Post –watching activity Discussion questions on Class Capitalism: A Love Story

Ariel Alvear and Cynthia Meza

A. Talero Facultad de ciencias de la educación,

English X [61299]

Mr. Javier Barrios

August 26, 2020

CLASS CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY

1. How does the film explain the development of the "middle class" in the mid-20th

century? What conditions saw the improved standard of living for many working class

people? What contradictions existed at the same time?

During the mid-20 century the United State experimented with an unprecedented

development that led the biggest country to become an important industrial center of the

world . even though in this time the top tax rate was 90%. families of the middle class have a

good condition of life. They had job stability, their children could go to universities without

difficulty. Another positive aspect, union families had access to free healthcare, most of the

families did not have debts and pensions were guaranteed.

nationwide, the development of the country was awesome. It built hundreds of bridges,

schools, hospitals and neighborhoods.

At that time, the United States was going through a hard time, socially speaking. it had

segregation laws against people of color and racial riots occurred nationwide. Beside, during

this period of time, the US was being part of the war. Nevertheless, this did not stop the

growing development of the country.

2. The film notes the Reagan era as a dividing line between the rise of the "middle class"

and its current decline. What policies did Reagan usher in and why? What were the

results?

With the arrival of Donal Regan, EE.UU was run like a company. There was dismantling of

industrial infrastructure to obtain short-term profits. it not only destroyed unions, but also

increased unemployment, the working day, and frozen wages. In contrast, for the rich people,

the government reduced 50% of personal income tax. Companies did not pay a decent salary

to the middle class. they encouraged people to borrow money until family indebtedness

reached nearly 100% of GDP and the bankruptcy increased.

All these policies led to an increase of unemployment and millions of people started to deal

with depression, antidepressant sales skyrocketed, greed of medical insurance drove up the

cost of healthcare.

3. Moore provides stories about the impact of privatization on local communities. What

were some of these?

Privatization of public services. It is illustrated with the case of the commercial pact between

the businessman Robert Power of “ Aid to the children of Pennsylvania” and the judges

Conahan and Chavarella to suppress the public center for minors and entrust him with the

construction and management of a new center for minors. it was mentioned that the judges

would receive a large commission for the kids that they would send to the facility. a reported

$2.6 million per year in return. The consequences of this trade pact were that the judges

increased the sentences of the youth of the county. Moreover, it could be seen these judges

spent the money received on inappropriate things. For instance, vacations in exotic places,

all this money received from these deals.

4. Corporations repeatedly claim that cutting jobs will allow them to save money and

stay in business. Why does this not seem to work much in the examples detailed in the

film?

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, many big corporations such as General Motors located in

Flint, Michigan closed their plants and many jobs were cut which resulted In the increase of

the rates of employment, despite the fact of receiving large profits. The policies of massive

job layoffs were carried out in order to solve the crises and to save money but that did not

cause any effect since Germany and Japan had rebuilt their automotive industries and were

producing better, safer, cheaper and more reliable cars. Obviously, the American automotive

industry crisis continued, the employment rose and the wages of the remaining employees

were cut.
5. Moore talks with workers and farmers about the impact of economic conditions and

policies on their lives. What were some of their stories? What ways did they express

solidarity with one another?

A former railroad worker from Peoria- Illinois that had an accident on his job and got a

disability proceeded to mortgage his house in the Citibank company, he started paying $1700

a month, then $2000, then $23000 and then to $27000 to the point he and his family could not

pay the debt that they acquired anymore, so the bank proceed to send them the foreclosure

notice in order to kick them out of the house. Unfortunately, the family not only lost the

house that had been in their family for over four decades but also all their savings.

Although the banks hire professionals to clean the mortgaged houses once they have been

vacated, the bank made the family clean their house by themselves. Firstly, the wife of the

railroad worker worked for a week to clean the house and later, he went to the city dump to

take all of their trash, and then the bank handed them a check for $1000.

6. The film elaborates and mocks ideological justifications for capitalism. What were

some of the claims for why capitalism is so good? What problems do you see with those

claims?

The claims that can be found in the movie were Said by the then president of the US, George

W. Bush in which he basically said that capitalism offers people the freedom to choose where

they could work and what they do. But in the film we could also see that the captalit

systemenly benefitsanportedly 15 of Americans with the vast majority of the population

survive by taking several jobs in order to have bigger income The problem wIth those claims

is that the american government sells the premise of a flawless economic system in which the

market approach can offer opportunities of a prosper life without necessities. However, it
actually affects millions of people, their jobs, affects businesses and it also corrupts

democracy.

7. The film focuses heavily on a moral condemnation of capitalism. Do you agree with

that approach? Many Marxists prefer what they call a scientific critique of capitalism?

Which do you prefer? Which is more effective in touching the experiences of working-

class people?

We live in a society in which the huge amount of information and our daily routines distract

us from many important things, like the awareness of what is wrong with the economic

system, since people only see the positive sides and disregard or simply do not know the parts

that harm the disadvantaged ones. Moore might have used an aggressive approach in his

movie but he proved with receipts that capitalism has a negative side and it is to blame for

some of the bad things that are happening in our society nowadays. It can be seen that

capitalism, somehow, has corrupted the democracy and it has demonized the socialist system

in order lift up their system and we can agree with his approach, since people tend to

understand stuff in a tougher way and by using this aggressive tone, they may come to the

realization that what is behind of capitalism.