The Divide

While my son was here (he just left a few minutes ago, after giving me at least ten hours help on my work, much-needed help, I might add), he hooked up my streaming video player. I think that's what it's called; in any event, it's the wireless thing hooked up to my television that lets me access Netflix. Somehow it was disconnected during the big renovation, and I never got around to hooking it back up. It's nice to have it back. Comcast decided that I had asked them to remove HBO and Showtime from my movie line-up. I received an email proudly exclaiming, "We've made the changes you requested to your account!" I hadn't requested any changes, but this is about the fifth time they have made changes I didn't request. Since the email didn't divulge said changes, it was a while before I found out that HBO and Showtime -- the services I had allegedly asked to stop receiving -- were gone. Calling is always a big deal. I tried yesterday, and after going through fifteen minutes of phone menus was disconnected from the call. I'll try again next week.

Anyway, this ties in with what I started to talk about in the following way: I like to watch documentaries, and they are difficult to find on non-premium cable channels -- or Netflix. And because it's been a long time since I watched Netflix, there are many I haven't seen. So I watched one this afternoon called The Divide. It's about economic disparity, which is currently (or as 2015, and I don't think it's gotten better) the worst it's been since 1928. Let that soak in for a minute. The gap between the rich and the poor is higher now than it was nearly ninety years ago, and the middle class is shrinking more and more. Another point the documentarians made was that our system is not truly one of capitalism; there is too much government interference -- often in forms that benefit big businesses -- to be capitalism in any real way.

The best part of the documentary, in my view, is that it made sense to me. I am not an economist. I'm not dumb, but I haven't studied the field extensively, and I like when information is presented in a way that is clear without being condescending. Many more interesting points were raised in the film, and I would encourage you to watch it. That's my Saturday night movie review!