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America Is NOT Broke …the Madison speech by Michael Moore
Delivered in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, March 5th, 2011.
America is not broke.
Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you’ll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It’s just that it’s not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined.
Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer “bailout” of 2008, now have as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can’t bring yourself to call that a financial coup d’état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.
And I can see why. For us to admit that we have let a small group of men abscond with and hoard the bulk of the wealth that runs our economy, would mean that we’d have to accept the humiliating acknowledgment that we have indeed surrendered our precious Democracy to the moneyed elite. Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic — and, until this past month, the rest of us have felt completely helpless, unable to find a way to do anything about it.
I have nothing more than a high school degree. But back when I was in school, every student had to take one semester of economics in order to graduate. And here’s what I learned: Money doesn’t grow on trees. It grows when we make things. It grows when we have good jobs with good wages that we use to buy the things we need and thus create more jobs. It grows when we provide an outstanding educational system that then grows a new generation of inventors, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and thinkers who come up with the next great idea for the planet. And that new idea creates new jobs and that creates revenue for the state. But if those who have the most money don’t pay their fair share of taxes, the state can’t function. The schools can’t produce the best and the brightest who will go on to create those jobs. If the wealthy get to keep most of their money, we have seen what they will do with it: recklessly gamble it on crazy Wall Street schemes and crash our economy. The crash they created cost us millions of jobs. That too caused a reduction in tax revenue. Everyone ended up suffering because of what the rich did.
The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. Saying that the country is broke is repeating a Big Lie. It’s one of the three biggest lies of the decade: 1) America is broke, 2) Iraq has WMD, and 3) The Packers can’t win the Super Bowl without Brett Favre.
The truth is, there’s lots of money to go around. LOTS. It’s just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates. They know they have committed crimes to make this happen and they know that someday you may want to see some of that money that used to be yours. So they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their bidding for them. But just in case that doesn’t work, they’ve got their gated communities, and the luxury jet is always fully fueled, the engines running, waiting for that day they hope never comes. To help prevent that day when the people demand their country back, the wealthy have done two very smart things:
1. They control the message. By owning most of the media they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote for their politicians. Their version of the Dream says that you, too, might be rich some day — this is America, where anything can happen if you just apply yourself! They have conveniently provided you with believable examples to show you how a poor boy can become a rich man, how the child of a single mother in Hawaii can become president, how a guy with a high school education can become a successful filmmaker. They will play these stories for you over and over again all day long so that the last thing you will want to do is upset the apple cart — because you — yes, you, too! — might be rich/president/an Oscar-winner some day! The message is clear: keep you head down, your nose to the grindstone, don’t rock the boat and be sure to vote for the party that protects the rich man that you might be some day.
2. They have created a poison pill that they know you will never want to take. It is their version of mutually assured destruction. And when they threatened to release this weapon of mass economic annihilation in September of 2008, we blinked. As the economy and the stock market went into a tailspin, and the banks were caught conducting a worldwide Ponzi scheme, Wall Street issued this threat: Either hand over trillions of dollars from the American taxpayers or we will crash this economy straight into the ground. Fork it over or it’s Goodbye savings accounts. Goodbye pensions. Goodbye United States Treasury. Goodbye jobs and homes and future. It was friggin’ awesome and it scared the shit out of everyone. “Here! Take our money! We don’t care. We’ll even print more for you! Just take it! But, please, leave our lives alone, PLEASE!”
The executives in the board rooms and hedge funds could not contain their laughter, their glee, and within three months they were writing each other huge bonus checks and marveling at how perfectly they had played a nation full of suckers. Millions lost their jobs anyway, and millions lost their homes. But there was no revolt (see #1).
Until now. On Wisconsin! Never has a Michigander been more happy to share a big, great lake with you! You have aroused the sleeping giant known as the working people of the United States of America. Right now the earth is shaking and the ground is shifting under the feet of those who are in charge. Your message has inspired people in all 50 states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT! We reject anyone who tells us America is broke and broken. It’s just the opposite! We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and, yes, love. Love and compassion toward those who have, through no fault of their own, ended up as the least among us. But they still crave what we all crave: Our country back! Our democracy back! Our good name back! The United States of America. NOT the Corporate States of America. The United States of America!
So how do we make this happen? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on how a government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.
Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois — whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning. The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn’t have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn’t be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more — something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job — their $19,000 a year job. That’s how much some rookie pilots on commuter airlines make, maybe even the rookie pilot who flew me here to Madison today. He told me he’s stopped hoping for a pay increase. All he’s asking for now is enough down time so that he doesn’t have to sleep in his car between shifts at O’Hare airport. That’s how despicably low we have sunk! The wealthy couldn’t be content with just paying this man $19,000 a year. They had to take away his sleep. They had to demean him and dehumanize him and rub his face in it. After all, he’s just another slob, isn’t he?
And that, my friends, is Corporate America’s fatal mistake. But trying to destroy us they have given birth to a movement — a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country. We all knew there had to be a breaking point some day, and that point is upon us. Many people in the media don’t understand this. They say they were caught off guard about Egypt, never saw it coming. Now they act surprised and flummoxed about why so many hundreds of thousands have come to Madison over the last three weeks during brutal winter weather. “Why are they all standing out there in the cold?” I mean, there was that election in November and that was supposed to be that!
“There’s something happening here, and you don’t know what it is, do you …?”
America ain’t broke! The only thing that’s broke is the moral compass of the rulers. And we aim to fix that compass and steer the ship ourselves from now on. Never forget, as long as that Constitution of ours still stands, it’s one person, one vote, and it’s the thing the rich hate most about America — because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!
Madison, do not retreat. We are with you. We will win together!
The country is awash in wealth and cash. It’s just that it’s not in your hands……… Hmmmm
So why is your cohort socialist Brown asking for more money?…… Huh?
Why does Brown want to take whats left in my hand?
What a load of garbage – like most of Mr. Moore’s rants that are incoherent to all except those programm to applaud on cue.
Mr. Moore claims that the wealthiest Americans do not pay taxes. His argument is as follows: “Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined. . . .But if those who have the most money don’t pay their fair share of taxes, the state can’t function.” What is interesting is that Mr. Moores simply assumes that these 400 Americans don’t pay their “fair share” of taxes. He does not claim that these 400 Americans illegally evade taxes or don’t pay a huge amount of taxes, simply that it is not enough in his humble opinion. Mr. Moore is really railing against the inaction by a Democratic congress and a Democratic president to change tax laws in the ways he, a single individual, wants/demands.
Mr. Moore is not unique in his demands to “tax the wealthy.” The problem is that congress never has the will to make sure that those 400 folks pay their fair share (if they don’t already pay a fair share). Instead, congress always attacks the upper middle class and the higher end of the middle class all under the guise of “taxing the wealthy.” Folks in the upper middle class and the higher end of the middle class lack the financial tools and capabilities to avoid tax payments like those at the very top of the food chain. These folks are the ones supporting Governor Walker in Wisconsin.
Michael Moore is also a hypocrite. Mr. Moore has a net worth of about $50,000,000. He is one of the “super wealthy.” He has had the chutzpah to become one of the super rich by championing the cause of the disaffected. I would love to see Mr. Moore’s tax return – I won’t hold my breath. Another favorite of the left, Al Gore, Mr. create a controversy and the profit from it handsomely is worth about $100,000,000. That’s a lot of zeros for climate change. I wonder what his tax return looks like?
Never was Mr. Moore more of a hypocrit than in the closing to this speech – Mr. $50,000,000 ends by saying, “it’s one person, one vote, and it’s the thing the rich hate most about America — because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!” US? Micahel, are you trying to say that those protesting in WIsonsin all have about $50,000,000 laying around? Wow, the unions are much wealthier than even I could have imagined.
Geoff,
“What is interesting is that Mr. Moores simply assumes that these 400 Americans don’t pay their “fair share” of taxes.”
No Geoff, it’s based on FACTS;
From Forbes;
Richest 400 Earn More, Pay Lower Tax Rate
Janet Novack, 01.29.09,
Top earners on average pulled in $263 million each in 2006, the IRS reports.
WASHINGTON, D.C.–The 400 highest-earning taxpayers in the U.S. reported a record $105 billion in total adjusted gross income in 2006, but they paid just $18 billion in tax, new Internal Revenue Service figures show. That works out to an average federal income tax bite of 17%–the lowest rate paid by the richest 400 during the 15-year period covered by the IRS statistics. The average federal tax bite on the top 400 was 30% in 1995 and 23% in 2002.
