5 reviews
- bloodtrainfromtokyo
- Jun 25, 2012
- Permalink
This documentary explains what happens in, widely considered, successful economies, when public goods like water, energy and public transport go private. It's targeted in the case of Greece but it can be also viewed as a general model. The cases are well documented and the documentary has a really good structure. It gets you deeply without even being boring.
This documentary can be viewed as a natural - as things evolve - follow-up to 'Debtocracy'.
I strongly believe that it's a "must see" for everyone interested in democracy.
This documentary can be viewed as a natural - as things evolve - follow-up to 'Debtocracy'.
I strongly believe that it's a "must see" for everyone interested in democracy.
- roigprietojordi
- Aug 19, 2012
- Permalink
How do you make a propaganda piece that gets voted 8.+ on IMDB? Throw together a bunch of facts interspersed with talking heads - so that a gullible audience doesn't notice that the information isn't connected at all.
The film portrays the debt crisis in Greece as an element of cannibal capitalism through privatization and lists Chile, Russia, Thatcherist Britain and East Germany in one breath as examples. Chile was a CIA-fostered coup aimed at curbing Communist expansion; the Soviet Union was bankrupted in the course of the arms race with the US, which enabled new private banks to sell and confiscate assets for a pittance - which is how the oligarchy started; and Greece went several times over the Euro stability criteria to finance political promises and the Olympics, thereby increasing its borrowing costs until the crisis hit. Thatcherism is, indeed, a perfect example of neoliberal capitalism, but in this film, all kinds of non-connected things are thrown together to create the illusion of a global conspiracy. Your head will spin over movie clips, snippets of Slavoj Zizek and Naomi Klein, and how they connect Greece with British rail privatization and Enron.
I can only determine the full scope of disinformation here on the bits about Germany. The "experts" consulted here are with one exception members of "Die Linke", the follow-up of the sole East German party SED. Which means these people were part / benefited from the ruling elite, and since they lost their privileges upon reunification, they have created their own mythology about evil West Germany taking over the innocent East. No word about East Germans being adopted into the Western pension fund and health insurance scheme, financed by a "solidarity tax" of 5.5% on top of income tax - until today! No word about the "Länderausgleich" which obliges states like Bavaria, which generate a budget surplus, to finance states on a deficit, which are the Eastern ones.
But of course, for Greeks Germany and the EU are evil because they insisted on compliance with the Euro stability pact before agreeing to bail them out. Yet had the evil Troika not pressured Greece into this and chosen Grexit instead, there would have been state bankruptcy, and no bank would have vouched for Greek debt. The Greeks would have had to negotiate a deal with private equity funds like Argentina, they would have returned to the Drachma leading to hyperinflation, and the overall situation would have been way worse than it is now. But hey, those are facts, and who gives a damn about those these days. You'll either applaud this fact manipulation because it fits your view of the world, or you'll shake your head over people believing this nonsense.
The film portrays the debt crisis in Greece as an element of cannibal capitalism through privatization and lists Chile, Russia, Thatcherist Britain and East Germany in one breath as examples. Chile was a CIA-fostered coup aimed at curbing Communist expansion; the Soviet Union was bankrupted in the course of the arms race with the US, which enabled new private banks to sell and confiscate assets for a pittance - which is how the oligarchy started; and Greece went several times over the Euro stability criteria to finance political promises and the Olympics, thereby increasing its borrowing costs until the crisis hit. Thatcherism is, indeed, a perfect example of neoliberal capitalism, but in this film, all kinds of non-connected things are thrown together to create the illusion of a global conspiracy. Your head will spin over movie clips, snippets of Slavoj Zizek and Naomi Klein, and how they connect Greece with British rail privatization and Enron.
I can only determine the full scope of disinformation here on the bits about Germany. The "experts" consulted here are with one exception members of "Die Linke", the follow-up of the sole East German party SED. Which means these people were part / benefited from the ruling elite, and since they lost their privileges upon reunification, they have created their own mythology about evil West Germany taking over the innocent East. No word about East Germans being adopted into the Western pension fund and health insurance scheme, financed by a "solidarity tax" of 5.5% on top of income tax - until today! No word about the "Länderausgleich" which obliges states like Bavaria, which generate a budget surplus, to finance states on a deficit, which are the Eastern ones.
But of course, for Greeks Germany and the EU are evil because they insisted on compliance with the Euro stability pact before agreeing to bail them out. Yet had the evil Troika not pressured Greece into this and chosen Grexit instead, there would have been state bankruptcy, and no bank would have vouched for Greek debt. The Greeks would have had to negotiate a deal with private equity funds like Argentina, they would have returned to the Drachma leading to hyperinflation, and the overall situation would have been way worse than it is now. But hey, those are facts, and who gives a damn about those these days. You'll either applaud this fact manipulation because it fits your view of the world, or you'll shake your head over people believing this nonsense.
This is a travesty. An exercise in fear propaganda. And a nice one once you are not aware of the historical details or you don't care. In order to work the people who supported these measures in the vain hope of feeding their own greed are cut off from the guilt as the leaders become somehow disconnected from their electorate.
Alexander Buzgalin. Talks about the price of an industrial building in Siberia. He talks about the price to build something similar. But he implies the market value for a building in the middle of nowhere should be the one in the accountancy books. Fake. The value is zero. The infrastructure is bad. The workers and drivers are unruly. But this is impossible to comprehend to people born and raised by the communists and their inflated dreams of grandeur.
Zoom to Boris Kagarlitsky. Who sells a crude example of a blend of stupidity of a corrupted official and the corruption of a state who grew oligarchs as a good example of what? The viewer is lead with cut up inserts of a larger speech of Naomy Klein to accept the thesis of the producers: some occult power has date raped Russia and gave all the valuables to some unruly oligarchs who create chaos even in the West.
Even Naomi Klein succumbs to become a propaganda monger. AIDS was not the result of privatization, but the consequence of Russians not willing to work for reaching the perceived level of the Western lives and starting prostitution rings from Japan to US. AIDS was barely known behind the Iron Courtain precisely for the strong enforcement of prostitution laws and isolation from foreigners.
And this is only a glimpse in the first 5 minutes. Of almost 90 minutes!
Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch
Alexander Buzgalin. Talks about the price of an industrial building in Siberia. He talks about the price to build something similar. But he implies the market value for a building in the middle of nowhere should be the one in the accountancy books. Fake. The value is zero. The infrastructure is bad. The workers and drivers are unruly. But this is impossible to comprehend to people born and raised by the communists and their inflated dreams of grandeur.
Zoom to Boris Kagarlitsky. Who sells a crude example of a blend of stupidity of a corrupted official and the corruption of a state who grew oligarchs as a good example of what? The viewer is lead with cut up inserts of a larger speech of Naomy Klein to accept the thesis of the producers: some occult power has date raped Russia and gave all the valuables to some unruly oligarchs who create chaos even in the West.
Even Naomi Klein succumbs to become a propaganda monger. AIDS was not the result of privatization, but the consequence of Russians not willing to work for reaching the perceived level of the Western lives and starting prostitution rings from Japan to US. AIDS was barely known behind the Iron Courtain precisely for the strong enforcement of prostitution laws and isolation from foreigners.
And this is only a glimpse in the first 5 minutes. Of almost 90 minutes!
Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch