A Libertarian Perspective on Capitalism A Love Story

Capitalism: A Love Story is a well made film which brings up many wonderful points and injustices in our society.  It approaches each of these by showing the tragedies and not really addressing root causes.  It makes some wonderful arguments against many things we free market capitalists have been trying to bring to the attention of the main stream for decades, but then turns around and calls those things capitalism. It is only fair to tell you going into this that I am a libertarian minded supporter of the school of Austrian economics which makes me extremely pro-capitalist.

Moore starts the film with a rendition of Louie Louie that bashes on Capitalism and shows low quality footage of bank robberies in his attempt to paint what he calls capitalism as this violent act of force against the people.  Herein lies the initial most constant flaw of the film.  Speak to just about any libertarian minded capitalist and they will tell you they believe in a free market system, but one of the largest things they will oppose is committing acts 0f force or fraud.  This is what Michael Moore spends the film focusing on, acts of force and fraud.  Much of his argument relied on classic complaints of free market advocates, only now decades after these free market advocates spoke out against these injustices in support of a free market system Mr. Moore decides to listen to our complaints and label all of them with this vague term “Capitalism”.

The film approaches capitalism from the beginning with an extremely Marxist view and definition.  The philosophy and definitions given start with bias against free market concepts.  There is an attempt to discredit certain “Capitalists” by showing one question the concept of democracy.  I have a feeling that if Mr. Moore were in the deep south before the Civil War he may also have a problem with democracy as he would watch the 51% oppress the 49%.  Moore goes on to say that the economic system he supports is democracy.  He does not address the fact that democracy is not an economic system.  Those with little political knowledge will fail to see the humor or lack of proposal he has given.

The film often supports concepts of workers uprisings, similar to those seen in the United States before WWII and McCarthy.   These ideas are presented to seem revolutionary and new. You get the feel that he would not like the audience to know which “ism” he does support.

The film goes on to follow families around who are being evicted from homes and portraying the struggle of the haves and the have nots.  You begin to feel for their struggles and hardships.  The whole time this ignores the hand of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the federal reserve and the large role government had in this tragedy.

Most who watch will agree that what Michael Moore is confronting is unjust and wrong.  Few would defend it.  The largest focus is in the second half when he goes on to attack the Bank Bailout.  This was all said to be more “Capitalism”.  For some reason he seems to believe that when you socialize loss and privatize gains that can be considered more capitalism.  I fail to see how any of that is a Free Market concept whatsoever.  If you support the left leaning so-called progressive powers that currently hold power, or if you are able to get past the constant blame on the fairy tale free market they claim exists in the U.S. you will see some phenomenal points of areas our country is corrupt with corporatism.  It is wonderful seeing the powers that be in Congress and at the Federal Reserve being called out, but It seems that these powers that enabled much of this did often not receive enough of the blame they are due.

Moore takes the time to blast on Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner and many on Capitol hill.   This part not many will disagree on much aside from his exploitation of the word Capitalism.  Moore goes to Wall-Street and claims that he is there to make citizens arrests.  It is fun to watch the confrontations between security and Mr. Moore as he stands around with that pensive look on his face he does so well.  This is followed by a praise for hope & change extolling the virtues of Obama and the dawning of a new era he is believed to be bringing.  This ironically ignores all the similar decisions and steps the Obama administration has made that have helped to perpetuate these problems, corruptions, and to continue in this direction.

I strongly suggest this film to all proponents of Capitalism and Libertarian minded individuals, if nothing more than to understand the arguments that are being used against Capitalism and there is much to learn from here.  Try to watch this and understand what it is that those who would oppose a free market would believe about a free market economy.  This will quickly reveal the misconceptions of free market economies held by it’s opponents and those that support the blended economy concepts our country has supported for over a century.