Deep down you know the government has been lying to its own people for years, that corporate America is making us look like idiots, taking away jobs, lowering wages, and still managing to record record profits. Yet you still want to buy into the American dream. You want to work for the same company for 40 years and retire with a nice pension, a gold watch and a pat on the back.
Have you ever read Jonathon Swift's "A Modest Proposal?" Michael Moore has written the 90s version of it in "Downsize This!," his answer to CEOs who think it's just swell that thousands of jobs can be cut off while preserving the bottom line. What's good for General Motors is good for America just doesn't cut it anymore. Guess who's the number one employer in Mexico? According to Moore, it's that great American corporation General Motors. Guess who has eliminated the most American jobs? Moore says its none other than General Motors.
That feeling of paranoia you're getting? Your enemies are real. The problem is we're all blaming somebody else. It can't be the big companies who say we're so valuable.That's why Nike, that progressive shoe company, buys 99 percent of its shoes from Asian contractors who employ about 75,000 people. Nike, which pays Michael Jordan $20 milllion a year in endorsement fees, is selling you shoes made in Asia. Nike itself is based in Beaverton, Oregon. In fact, 36 percent of Nike's shoes are made in Indonesia, says Moore. Entry level wages there are $2 a day, and who knows what kind of abuse and poor working conditions they must suffer through just so you and I can wear the latest Nike designs.
Nike closed plants in the United States in the mid-80s and fired over 2,000 workers. So does Jordan, or Nike founder Philip H. Knight, suffer at all? Of course not.
Moore, who produced the documentary "Roger and Me," picks on everybody. He doesn't limit his targets to big companies. He names names. He shows pictures. In the words of Walt Kelly, Moore is pointing out that we have met the enemy and it is us.
Orange County, Germany, the labor unions, Steve Forbes, Newt Gingrich, O.J. Simpson, Bob Dornan, there's nothing sacred. On Simpson, Moore believes he is innocent and tells you why. He still needs help, though, controlling his anger toward women.
You're feeling out of the loop? You're not alone. With companies turning in huge profits, and firing workers at the same time, the world seems like it has gone insane. In America, it has. In a supposed land of freedom, there are more people in jail in this country than any other. In a supposed land of opportunity and plenty, there are areas in this country which are worse off than most third world nations.
Moore has a sense of humor about some of this stuff, which is more than a lot of us can say. He presents things with a twist of irony, satire and humility. To join Mike's militia, for example, you have to be either male or female, and you must be willing to protect a sperm's right to life.
Get the book, read the book, pass the book around. It could be our next manifesto.