User Reviews

Short and without any real ideas other than to say it's up to the young people to demand change, which is all well and good, but it would have been nice to have a few ideas beyond just saying "organize." If you aren't brainwashed or holding your head under the sand, then you should know the information presented about inequality and corporate control and the rise of authoritarianism so it's not going to blow anyone's mind, but it is welcome for those that might not know. His previous movie was more biting and hard hitting, this almost feels like a special feature follow up.

The documentation really highlights how coperate america has taken over the politcal system in the last 20 years. However, it is sometimes rather superficial. For example, there are no case examples on how the lobbying is done and his solution: what we need is active citizens is certainly true, but he could have pointed how it would be best to get involded. For anyone who doubts that the system is borken, this movie is a must.

A well balanced look into one of the more important issues of the modern era. The discussion here highlights that ultimately it doesn't matter who runs a country as long as there continue to be large corporations who pull the strings from behind the scenes.

11/24/17. This is the pundit everyone should listen to. Really. There are too many talking heads spewing hot air, but Reich is the modern day Citizen Renaissance Man. He's got the economy covered like the way it should be covered. Just like the fear of math holds back many people from better paying jobs, the fear of economics holds back most people from admitting their ignorance and thus lure them into losing their nest eggs to unscrupulous money managers, financial planners, etc. And, don't forget who is pulling back on regulating these people from unethical practices. Sad to say, Reich is the modern day Cassandra warning of impending doom while people are ignoring his insight as political propaganda. It is not. It is straight talk. Entities that make the money do not need to be bailed out. While they are being bailed out, it is the working people who suffer the most. Do you really think that when corporations get a tax break that the money they save from having to pay taxes will be plowed back into their companies so more jobs will be created? Think again. AI and robots are just around the corner to take over jobs that can be easily automated. That's where the money is going to go, if it goes back to the company and their workers at all. When the working people start to realize this, then perhaps we can realistically address the inequities and inequalities that are continually supported by people who make all the money and want to keep it that way.

I would think that the people in the system are the ones that need saving - but that is more or less what the maker of this is suggesting anyway. It's not about saving "money" or just generally the system. It's about how people suffer under the current system. Now you could argue that this is politically motivated, even propaganda. It's a fair point to make. The good thing is, you can make up your mind and maybe have a couple more view points on certain things that are happening in your economy.

It's interesting but it might not be the most thorough. It still is an interesting documentary and it does work as an insight look in what works or rather does not work at times. If it's an interesting subject to you, you will find something to hold onto and be excited about

'SAVING CAPITALISM': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A documentary about capitalism in modern society, starring liberal politician Robert Reich. It was released by Netflix, through their streaming site, and it was directed by Sari Gilman and Jacob Kornbluth. The film title is also the name of Reich's new book, which he discusses continuously throughout the movie. I found the doc to be decently made, and somewhat informative.

Reich speaks in front of multiple audiences (of all kinds of different people), about his book, and interviews several different individuals as well. He also speaks to several other politicians, addressing the major issues with capitalism today. He informs the viewers, through narration, about many of the corrupt ways our government does business too. The film also goes into Reich's history as a politician, professor and commentator. He served in President Gerald Ford's administration, as well as Jimmy Carter's, and he was also Secretary of Labor for Bill Clinton (from 1993 to 1997). So the guy is definitely an experienced politician.

I usually agree with what Reich has to say, politically speaking, and I agree with most of what he says in this film. There are times I don't agree with him though, and I have a hard time respecting him after knowing how close he is to the Clintons. Still I think his views are mostly true, and seemingly come from passion and commitment to making the world a better place. So I did like this movie. It's a little like a Michael Moore film, but less funny, and not quite as effective or well made. You have to be a Robert Reich fan to enjoy it though, obviously.

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How our government and our economy work have a profound impact on every American family. Over the past 40 years, we've gone from being a society in which our gains were broadly shared, to being one in which a few privileged elites get the lion's share of any progress we make.

We're producing twice as much wealth -- PER PERSON -- as we were in the mid 1970's. Sadly, much of this wealth has been hijacked and redirected to the wealthiest and most powerful among us. In this film, Robert Reich explains, pretty clearly, how and why this has happened.

If you don't understand exactly what's happened -- and what's CONTINUING to happen -- then you need to see this film.

Yes, it's a documentary. Documentaries aren't as exciting as the latest big box-office smash hit. But even if you need to watch it in pieces, watch it. Because our very future is at stake, and understanding where we are at is key to preserving or regaining it.

Others have rightly noted that Reich doesn't present a lot of solutions here. "Get involved" is a bit simplistic, but still, it's the first step. And a very necessary one.

One step forward that I would recommend would be to connect with an organization called "Represent Us" (you can find them on the web.)

In spite of the lack of "action steps," I give this a 10 out of 10 for the importance of raising people's awareness of how our system is rigged. We can't move forward if we don't know what the game is.

A thought provoking look at the current economic and political systems of the USA.

Having served in the administrations of Ford, Carter, Clinton as well as an economic adviser to Obama, Reich offers a unique insight into the White House, speaking from first-hand experience rather than speculation.

This is NOT an anti-capitalism documentary by any means, rather a reasonable critique of the current form of capitalism and it's trajectory.

I now feel inspired to read one of his books.

The premise is that capitalism needs saving. Tends to highlight the problems fairly well. Yet it continually fails to understand where the problem lies. It is not capitalism that needs the saving, it is our political system. For example: Argues a major problem is corporations buying political influence; fails to understand that politicians must sell political influence for it to be bought.