Geoff,
Just to put that 17% in perspective;
2010 Federal Income Tax Brackets
Federal Tax Brackets Single Married Filing Jointly
10% Tax Bracket
$0 – $8,375 $0 – $16,750
15% Tax Bracket $8,375 – $34,000 $16,750 – $68,000
25% Tax Bracket $34,000 – $82,400 $68,000 – $137,300
28% Tax Bracket $82,400 – $171,850 $137,300 – $209,250
33% Tax Bracket $171,850 – $373,650 $209,250 – $373,650
35% Tax Bracket Over $373,650 Over $373,650
I love the irony in that the unions have welcomed Moore as one of their champions when he sits on his millions and repeatedly shows what a hypocrite he really is:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/mar/7/michael-moore-hypocritical-union-buster/?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d74dd096f751899,0#
Of course, instead of actually responding to Moore’s perspectives, we are treated to some vague ad hominems. What about the gist of the speech?
Mr. Willis is continually defending the very rich, as if he is one of them. He apparently believes they work hard and deserve their massive share of the pie. But, what of those who inherited wealth — and did nothing to earn it? What of those who simply gamed the system, such as hedge fund managers who take obscene fees for producing, manufacturing, creating — nothing?
Why defend these leeches?
Rapscallion – my wife and accountant would love to know that we are “the very rich.” That would come as quite a shock to my banker who would wonder where I am hiding my assets.
You have really made my point – you and Anonster rail against the ‘wealthy” and the “super rich” without ever defining what you mean. This is a common tactic on the left. If you can figure out a way to tax these 400 folks, then please pass it one – instead you are taking on and taking out the middle class that you supposedly support.
Geoff, Rapscallion said “as if” you were “the very rich.”
So many of you conservatives, most of whom are certainly NOT “very rich,” fight to the bitter end for their interests as if they were yours. It’s hard to understand.
“We Not Broke,” Geoff. The braintrust at the Federal Reserve says that all we have to do is turn on the copy machine at the US Treasury and print more money. That way we can justify spending ourselves into oblivion.
It kind of reminds me of an episode of that late 80s/early 90s ABC TV family show “Life Goes On.” I would reference the episode but the politically correct/torch bearers of tolerance would have a shit fit over the fact I was making fun of people with a disability.
Screw it, that’s my next post…..
No, Guy. We progressives are NOT prescribing to print more money.
The one party system with Ds and Rs affixed to their names always seem to resort to that tactic even though they “say” they aren’t going to. Kind of like them “saying” we’re not going to raise the debt ceiling, allow earmarks, or whatever the feel good catchphrase that substitutes for a band-aid for the problesm that we currently face these days. The actions always say something else when push comes to shove.
Whether its paying for corporate subsidies, foreign aid, overseas “military contigency operations,” (aka wars), housing prisoners that are incarcerated for non-violent offenses, increasing the domestic police state with increased funding to unnecessary bureaucracies such Homeland Stupidity and the DEA or some “solution” that will be the be all, end all of things that ail our society (i.e the golden calf known as Social Security). The bottom line is that the Federal government does not have the money to be all things to all people and we need to rid ourselves of the mindset that we they can be by holding on to old ideas that sounded good 70 years ago, but are not sustainable today. We also need to rid ourselves of the mindset that adults aren’t competent enough to know right from wrong and are unable to handle their affairs or help other people. Sooner or later, the well is going to run dry. In fact, it already has.
So what’s the solution of the D’s and R’s? Turn on the printing presses and hold on to our sacred cows like petulant children who hold on to playthings that have outlived their usefulness.
It’s pissing matches like this that make libertarians and their ideas look more and more sane every day. Go ahead and have your pissing matches. I’ll go brush up on my Cantonese.
OK, here’s a start. Let’s suggest we look at those getting more than $5million a year, and we raise their taxes 10%. I’m just throwing it out there. Or will that create too much suffering for them?
Geoff,
This is what we mean;
From CNBC How the rich can take advantage of tax breaks;
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=3000008477&play=1
You need to watch/listen to the entire video, this “gift” was included in what is laughingly called the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010.
If you want to help out the “poor” and “working class” Mr. Moore, why not voluntarily donate some of your wealth to help out your “hometown” of Flint, MI? Why endorse charity via coercion and force everyone to pay for government waste and incompetence?
Oh wait, you’re too good for Flint!
I actually agree with his antiwar stance and his outrage on the loss of our civil liberties since we declared a “War on Terror. Unfortunately, he’s been awfully silent since O’Bummer and G.I. Joe have taken office. Typical of the lukewarm stance the some people in the antiwar movement have taken with a few notable exceptions (i.e. Glenn Greenwald). We’ve gone from “Impreach Bush” to “I’m holding out hope that he’s going to change his mind.”
The only hope and change I got are the loose change in my pocket and the hope that I can afford to buy something from the Value Menu at Carl’s Jr.
Guy, I know you try to attack both sides equally, that that’s a point of honor for you, but you really do yourself a disservice taking all the rightwing’s slander against Moore without a SALT MINE’S worth of salt.
He has given plenty to his hometown of Flint, to many charities, and to ALL the oppressed people he features in his films. He’s not the type to go flaunting that about, but when challenged on it he has no problem going down the list. Didn’t you see the video I put up of him with Hannity, answering the same BS?
Referencing Michael Moore is akin to referencing Andrew Breitbart. Both men can get creative with the video editing process and make you believe that what you see is true, whether it’s a racial epithet being screamed at a Tea Party rally or violence at a union rally with palm trees swaying in the background in that tropical paradise known as Wisconsin. Having taken film classes myself, I know I can mainpulate the editing process enough to convince people that my neighbor likes to lick the sweat from a cow’s balls and have people believe it. That is why they call it “the magic of film.” Which is why I don’t put a lot of stock in what comes out of his mouth (same goes for Breitbart.)
Having lived in the Upper Midwest and my interactions with people that I know from Flint and my personal travels to visit relatives, who aren’t exactly rabid Republicans or Glenn Beck fans, tell an entirely different story. His rhetoric does not match up with what has really gone on in Flint’s recovery. In fact, he’s done as much to contribute to their recovery as their other famous native son, former “Newlywed Game” host and KTLA’s New Year’s Day/Rose Parade annoyance Bob Eubanks. Which isn’t a hell of a lot.
The consensus from my interactions with Flint residents is that if Michael Moore really wanted to help out Flint, he should set up shop in town and lead by example rather than his mouth if he really wants to create jobs and help usher in a new renessaince in Flint rather than hideout in New York and Hollywood and act like the rabid dog from afar. For that matter, I’d also like to see Sean Hannity do the same.
If you want to see who has invested in Flint and decided to stay in town instead of using to their huge PR machine to show how much they “care,” you might want to check out this story about urban farmers in Flint. This is an example of people staying in Flint while helping bring Flint back to its glory by investing in their economy and creating real jobs: http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=7794925. These are the people we should be praising.
BREAKING NEWS: The recall of anti-worker Wisconsin State Senators has begun, and YOU can help from your laptop! From the “Great Orange Satan” (Daily Kos) –
Vern,
This past weekend, while Scott Walker was threatening to fire a bunch of people, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin was collecting recall petition signatures, threatening to fire Scott Walker’s Senators.
The recall has begun in Wisconsin, and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is the central organizing hub. As such, we’ve added the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to Orange to Blue.
Can you contribute $8 to the recall effort, $1 for each of the eight targeted Republican Senators?
We are winning this fight. Polls show Scott Walker’s approval rating dropping fast, and a clear majority of Wisconsin siding with the unions and the middle class. We are outnumbering the other side at rallies by margins of 5-1, 10-1, and even 35-1.
With numbers like those, we are in a good position to win the recall elections. The first step is gathering enough signatures to make the elections happen. Over 250 Kossacks in Wisconsin have signed up to help canvass–can you back them up by contributing $8 to the Wisconsin Democratic Party on Orange to Blue?
Man, it sure feels good to be winning. It will feel even better when we win.
Click here: http://www.actblue.com/page/orangetoblue2012?refcode=3_07_Recall3
Vern note: Yes, this is a Mulligan – a constitutionally-prescribed Mulligan.
Polls and protests make it obvious that many Wisconiners who voted for this Governor and these Senators had no idea how uncompromisingly extreme they were going to be, and now regret it. As I imagine many Democrats and moderate independents who stayed home in November out of apathy or disappointment with Obama regret that as well. Now, with some hard work, they have a second chance to redeem themselves. A constitutionally-prescribed second chance.
I just gave my $8 and it feels good. Today it’s Wisconsin, tomorrow the USA.
Not only did I contribute $8 for myself I contributed $8 on behalf of Geoff, junior, Newbie, Larry, MQ, Guy Fawkes, Stanislav and the great one.
Someday (when they come to their senses), they’ll thank me.
$72 in total donations. That public pension must be humming along.
???
Oh! now you are a retired public worker, anonster! How many identities does that give you now, eight?
(longtime readers of this blog know what anonster does)
Oh goodie – now union dues can go towards recall efforts against people who simply have done what they said they would do if elected. Not quite as bad as union dues going to defeat a proposition that would prevent union dues from being used for political purposes without the members’ consent, but pretty close.
Well, ONE big thing you’ve got wrong in your comment here: NOBODY, not Walker and not these Senators, said ANYTHING about eviscerating workers’ collective bargaining rights when they were running. THAT’s the rub, what the majority of the public in Wisconsin and the US feels is going too far. So you made a big mistake in your first sentence.
