Michael Moore: A Walking Conundrum

Successful film director Michael Moore is popping up in the news again with his new film “Capitalism: A Love Story.”  While the film seems to focus more on the bailouts of big Wall street investment firms, it is no secret that Moore has no love-loss towards our capitalist system.

Thus the conundrum.  How is it possible for a self-made multi-millionaire to hate a system that has benefited him so much?

Moore was raised near Flint, Michigan.  His parents both worked for G.M.  Instead of following his parents to the assembly line, he chose to follow his dream to become an investigative journalist instead.  Through hard work and dedication he started his own newspaper.  His reputation grew rapidly and briefly became the Editor of the magazine Mother Jones though he was shortly fired after only 4 months on the job. 

Instead of blaming the system for his troubles, Moore picked himself up and began to film the low budget documentary “Roger and Me.”  Though the film did not have much financial backing, Moore’s hard work and kamikaze style of “bushwhacking journalism” made the film a success.  His star had risen, he would go on to make several more successful films and take advantage of other lucrative endeavors as well.

Moore himself is an example of the success of our capitalist society.  Why then does he hate this form of economy so much?  How could someone of such a caliber of success say that “capitalism is a sin.”?

Moore’s actions if looked at closely are even more strange.

For such a hater of capitalism and corporations the last thing you would expect Moore to do would be to start a corporation.  but this is exactly what he did.  His company Dog Eat Dog Films is a very lucrative production company registered in the state of California.

Moore  has such a strong faith in corporations that he owns over 10,000 shares in corporate stocks.  Ironically he owns 2,000 shares in Halliburton, a company he railed against in his documentary “Fahrenheit 911.”

One might also expect that an anti-capitalist would try to spread his message of evil corporate greed to the poor masses free of charge, yet on his website michaelmoore.com, his documentaries are on sale at retail price.

He also found another lucrative trade to help amass his wealth.  Moore takes his holy message to the road on speaking tours for a humble starting price of only $30,000 per appearance.

I for one am happy for Moore and all his success. Moore’s story is an example of how far one can go in our free capitalist society.  Moore should be happy with his success as well, because with hard work comes reward.

Rewards such as a net worth of over 50 million dollars. 

With that wealth he is able to better the life of his daughter by enrolling her in one of the best private schools in New Yourk City. 

He is able to afford a million dollar apartment in the central park west area of New York City.  If he gets tired of the smell of Wall Street from his penthouse, he can retreat back to Michigan for the fresh air of his million dollar mansion on the beach.

Anyone who reaches the level of success that Michael Moore has reached should be very proud of what they have accomplished.  Why is he trying to keep it a secret?  Maybe to protect the wealth of the Michael Moore empire he has no other chocie.