In America, the rich are getting richer. Isn’t that great? Doesn’t that mean there’s more wealth out there? Or is it good news for the rich but bad news for the poor?
One of the most exclusive addresses in the world, 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan is home to some of America’s wealthiest people, the 1% of the 1%. Ten minutes north, across the Harlem River, is another parkway in the South Bronx. The unemployment rate here is 19%, and half the population needs food stamps.
The American dream of equal opportunity and hard work says you can be born in the Bronx and end up living to be 740. But is this dream still real? The film argues that the ultra-rich don’t just buy exclusive addresses—they buy the entire system and run it for themselves.
The US is the largest economy in the world because it invents products and then manufactures them using new processes and technologies.
It is critical that the United States rebuild its manufacturing capabilities—not yesterday’s assembly line work, but tomorrow’s advanced high-tech manufacturing—to restart the cycle of invention and production. This is the only way to solve the terrible debt and put Americans back to work.
Compounding the problem is an uneducated eligible population, a perpetually unemployed underclass, a lack of universal health insurance, stupid wars, and ridiculous government spending. However, given the political will, the US could emulate Germany, Scandinavia and Japan, paying high wages and running a surplus on manufactured goods.
To achieve this goal, America must do what it invented. However, when you combine the blatant ignorance of much of the electorate, whose brains are bound by cult-like devotion to a mythical god, with the gross incompetence of their elected officials, the future does not bode well for the American Dream.
The foundation of any strong democracy is an educated and healthy population.
This documentary does a great job of pointing out how America has failed on both fronts, allowing greedy oligarchs and corrupt, professional, self-absorbed politicians to manage their priorities terribly.
Director: Alex Gibney
