Capitalism is the Crisis (2011)

[deutsey]

Capitalism Is The Crisis: Radical Politics in the Age of Austerity examines the ideological roots of the "austerity" agenda and proposes revolutionary paths out of the current crisis. The film features original interviews with Chris Hedges, Derrick Jensen, Michael Hardt, Peter Gelderloos, Leo Panitch, David McNally, Richard J.F. Day, Imre Szeman, Wayne Price, and many more!

The 2008 "financial crisis" in the United States was a systemic fraud in which the wealthy finance capitalists stole trillions of public dollars. No one was jailed for this crime, the largest theft of public money in history.

Instead, the rich forced working people across the globe to pay for their "crisis" through punitive "austerity" programs that gutted public services and repealed workers' rights.

Austerity was named "Word of the Year" for 2010.

This documentary explains the nature of capitalist crisis, visits the protests against austerity measures, and recommends revolutionary paths for the future.

Special attention is devoted to the crisis in Greece, the 2010 G20 Summit protest in Toronto, Canada, and the remarkable surge of solidarity in Madison, Wisconsin.

It may be their crisis, but it's our problem.

[yallerdawg]

1. Capitalism...

is the root of all evil.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Nonsense. nt

[yallerdawg]

4. How 'bout...

the love of capitalism is the root of all evil?

[TBF]

5. You were right the first time.

it's an inherently unequal system in which people are forced to push others down in their quest for more profit. It's not humane or sustainable.

[yallerdawg]

6. Just trying to get "biblically" correct...

in case Satan is about to pop up!

[FrodosPet]

13. Whereas an all encompassing form of socialism

Is a supposedly equal system in which people are forced to push others down in their quest for more authority and personal possessions. Of course it is pretty easy to deal with... you just need a lot of laws to prevent black markets and corruption, and a lot of law enforcement to enforce those laws.

[FrodosPet]

15. Isn't that what many people are striving for?

I keep hearing how wonderful the 1950s were.

[FrodosPet]

16. And if you are comparing me to Eugene McCarthy...

Compliment accepted!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_McCarthy

Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy (March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005) was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.

In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first candidate to challenge incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, running on an anti-Vietnam War platform. The unexpected vote total he achieved in the New Hampshire primary and his strong polling in the upcoming Wisconsin primary led Johnson to withdraw from the race, and lured Robert F. Kennedy into the contest. Fellow Minnesotan US Vice-President Hubert Humphrey also entered the race after Johnson's withdrawal. McCarthy would unsuccessfully seek the presidency five times altogether.

~ snip ~

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. How about getting rid of simplistic thinking?

Ideology is the root of all evil, and so is anti-ism.

Ignorance is the root of all evil.

Greed is the root of all evil. Communist greed, capitalist greed, socialist greed, anarchist greed, libertarian greed, liberal greed, ....

There are so many "roots of all evil" that one is tempted to say that "root of all evil" thinking is the root of all evil.

But basically, ignorance and simplistic thinking (especially binary thinking) is the leading contender, except that "root of all evil" conceptualization is simplistic and ignorant.

Some may find contentment is naming a root of all evil, but it is very shallow.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. That would be a good start.What's keeping you back?

[cantbeserious]

2. Capitalism Is Unjust And Unsustainable - Watch Richard Wolff - Read Karl Marx

eom

[deutsey]

7. I highly recommend both

Wolff, incidentally, has a weekly radio program on Pacifica Radio.

I listen to him on KPFA.org every Friday at 1 p.m. EST (I live on the East Coast but listen via the internet).

[F4lconF16]

8. Little bit of Chomsky never hurts. nt

[fasttense]

9. Capitalism evolved out of feudalism.

So it kept many of the problems that feudalism also had. One problem was the fact that the rich get richer merely by being rich, without any real work being done, just like a royal class. Another problem with capitalism is that an abused and overworked under class is necessary for the uber rich to obtain their huge amounts of loot. If the uber rich are fairly taxed their loot pile shrinks. So, the poor majority of people pay the taxes so the handful can have a huge pile of loot. This division of people into classes was similar to how feudalism divided people up by heredity.

But Capitalism was better than feudalism. It allows anyone to use their money no matter what class they are. Even if a serf had the wealth, they could NOT buy certain cloths and certain foods because they were designated only for royalty. It allows people to migrate and travel while feudalism did not allow the serfs the freedom to move from place to place without the kings authority.

But we need to evolve again out of capitalism and the leftover baggage that feudalism hung around our necks.

[rpannier]

11. K&R

Bookmarked to read and watch later

[cantbeserious]

18. The Oligarchs, Corporations And Banks Own And Control The Politicians And Media That Own And Control Us

eom