Michael Moore owns Halliburton!

[justin syder]

Originally Posted by Firecat

The website states that he owns shares in Eli Lilly, which is funny because his new movie is about the pharmaceutical industry I believe.

So either he is trying to profit off the stock (somehow) when his movie is released (like shorting a stock if you know something bad will happen). Or he has them for another reason, if you recall in "bowling for columbine" he mentioned several times that he was a member of the NRA and kinda used that to talk with Charlton Heston....


The same could be said for his Halliburton stock.

Personally, I think investing in defense companies is tantamount to war profiteering.

If he wanted to make money then that is fine but when you criticise big business for ruining your home town and do nothing to help your home town you come off as a fake. With all the wealth he has acquired, he is just being a big loud mouth hypocrite.

If he took the profits from the stock and his movies and did some good, help out his former community in Flint Michigan then he would be able to have some validity in what he says.

[Firecat]

I don't know what he does with his money regarding giving back to his community. I do agree with the parts about him being a hypocrite. A while back he had mentioned on his site about every senator that voted for the war should be fired (not sure what word he used, maybe resign or be impeached...I dunno). Anyway, after that he goes and campaigns for John Kerry.

[justin syder]

I'm not saying if you are rich it is an obligation but you know what I mean. If he really wanted to help and not just "preach" or bitch about things he don't like he could do something.

[Firecat]

Yeah, I understood what you meant. And I do think that the wealthy are obligated to give back. You don't get rich by yourself, others either buy what you're selling...help you build it....or support you in some way. So, without "the people" nobody would be making anything.

[justin syder]

That's very true. It would be nice but In this country you have the freedom to be a selfish rich bastard as well as a giving rich person.

The people though, ultimately have the real power. Look how the music industry changed by people turning against the music moguls releasing less CD Singles and raising prices. Now, I think, we get a good deal. (In terms of buying music, not having to be forced to buy an album or $7 or $5 CD Single for only one good song and a bunch of crappy remixes but I digress...)

[zenkidori]

Anyway, after that he goes and campaigns for John Kerry.

I don't think that's all that bad. You can have ideals but if you sit there being unrealistic all the time with your head in the clouds nothing gets done. John Kerry was the lesser of two evils to many people and that's why far leftists voted for him. Not that they liked him in particular, but that they didn't want Bush. You can talk all you want about voting independant, but that shit isn't going to happen in the current climate.

I don't think that rich people are obligated to give anything back to the world, but I do think they should treat thier employees and customers well. I think that if every company paid thier employees a decent wage, allowed more vacation time, got involved with thier employee's community(some towns are there solely because of one company), and took good care of thier customers the world would be much better off. There are a lot of products that have become substandard because a cheaper manufacturing process makes the guy up top a bit more. When I worked in the tech industry we were allways nagged to produce more without anything being offered to us. It's like that part in office space when Peter explains he doesn't want to do hella extra work so "Lumberg's stock can go up 1/4 of a point". On the flip side I've seen people get good bonuses, extra vacation time etc.

I don't think that anyone here is saying MM is a great filmaker or a beacon of light or anything, I think he's kinda a douche, but there are possible explanations for everything, some of them go right along with his image, some of them have nothing to do with his image, some of the are contrary to it.

who the fuck really cares?