer because of it. I believe Mr. Moore just made art and sold it. Instead of watercolors, he used film, which is the most popular medium of the day. I bet you he is trying to eat all his guilt away. I quit selling my art because at the rawest level, I was stealing money. I am now happily living off of government money --- my "crazy check" (knock on wood) because I did not want to become successful and literally take from my fellow humans for literally doing nothing. As the band Rancid said: It's just ability the reason that we're so thin. Screw guilt? I think it is screwing more people than can be imagined. BTW you ask God for things, you don't tell Him what to do. Go 99%!
Lying fat sack of cow manure - I never liked the blowhole and could see his act was baloney back in the 80's. He's just live-action, performance art schtick of the working class schmuck and in it for the bucks. A walking coporation and just like the Wallstreet he knows that there is a sucker born every minute that is willing to swallow his load. Like Timothy O'Leary in the 60's taking off his college professor clothes and putting on his hippy costume to, "Tune in-drop out", Moore takes off his $3000 suit to put on his working class baseball hat, jeans, hoodie and chucks to declare how evil the rich are - what a joke.
If you want to talk about a lying fat sack of cow manure whose "act" is baloney while being in it for the bucks off the backs of the working class schmucks who inexplicably listen and then believe his drivel all while helping him create a sucker born every minute... let's not forget THE KING of LIES - the great defender of the rich and hater of the middle class and poor -- RUSH LIMBAUGH!!!!!
Criticizing wealthy people for supporting Occupy Wall Street is like saying white people shouldn't have been against segregation, because it benefited them.
I hope everyone prospers, however the dudes that are hoarding oil and other commodities at the expense of the global economy, those are the guys that need to be protested upon. When oil companies are making billions in profit because oil prices are high yet demand has dropped 4 percent, that is a big problem! OWS! Oil has no business being where it is, its a hoarding monopolistic situation opposed to free markets and is patently unfair.
And some of the oil companies are driving up prices in the futures markets, but they're not the only ones, there is the hedge funds, investment bankers, hoarders, etc that need to leave this alone.
We need that list of the good wealthy then the bad wealthy as fast as you can draw it up???
Notajudge -
You do know how oil is valued on the commodities market, right? "Hording", as you say, and all the other modern day supervillians you listed are only part of the problem. The other part of the problem is the rapid de-valuation of the USD, which is the currency that oil is traded in. We only have ourselves to blame for that.
Oil had about the lowest margin requirement of any commodity one could use for "investment", naturally it was used - and pushed upward. I'm not sure why the dimwits on the SEC took so long (until last month) to look at this. Maybe because they all live in NYC and don't put 20,000 miles a year on a car like the rest of us?
If you're hoarding oil, you stink, that's the only list you need. Its medieval strategy right out of the playbook of the barons who dragged chains across the Rhine and exact a toll every few miles. If Tillerson/Exxon puts oil at 70$/barrel wti under oath, and its at 94 today and rising, then that's a problem that is hampering consumer demand big time. That's bad, that stinks, what more of a list do you want. When people are starving over food prices and people can't work because of no demand that stinks, its unfair, its monopolistic, its not a free or fair market situation. OWS! When 90% of all oil futures trades are on the gamer side rather than the hedger side, the markets have been twisted to work for the wrong folks, the legitimate hedgers have been thrown to the side of the market that was created for them. The ratio on the NYMEX and other exchanges should be 70/30 hedgers to speculators. Not 90/10 the other way as it is now.
He ate the 1%.
ha ha he's fat so that's funny and because he's fat he's dumb and he's fat.
We could only wish!
Let's name all the over weight people and deny their talent, whether you like their message or not; I'll start...Orson Wells, film maker and actor...now you...can't think of anyone? William Bennett a neocon delight...now your turn...Come on...Chris Christie, Rush Limbaugh although he has lost weight due to the use of medications prescribed to other people and see how easy this is? So now no more fat remarks.
And good for Moore for making money on his film making.
Looks more like he ate the 99%.
What a surprise!
