I walked to a movie theater a couple of miles from my house and saw Jodie Foster's new film "Money Monster". It grabbed me and never let go. The issue couldn't be more pertinent:Wall Street's gambling with investors' money, without regulation or consequences. But Forster made her points in a fashion that was accessible and coherent. Each character was distinctive and the protagonist was easy to empathize with. I don't know if the release of this movie was calculated or serendipitous. But it reminds me of "Under Seige", which was released right after 9/11 and not appreciated not because it was irrelevant because it hit too close to home, in a scenario which has Muslims profiled and targeted to the point of interment camps.
This film speaks out about the parts of Wall Street that never got fixed after 2008. And Saunders is speaking out about this very real threat right now, and to a lesser extent, Clinton. Even Trump is using fear of rich people's callousness to galvanize the poor and middle class who were so hurt by banks and investment firms who took their money and rolled the dice, then got protected and saved by the U.S. government. The question is can any of these candidates fix the system? Saunders is an outsider who is a brand new Democrat, and it's difficult to imagine him orchestrating a coalition with either party, Clinton may not be comfortable being combative, as Obama was not, and Trump hasn't the will or skill to fix what has made him rich.
I hope people see this movie, but I'm not sure it gives the viewer a path for the election. It would take each voter pressuring their representatives relentlessly to get any legislation passed, and I'm afraid our Congress no longer feels beholden to voters but rather to special interests and their donors. So I guess the first thing to get fixed is the election money loopholes. Without that reform, we exert no pressure on Congress at all.
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