Michael Moore: Good Riddance, Capitalism

Documentary filmmaker (and troublemaker extraordinaire, according to some) Michael Moore appeared on Larry King on Wednesday night to discuss the bailout frenzy, or what I like to call Bailoutmania '08. (It's not as smelly as Wrestlemania, but it's just as theatrical.)  Moore, you might recall, became famous after the success of his controversial documentary Roger & Me, about the decision of General Motors to close Flint, MI factories only to open up new ones in Mexico, where workers were paid a helluva lot less. The Roger in the title refers to GM CEO Roger Smith, who is confronted by Moore in movie. Larry shared that clip with viewers. (See below.)

But it's what Moore tells Larry after the clip that's sure to rile not only the people that already hate him, but also the autoworkers that have always considered him a fan and who want Congress to lend a big, fat hand to The Big 3:

These guys, for all that stuff they've been telling us all these years about, 'Go capitalism! Free market! Free enterprise!' They don't believe in any of that. They don't believe in free enterprise or free market. They want socialism for themselves. They want a handout and a net for themselves. To hell with everybody else, but give it to them. And I think, really, what we're seeing now -- with them, with the banks -- we're seeing the end of capitalism. The end of capitalism as we know it and I say good riddance. It hasn't helped the people or the planet.  

Of course, Moore is still sick of corporations raping workers, so despite that rant he has mixed feelings about Congress rejecting a Big 3 bailout:

 

We can't let all these people lose their jobs because of the bad decisions, the stupid decisions made by the management of these auto companies.

He's even figured out exactly what Barack Obama should say about the mess:

President-Elect Obama has to say to them, yes, we're going to use this money to save these jobs, but we're not going to build these gas-guzzling, unsafe vehicles any longer. We're going to put the companies into some sort of receivership and we, the government, are going to hold the reins on these companies. They're to build mass transit. They're to build hybrid cars. They're to build cars that use little or no gasoline.

A superb idea, I say. But why did it take so f'ing long for everyone to figure out what Toyota and Prius owners have known for nearly a decade?