Michael Moore to tackle TARP with next movie -- he's the wrong guy for it

Posted Feb 12th 2009 2:00PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Scandals, Financial Crisis

In a letter posted on his website, Michael Moore announced that he is looking for "a few brave people who work on Wall Street or in the financial industry to come forward and share with me what they know."

He adds that he is looking for Wall Streeters to provide a "moment of courage, to be a hero and help me expose the biggest swindle in American history."

While Moore has a history of putting together extraordinarily compelling films, I wonder whether he's the guy to tackle the massive fraud that is the collapse of the financial system and subsequent bailout. Why? Because I think that when it comes to matters the economy, Michael Moore has literally no idea what he's talking about.

Just take a look at how completely ridiculous some of the claims he's made have been. In a column on TheDailyBeast about how to save the auto industry, Moore wrote that "You could buy all the common shares of stock in General Motors for less than $3 billion. Why should we give GM $18 billion or $25 billion or anything? Take the money and buy the company!"

Of course, anyone who's spent all of five minutes following the collapse of the auto industry will tell you that the General Motors (NYSE: GM) equity that could be had for $3 billion is worth all of about 3 cents. Buying the company wouldn't solve anything because the massive debt obligations make GM's equity completely worthless. You could buy the company for $3 billion -- but then what? Moore's suggestion here is just completely wrong.

As Andrea Chalupa recently wrote on WalletPOP, there is a definite need for a populist-minded documentary that exposes an era of unprecendented self-dealing and corruption. While Michael Moore's project will drum up tons of publicity, he's not the right guy to produce the definitive guide to the market meltdown.

Tags: Bailout, Michael Moore, MichaelMoore, TARP

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-12-2009 @ 2:40PM

Mike O said...

He could be the perfect guy for this because many of the so called "experts" have failed to get things right.

One thing's for sure... it'd be quite entertaining if he does make this film.

2-12-2009 @ 3:35PM

Ferrari Drop said...

No, Mr. Zac, you're wrong...
You're misinterpreting Mr. Moore's position. (And, like Mike O said, you're supposed to be the fiscal expert?)

What Mr. Moore is saying is very simple: why give a Co. $18B in "loans" when you can buy all of that Co.'s stocks/ownership with a sixth (1/6) of the amount.

So, how does this accurate and practical analogy make Mr. Moore unfit? It's that type of practicality that makes him erudite and quite fit on the topic of economics... Though, this film will be less about the economy and more about the real topic(s): fraud, evasion, perjury, accounting schemes and conspiracy, theft (401k, stocks, etc.), etc.

Mr. Moore would not only be the perfect person for the task, he is arguably the only person for the task.

Vroom! Vroom!
Ferrari F50

2-12-2009 @ 3:51PM

william lindblad said...

Yes, he should make the film. Nothing like having one buffoon expose other buffoons.
While Moore looks and sounds like the great social commentator he is no Johnathan Swift. Moore's films having one underlying reason - make money. He is about one peg up from what is sold on the grocery check out.

2-12-2009 @ 6:18PM

thedude said...

Are you telling me no one has put a bullet in that Fat A$$ yet ?

The film I want to see is a bunch of bankers tossing Michael Moore out the hatch of a G5 - Now THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT