So this was GM chairman Roger Smith. And he appeared to have a brilliant plan: First, close 11 factories in the U.S, then open 11 in Mexico where you pay the workers 70 cents an hour. Then, use the money you've saved by building cars in Mexico to take over other companies, preferably high-tech firms and weapons manufacturers. Next, tell the union you're broke and they happily agree to give back a couple billion dollars in wage cuts. You then take that money from the workers, and eliminate their jobs by building more foreign factories. Roger Smith was a true genius.
The shining happy power of capitalism is the greatest pack of lies that has ever been pulled on the American people. The majority of us are a missed paycheck or two away from food stamps, and yet we sit idly by as the gaping chasm between those that have and those that do not grows ever wider all because we have that "American Dream" that one day we too, will be one of the elite. This is the first of many documentaries that will be on this list. My students usually groan when I promise a movie in class and then qualify that it is a documentary, but these movies can be just a powerful, emotional, action-packed, and funny as a traditional movie. Good docs tell about a very interesting (usually ignored or forgotten) snippet of reality. Great documentaries take this real-life story and turn it into a work of art. With "Roger & Me" Michael Moore changes the face of docs. There had been others that tried to sway public opinion, but this was the first that really sought to do so primarily through enteratainment. Simply put, his movies are funny, witty, and can be truly moving. In the movie's most powerful scene Moore intercuts a General Motors company Christmas party with families being evicted from their house on Christmas Eve. Regardless of your political persuasion, you have to admit that this man can make a movie.
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