If valid and rational narrative is a must, look elsewhere; if you can look beyond the intended narrative, it isn't a horrible documentary.

That is what's at stake here. There is no free market in America or much of the world anymore. The laws following the great depression, was put in place to avoid a similar tragedy but the have now been reversed. Because people in government now serve corporation rather than the people inequality is today as it was in the 1880-90's. If this continues it will very likely result in a violent overturn of some sort. Robert Reich very patiently shows that to counteract that people can and should reclaim democracy by standing together and thereby saving capitalism against the present choke hold corporate America have on legislators and the general population.

On the whole, I enjoyed this. It was thought provoking in parts but over simplified the issues and totally agree with a previous reviewer that it left you hanging with no solutions. Its an opportunity missed to have been part of a solution going forward and sweepingly stating there needs to be more political activism /awareness in our younger generations, for me, misses the spot. The shift thats needed in the political powerhouse, isn't going to come from students on the street (theyve been doing that for decades). Id be interested in Mr Reichs views on blockchain. Will the ability through blockchain to cut out the layers of governance and bureucracy indeed resolve many of these 21st century corporate governance issues highlighted here?

Mostly from the book "Saving Capitalism - For the Many, Not the Few" by Robert Reich where he makes it so clear the problem comes from the politicians, not from capitalism. Not nearly as good as the book, but still valuable short version.

This documentary is really good. It relates the capitalist spirit and ideology with the American dream. It shows how a good managed and without corruption capitalist country can work, generating opportunity and helping people grow in life. It also refers the bad part of it, with the corruption and take advantage of the good workers who take effort to grow in life, which only a good capitalist government can provide.

As economist Paul Gregory has noted in his Forbes article, "Reich's lamentable disregard for facts and his lack of knowledge of basic economics," has earned him and his theories an "F." Having spent enough time in academia and years at one of the top business schools in the country, I couldn't agree more with the numerous reviews and critiques on Reich's "Saving Capitalism." For those like me that have had the unfortunate opportunity of reading "Saving Capitalism," and seeing the "documentary," (quoted because it is more a lengthy advertisement for the implementation of a social welfare state and a forced societal and cultural paradigm shift built on a strong-armed redistribution of wealth), it is difficult to adequately cover how wrong Reich is nearly every step of the way, starting with his book's initial false assertion in which the rest of his arguments are reliant on. He complains about every debate he is in devolving into a debate about whether the free market or the government does a better job (completely ignoring that classical liberals, libertarians, free market economists, and conservatives alike, would all agree that for the government to create property rights, control monopoly, and enforce contracts are precisely things they would list as justified duties of the government. He relies on some perverted assumption that all of his opponents believe the government serves no purpose, has no right "setting the rules," is mutually exclusive of a free-market, and is always wrong and/or bad. Instead, they'd likely argue that it isn't their "making and enforcing" the rules that is the problem, but their tendency to also insert themselves as players or actors "in the game," in which they are "making and enforcing" the rules).

Overall, without writing a full essay, the best I can suggest is to take everything with a (huge) grain of salt if you are going to watch or read the book, especially if you are not, like most people (understandably), educated in economics, political science, or a related field. It's easy to hear agreeable things, like eliminating poverty, backed by nice buzz words, like 'wealth redistribution," and agree with everything else - it's why propaganda is so effective. So I urge everyone to at least do themselves a favor, and read multiple (academic/scholarly, or at least by an economist) book reviews and/or critiques of Reich as supplemental material to understand why it is that economists and professionals don't take Reich too seriously, and more importantly, why the ideas presented are downright dangerous

People seem to forget that capitalism per se is not a problem. It's vulture capitalism that exploits employees and where corporations don't pay taxes and control our government - that's the problem.

Secondly, the rich white people in the documentary "feeling attacked" when capitalism is criticized fail to see that their white privilege allowed them to become the 1% because government is built for and controlled by rich white people. The rest of society in turn is exploited by super wealthy people that look like them. Cry me a river.

The saddest part is poor and middle class white people who defend these vulture capitalists because they fail to see that they themselves are exploited along with minorities. Republicans have made sure these exploited white people convince themselves that voting against their own interests is best for their livelihoods.

The ending message of the doc was to become "politically involved" what does that mean? In 2020 it means yelling at anyone that disagrees with you, which accomplishes nothing.

The doc mainly showed the problems of the very real wealth gap, but did almost nothing to explain what needs to be done to fix it.

I was left with a "ok there's a big problem, but now what?"

Left me feeling pretty empty. I think Reich is an incredibly smart person, but this director didn't do him any favors.

Long story short, just read the book.

Blaming the people who added value and made money doing for the perseived unfairness of a wealth gap.

No facts are provided just a lot of wealing. Imho total BS.

I thought of learning something new and maybe basic behind this issue, ended up learning nothing from it. Not at all interesting.

Tripe from those that don't know that Anti capitalism is socialism is " saving capitalism".. This movie is a product of Americas educational system favoring. Socialism over reality.

This is not a documentary. It was labeled as documentary for the lack of a better term. It is a long advertorial. And if you are convinced you can buy, of course. A short white old man talking about his short white old point of view. Of course, this is not Al Gore or Leo DiCaprio, but he still has a good life with his sermons. A white bearded Mighty Mouse to save his flavor of capitalism. At least putting his underwear over his custom made pants would have made him more interesting.

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