The Emperor's New Clothes Trailer - A Russell Brand & Michael Winterbottom film

[Ichingcarpenter]

World-famous British comedian and activist Russell Brand joins forces with acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom on a polemical documentary about the financial crisis and gross inequality we currently face. Starting with the genesis of today’s economic policies, with the arrival of Milton Friedman’s school of thought in Reagan’s leadership and Thatcher’s UK, the film explores how these policies have come to dominate the western world. The rich have got richer; where a CEO of a major British company used to earn 10 times the average wage of his workers, now they earn 200 times. According to Oxfam, the richest 80 people in the world own as much as the poorest 3.5 billion. It would now take 300 years for the average cleaner, cleaning the offices of his senior boss, to earn the same salary taken home by the same boss last year.

Milton Friedman once said that every crisis was an opportunity. The financial crisis of 2008 should have been a chance to reform the system for the benefit of everyone. But instead, austerity for everyone throughout Britain and Europe was the price to be paid for supporting the financial sector, with £131 billion spent by UK tax payers to keep the financial system afloat, while $30 trillion in support and subsidies went to Wall Street in the US.

Using a mixture of documentary, interviews, archive footage and comedy, Russell Brand takes us from his hometown Grays in Essex, to the heart of London ‘City’ and on to the Big Apple. This daring film will shake up the world by revealing the bewildering truth about how the people at the bottom are paying for the luxuries of those at the top.

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. Emperor's New Clothes rap

&feature=youtu.be



Lyrics:

Because we're leaving them to their own devices
The poorest are making all of the sacrifices -
The cost of living crisis, house prices, the cost of a deposit,
I don't give a shit
But yes of course we should address it
So we will blame the deficit on people claiming benefits
And as we debate what people get from the state
We don't care about how long people have to wait in A&E
We don't care about your GP
We have to get the money, it's important to me
And as the NHS is being sold off
It's businesses that get the profits in their pockets

Make sure the toffs stay better off
Make sure the money stops at the top
Take every penny from the hands of the many
And give everything to the few

Where is the fairness? We couldn't care less
One tax law for the rich and another for the rest
And we will take interest in the very richest
Let us make the poor their bitches
Tax evasion is a man-made disaster
These are the people I serve as Chancellor
I know the answer is to fill
The wallets of the rich and balance the bills
On the backs of the poor.
The rich pay less tax
Let us make sure they don't pay any more
And as my chums move their money offshore
I am the one holding open the door
Let us be the party that makes you cry
But madness is voting for the other guy

Good morning everybody
Our ideas are partly fear
Of people from different cultures coming here
And when I hear our policies about ethnic minorities
We're the only party that actually believes in social mobility
Cos our ability to push migrants on a boat
Is my personal priority
Yes, the majority of our policies
Blame people who come from other countries

Employment legislation, blame immigration
Excessive regulation, blame immigration
Bad education, blame immigration
No qualifications, blame immigration
Radicalisation, blame immigration
Unhappy situation, blame immigration
The intimidation in our nation
When we blame immigration
Is a total abomination

At home and abroad, we can afford to press pause
And put the needle on the record

Make sure the toffs stay better off
Make sure the money stops at the top
Take every penny from the hands of the many
And give everything to the few
We are not all in this together
We want to help the rich get richer forever
The poor will get a chance never
We don't give a damn about you

.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

4. That was very well put together. Thank you for sharing.

[Hoppy]

2. I like Russell. But how is this different than Moore's, "Capitalism, a Love Story?"

As long as the likes of Eric Holder are defending the bankers, nothin's gonna change. Save your $10.00 and $8.00 pop corn.

[swilton]

3. Same story

different words - eventually people will get the message that is counter to the rose colored glasses furnished by the Spielberg-Disneyesque mass culture industry that the world is rational, just and unchangeable.

[chervilant]

5. Never doubt

that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.