If I recall correctly, I espied the word *****{¹} only one(1), solitary time for the duration of this entire film (NB: It was festooned across a―I believe―"Occupy Wall Street" protester's placard). Besides this one, fleeting instance, I do not believe I saw (much less, heard) the ineffable term in question, uttered or alluded to―from the opening titles to the closing credits of this documentary.
The thing is; if we, as a society, cannot acknowledge and confront the problem, we have little hope of ever curing the source of the disease that ails us. If we are unwilling to localise the cause, we will forever only futilely treat the perpetually reöccurring, ingravescent symptoms... Until we inevitably succumb to our affliction ― once and for all.
Reich's vivisection of the catatonic capitalist crevasse that the West has fallen into, is both a pointed and a mostly veridical assessment of the potentially civilisation-ending cycle of zealous Mammon-worship, and contiguous prosperity, that global inequality has bestowed upon the Occident. Reich unabashëdly fingers those who ― in spite of his own admirable, larger-than-stature efforts; as the U.S.'s Secretary of Labor (et al.) ― have plundered the post-WW2 U.S. economic hegemony, and whose continuing insatiable esurience for 'one shekel more', is ironically condemning (condemnED?) the nation (and beyond) which has fed them their ambrosia―to the fate of those (developing and Third World) who have served as their footstools for $u¢¢e$$.
His plaintive pleas, however, are not without elision and / or redaction: No mention is made of the U.S. Northern War of Aggression (a.k.a. "Civil War") ― the epoch marking the nation's Plutocratic anointment and the arguable roots of its ravenous rapaciousness ― the literal trillion$ continuously "lost" in "known unknown" military "black budgets"; the correlation of the usury banking system to the creation of non-existent money from nothing―coming at the direct expense of proletariat livelihood; the inherently cyclical, prosperity-to-poverty, roller coaster nature the unbridled model of capitalism said system's proponents protect with the fervour of martyrs; AIPAC(!)... etc..
For mine, if there is one trenchant take-away from this film (and there IS more than one), it's the rather perfunctory reality of the purchasing power of "the rich" ― exampled with respect to pillows(!): Even the billionaire buys only one pillow ― and if their socio-economic station comes at the immolation of "middle class" ― their 'pillow-purchasing- power', alone, will not fill the void created in market-demand for pillows. What ensues from here, requires no pay-to-learn, economic Ph.D paper planes for one extrapolate...
'Inequality for All' is essential viewing for anyone who is interested in understanding why society is the way it is, the direction it is careening in as a result, and the fiscal predicament (or preëminence) they may find themselves in. A excellent addendum to one's economic edification.
{¹GREED}
The thing is; if we, as a society, cannot acknowledge and confront the problem, we have little hope of ever curing the source of the disease that ails us. If we are unwilling to localise the cause, we will forever only futilely treat the perpetually reöccurring, ingravescent symptoms... Until we inevitably succumb to our affliction ― once and for all.
Reich's vivisection of the catatonic capitalist crevasse that the West has fallen into, is both a pointed and a mostly veridical assessment of the potentially civilisation-ending cycle of zealous Mammon-worship, and contiguous prosperity, that global inequality has bestowed upon the Occident. Reich unabashëdly fingers those who ― in spite of his own admirable, larger-than-stature efforts; as the U.S.'s Secretary of Labor (et al.) ― have plundered the post-WW2 U.S. economic hegemony, and whose continuing insatiable esurience for 'one shekel more', is ironically condemning (condemnED?) the nation (and beyond) which has fed them their ambrosia―to the fate of those (developing and Third World) who have served as their footstools for $u¢¢e$$.
His plaintive pleas, however, are not without elision and / or redaction: No mention is made of the U.S. Northern War of Aggression (a.k.a. "Civil War") ― the epoch marking the nation's Plutocratic anointment and the arguable roots of its ravenous rapaciousness ― the literal trillion$ continuously "lost" in "known unknown" military "black budgets"; the correlation of the usury banking system to the creation of non-existent money from nothing―coming at the direct expense of proletariat livelihood; the inherently cyclical, prosperity-to-poverty, roller coaster nature the unbridled model of capitalism said system's proponents protect with the fervour of martyrs; AIPAC(!)... etc..
For mine, if there is one trenchant take-away from this film (and there IS more than one), it's the rather perfunctory reality of the purchasing power of "the rich" ― exampled with respect to pillows(!): Even the billionaire buys only one pillow ― and if their socio-economic station comes at the immolation of "middle class" ― their 'pillow-purchasing- power', alone, will not fill the void created in market-demand for pillows. What ensues from here, requires no pay-to-learn, economic Ph.D paper planes for one extrapolate...
'Inequality for All' is essential viewing for anyone who is interested in understanding why society is the way it is, the direction it is careening in as a result, and the fiscal predicament (or preëminence) they may find themselves in. A excellent addendum to one's economic edification.
{¹GREED}