Well, if these eight Senators can make their cases to their districts, they won’t be recalled. And if they back off of stripping bargaining rights and come to a reasonable compromise, I bet the recalls will be dropped.
“Unfortunately, he’s been awfully silent since O’Bummer and G.I. Joe have taken office.”
Not true. His website takes a stance…
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/more-us-troops-die-afghanistan-under-obama-under-bush
And this letter was widely disseminated when he wrote it…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/an-open-letter-to-preside_b_373457.html
scott walker was elected to do this clean up the public unions . public unions are only a small amount of people . THE MAJORTY VOTED HIM IN . MORE OF THEM VOTED THE TX N SPEND DEMS OUT .
Scott Walker DID NOT campaign on eviscerating collective bargaining rights. He DID talk about negotiating pensions and healthcare. This effort to ruin collective bargaining is something he’s ADDED to his agenda AFTER being elected.
Did you have a point there?
Whatever happened to “Elections have consequences.” ??
Hey, too bad you weren’t around when so many state constitutions were drafted. You could have SAID that, and stopped them in their tracks, from inventing recalls!
Remember the coup engineered by Issa when Davis was recalled? And for what reason? At least with Walker it’s obvious he wasn’t up front about his extreme ideology.
A common-sense, conservative POV from Sullivan;
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/03/inequality-and-the-right.html
Michael Moore saying we are not broke as a country is like him saying that his over eating is not the cause of his obesity.
Ha ha, Michael Moore is FAT!
That was always one of the great reasons to back the war in Iraq, to stick with our for-profit insurance racket, and to de-regulate financial institutions as much as possible. Michael’s fat.
i put in my money to the anti anoster fund , michell , stan and everyone who cant stand her put in . someday she will thank us . when ever she comes to her senses wich is never because she is out in la la land . like michael moore renember these great words he said . their was no terrorist threat what a buffoon
People like Michael Moore in my opinion are not Americans and don’t deserve to live in this country. If you despise this country and talk sh*t about it non-stop, then we ought to throw you out. Pretty simple actually, Americans, who like America can stay, the rest can leave. As far as I’m concerned, Michael Moore is no better than a Muslim terrorist! They are all bad for America!!
When I was a little kid in the 60s, my rightwing, John-Birch-Society Dad had stickers everywhere saying “America – Love it or Leave It!” Even as a kid, I thought that whole attitude was un-American. Of course it was targeted toward people who thought we shouldn’t be in the Vietnam War, or that we should have better Civil Rights. And everyone who was critical of our policies or wanted to improve our country somehow was tarred as “anti-American” by people like my Dad. You are sounding just like that.
Oh, wait, maybe I am approaching this wrong…
I’m gathering that, as a Moore critic, you want our great nation to continue to wage unprovoked wars, to be lied to by our leaders, to suck at #37 in the world in quality of health care while we spend way more than anyone else, and to keep giving up the bulk of our money to useless parasitic bankers and other financial crooks. Damn, YOU ARE UN-AMERICAN. Why don’t you get lost, move to China!
Atlanta:
If you don’t respect the first amendment right of every American to speak their opinion then you should get the hell out of here. Your opinions about what would be good or bad for America are worth no more or no less than Mr. Moore’s. The fact that the American people have not given you $50,000,000 to share your opinion with them through film and other media may aggravate you, but perhaps you should let the open market decide which opinions are of value to Americans rather than making childish statements about who should be allowed to come to your birthday party.
I hope you get paid for commenting here, because if this is the level of discourse you are looking for with your free time, you really need some different hobbies.
Lana, do you see the flaw in your logic? You attack Atlanta for attacking Michael Moore and the tell Atlanta to “get the hell out of here.” which is exactly the basis for your attack of Atlanta. You obviously have the right to criticize Atlanta’s words, just don’t “forbid” him from saying them.
Well… it’s not exactly the same. She’s telling Atlanta to “get out of here” because he’s being un-American by telling someone HE doesn’t like to “get out of here.” Maybe she should just be SO much better than him? Sometimes that’s asking a lot.
Sharpen up the guillotine! We shall dine on the rich! With a nice chianti……..
Haven’t the rich suffered enough? Let’s do all we can to assuage their agonies and support their noble pursuit of having as much as possible, and contributing as little as they can.
Check your facts Rapscallion – the top 1% of all wage earners paid more taxes than the bottom 95% of wage earners COMBINED in 2007.