Capitalism

Ryan Lee

Capitalism: A Love Story

Capitalism: A Love Story, is a documentary by Michael Moore, looks into the role of Capitalism on our modern society. The film explores the way corporations have controlled our society since Ronald Reagan cut the tax rates in half. The film examines many different cases of corporate Americas use of unethical behaviors to make money. The ones that stood out to me the actions of a child detention center, the airline industry, corporations use of death insurance policies, and the banking industry.

Moore brings up a detention center called P.A Child Care. P.A Child Care entered into an agreement with a judge to have him up his sentences of children to their center. The judge made millions, while children were sentenced after being in front of the judge for a matter of minutes. P.A Child Center, a for profit organization, made money from these children. The center even had the right to choose when to release children. Is it ethical to make profits of juvenile delinquents?

Another one of the examples he brings up is the airline industry. Airline pilots make on average the same amount as a manager of a Taco Bell. The film points to an example of an airline crash. The pilot and the first officer at the time of the crash were distracted by a conversation they were having about career opportunities. It was later discovered that the first officer had to work a second job as waitress. Is this ethical, that the pilots who are responsible for our lives in the sky make as much money as the managers who run our local fast food restaurants?

The most shocking of these earlier examples is the “dead peasant insurance”. Corporation could take out life insurance policies on their workers. So, in some cases, there workers were more valuable dead to these corporations than alive. Many of the companies that buy these life insurance policies are blue chip corporations like Walmart. The film interview one family whose mother had died from asthma....