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Congratulations on your 20th Anniversary show with Michael Moore. His movies are to be saluted as a reminder that we could all collectively do better. But his contention that capitalism is the opposite of democracy doesn't ring true. Don't we all vote perpetually every time we choose to buy one company's product over another? And isn't that process inherently more democratic than his ideal: where government would be free to impose the will of the majority over a minority?

I genuinely like Michael Moore and I'm very sympathetic to his positions. I believe he's sincere in what he says. Here's a great segment on CNN that compares Michael Moore's views with those of Ron Paul. It's really worth a look because you see the points of agreement between the two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hn6ad4_FzM

I'm excited to see the Michael Moore movie, especially after hearing him lay into Tim Geitner. :) Ron Paul's book "End the Fed" does the same thing, although I think he really gets to the heart of the matter. Moore blames the banks, and he's right. But it's the Fed, which serves the interests of those banks, that CREATES the conditions that are so problematic (i.e. ARTIFICIALLY LOW INTERESTS RATES). I really recommend reading it. Like the CNN interview, it will be interesting to see the points of agreement between that and the new Michael's Moore movie.

-jeff

Mr.Moore —

Any chance that was you I was sitting behind at the matinee performance of West Side Story yesterday?

Anyway, it would be wonderful if you would tackle the energy problem in this country, specifically, the latest rush to Frac for gas in New York?

Thanks!

Not all derivatives are credit default swaps, and not all credit default swaps are impossible to understand. The core concept is as easy to understand as anything else, like anything computer- or car-related. The danger lies in how they are used, and when they are being marketed and used only to earn someone a fee, rather than serve a client need. The problems lie in how they are used, not the product. Melodramatic stunts about derivatives doesn't help increase financial literacy. Absolutely, get involved, but people need to understand what the core concepts ARE in order to be sure we don't toss the baby out with the bathwater. And now, I'm not now, nor have I ever been, an investment banker.

Three cheers for Michael! Thank you for sticking to your guns.

The curious fact is that the economists JM Keynes and Kenneth Boulding identified the central tragic cause, and the oddly rational solution, more than half a century ago. The problem is that, when physical limits are approached, our financial system leads people into ever more conflict over shrinking shares, naturally.

The obvious solution starts with realizing that not solving this is not an option, as it really threatens to undermine the stability of the entire physical system of the economies. The key is that at natural peak resources you need to have natural peak money. It means that to have a sustainable free market economy it's necessary to have investment earnings spent on better things than multiplying the investor's shares of every one else's resources...

I've written on in two short pieces, with links -
"Economies that become part of nature" http://www.synapse9.com/issues/NaturalEconsLtr.pdf
"How we get out" http://www.synapse9.com/issues/HowWeGetOut.pdf