I live on disability - not a lot of money, but I'm grateful to have it. That said, I don't begrudge ANYONE their rights to the money they earn, however they earn it. WIth regard to Michael Moore, I would bet that if we compare his level of charitable giving to, let's say, George W. Bush, we would see that Moore is by far more generous with his riches. That is what sticks in my craw (and I believe, sticks in the collective craw of the disenfranchised) - the collossal greed that the one-percent display. How can so many have so much, and not use that wealth and power to make things better for their fellow man? How, in the quest for wealth, do these people lose their humanity?
Trying to understand the mentality of a different earning class is pointless (rich or poor). Saying what you'd do IF you made that kind of money (more or less) is an idealistic statement at best. It's like saying that when you grow up you're not going to raise your kids like your parents raised you. Then when you grow up, surprise!...you have become your (mother\father).
GedePrime....not true! If you truly believe that no man is an island, and that no man earns his wealth alone, then you can certainly assume that you would have no problem sharing your wealth with those who helped make it possible if you were to ever become, say, a wealthy business owner.
I'll tell you the truth, I don't know how the wealthy and especially the uber-wealthy live with themselves, with their greed just eating away at what's left of their souls! Look at Bill Gates!! One of the wealthiest men in the world, and he's given away more money to charity than any 10 of his fellow billionaires. Money means nothing to him! He isn't consumed by greed like 99.999% of the rest of the money-grubbers are. He truly understands that with money comes responsibility!!
My point was mearly a suggestion as to the inherant hypocrisy as stating generically that you'd do something if you were in that particular situation. It's not a condemnation of anyone in particular. That's why I used the parental example. I said the same thing when I was a kid, yet when I got older I changed my point of view on raising children. If one does stay humble and lives altruistically after becoming successful, then I applaud them. I applaud Bill Gates for his continued efforts. But unfortunately he is a rare example. Somewhere the power of having the ultimate financial freedom changes the psyche of people and twists them into psudo-humans. I'd love to say that if I were in their shoes I'd do the same, but I can't because I'm not.
I think it is important that we continue to ask these questions, and I don't think that I have to BE wealthy in order to question why wealthy people aren't inherently more generous. It didn't take the accident that crippled me for me to understand that being crippled sucks - I knew that LONG before it happened to me. Being wealthy is like the best day of your life, over and over. No matter the complications it brings, wealth gives one the resiliency to withstand complications in a manner that those who struggle to earn will never possess. I don't have to be wealthy to know that - I can see it all around me. And again, I do not BEGRUDGE the wealthy their wealth, I merely point out that they have a greater obligation than those that do not have means, to be generous. I also point out that in our society, they clearly are NOT as generous as they could/should be toward their fellow humans - and many of them carp at the mere SUGGESTION that they SHOULD be more generous. I cannot comprehend that level of avarice.
If we cannot convince the wealthy to eliminate social problems through private philanthropy on their own initiative, then the Government should tax them heavily and do the job on their behalf. I see nothing wrong with that solution. If the wealthy don't care for it, let them take their money and move elsewhere - oh yeah, where are they going to go and get the favorable tax treatment they get in the USA? NOWHERE - and that is why they stay and fight. They are greedy, unrepentantly greedy, like slothful hogs at a trough full of other people's garbage.
Why is this news to anyone. He is a very successful documentary film maker. By the way calling him names does not make his assessment of wall street false. These people destroyed the economy and then got bonuses for it. Why would anyone take up for them?
Look at how blatant of a liar he is, this is nauseating and infuriating:
www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/michael-moore-piers-morgan_n_1032428.html
He is representing you, Skiddy. You're just too dumb to realize it.
He made his money on his own, without even investing it in stocks or mutual funds. He's got more bootstraps than the entire tea party, but they hate him because he doesn't parrot their narrative.
It's okay to disagree with someone without hating them. I don't agree with Moore on most things as I am a conservative and his a liberal. That doesn't mean I hate him.
Cyclo, don't hate the man. I would merely suggest he add a few more chinstraps to those bootstraps.
Sure, certainly, what he says. Yep, he's laughing all the way to the bank! I don't hear any of you whiners complaining about any of your entertainers, athletes, politicians, etc. and what they're making and the benefits they have. Funny it's just all about the banks and corporations, (remember, the ones who actually provide the jobs) for those who actually want to work. Amazes me that everyone's a coward when it come to going down to Washington and actually protesting against the ones who have allowed all this to happen. The politicians, that were then and are now, more concerned with buying votes then protecting the citizens from thier own greed.
what like about this whole discussion, tea party, walll street protestors, dems and gop is that now they are all - all in the discussion it is becoming quite clear the difference between capitalism, greed, and morality and the juxtaposition of their relationship and the extend to which one is weighted heavier than any other.
that is in fact the differnce between all the stakeholders also. and that my friends is democracy at work.
There is no controversy here. Moore does not stand against working to be comfortable- what he is against is a new tax system that is creating a huge wealth gap, dumb wars, a for-profit health "care" system, and an unregulated financial system. He pays his taxes and thinks people like him should pay more. He is not against living well, he just wishes more people could live well instead of just a few living great and everybody else going down.
There are plenty of 1%ers who don't like the growing income gap in this country.
For those of you criticizing him for being fat, well, that's a great argument. What are you, 5?
And for those of you criticizing him for being "political", that's the whole point genius.
A voice of reason. Thanks.
Lighten up smt. He plays to a niche audience and gets paid a lot of money for it.
smt.....what I can't understand is why more uber-rich CEO's and business owners aren't scrambling to BUILD UP the middle class by creating jobs that pay good wages instead of tearing it down! I mean, wouldn't these business owners like to see their goods and services flying off the shelves? Wouldn't that mean more profits?
You can't build a business that produces anything for purchase, when there's no demand for it! Share the wealth, build up the middle class....everyone wins!!
Devil's Advocate-
It has to be pure unadulterated greed that drives the "job creators". Why else would American companies be sending so much work overseas, but to line their own pockets. Why do American businesses employ illegal aliens, when there are so many unemployed American citizens losing everything they have because they can't find a job?
Illegal workers wired 25 billion American dollars south of the border last year. American workers would have paid income taxes on it and spent the rest in this country.
When one chooses to do for themselves alone rather than for the greater good of all they are simply being greedy.
Why??? UNIONS!!!!!!
DA, The problem with your argument, IMHO, it that today's middle class doesn't accept the lifestyle of the middle class of 30 years ago. Then it was not even a dream that you could communicate with anybody in the world for free wherever you were at that moment. Then, a "game system" was either a deck of cards or a Monopoly board and a pair of dice. Now if you don't have the latest Playstation or Wii or Nintendo and the latest games you are out of the loop. What we have now is people with middle class incomes who want to live like the financial elite. It's OK for them to want to, but maybe they should earn the money first, save some, and then maybe choose one or two luxuries.
Tedster. The middle class is not asking for too much! If it weren't for the middle class buying Wii or Nintendo there wouldn't be a Wii or Nintendo. Stockholders would be unhappy. The rich wouldn't get richer!
GOP voters - The rich have figured out its the middle class and poor who make them richer. Better to keep them down. Not the other way around. Wake up people!
Those 1 % could paid 90% no one is stoping them, but I don't see them lining up to write checks
Michal Moore , One Voice ,Speaking of how Capitalism has destroyed us and the rich got richer and its a backwards glance that the majority of the people out there protesting probably went to the voting places last election Because they think its there duty to Vote for Somebody no matter how corrupt the best choice is . Theres little difference in the best and the worst Political candidate , This protest is fledgling But if its still out there and Grown come next time the pools open and both candidates are making False Promises and making outright lies Perhaps the people will realize it and can make a change in time to stop them getting elected ..Senators congressman Governors and Presidents are elected by people going out and voting after a long debate listening to them making statements to try and convince everyone there the Guy for the Job and everything is going to be so much better , And when Pigs and dogs and cows fly and everyone is out without an umbrella while the ones elected are inside looking out at the people voted for them ..It will dawn there just isn't a good choice sometimes ...Could be wrong if this movement can grow in strength ...Maby the people can stop this War and its War Profiteering first ..That would be a good start...