When the U.S. government is serious about doing something that's complicated and difficult, it can do it. Charles Ferguson More Quotes by Charles Ferguson More Quotes From Charles Ferguson It is much simpler and easier to collect and caress the trophies of our democratic inheritance than it is to fashion up-to-date tools with which to work on our current problems. Charles Ferguson diversity fashion justice Thus far, both political parties have been remarkably clever and effective in concealing this new reality. In fact, the two parties have formed an innovative kind of cartel—an arrangement I have termed America’s political duopoly. Both parties lie about the fact that they have each sold out to the financial sector and the wealthy. So far both have largely gotten away with the lie, helped in part by the enormous amount of money now spent on deceptive, manipulative political advertising. Charles Ferguson party clever lying This whole force is utterly demoralized by victory. There seems to be neither head nor tail. Charles Ferguson victory force tails I'd been a film maniac since I was very young; by the time I was eight or nine years old, I was hooked on movies. Charles Ferguson eight nine years But that's not how most of the people mentioned in this book became wealthy. Most of them became wealthy by being well connected and crooked. And they are creating a society in which they can commit hugely damaging economic crimes with impunity, and in which only children of the wealthy have the opportunity to become successful. Charles Ferguson successful book children The real challenge is figuring out how the United States can regain control of its future from its new oligarchy and restore its position as a prosperous, fair, well-educated nation. For if we don't, the current pattern of great concentration of wealth and power will worsen, and we may face the steady immiseration of most of the American population. Charles Ferguson concentration-of-wealth political real If allowed to continue, this process will turn the United States into a declining, unfair society with an impoverished, angry, uneducated population under the control of a small, ultrawealthy elite. Such a society would be not only immoral but also eventually unstable, dangerously ripe for religious and political extremism. Charles Ferguson politics political religious I sort of plunged into filmmaking. I decided I'd jump off the deep end, so I started thinking about what kind of a movie I should try to make. Charles Ferguson kind trying thinking It is no exaggeration to say that since the 1980s, much of the global financial sector has become criminalised, creating an industry culture that tolerates or even encourages systematic fraud. The behaviour that caused the mortgage bubble and financial crisis of 2008 was a natural outcome and continuation of this pattern, rather than some kind of economic accident. Charles Ferguson creating behaviour culture Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong. Charles Ferguson forgive-me jail years You shall hear a good account of me or of my death. Charles Ferguson accounts I thought I should try something relatively inexpensive, relatively contained, relatively small. I started working on a feature, a film I'd still like to make: a very talky film of people and ideas about our contemporary state with regard to relationships, marriage, sex, and romance. I started trying to educate myself about filmmaking. Charles Ferguson sex people ideas Everyone knows, or has strongly suspected, that capital theory is difficult. Charles Ferguson economics difficult theory Any attempt to disturb the deadly routine of instruction is looked upon as sabotage. And the notion that the aims and functions of education should be determined in the local community by a close and continuous discussion among students, faculty, administration, and citizens is so visionary that it is not even seriously considered. Charles Ferguson diversity community justice A fierce and sentimental addiction to forms makes us shudder at change. It is much easier to say that the system is all right-only the people need to be improved. Charles Ferguson diversity justice people When the financial crisis arrived, it seemed to me that this was something I had to make a movie about. Charles Ferguson financial-crisis crisis financial I'm actually all in favor of freeing the entrepreneurial spirit - but it turns out, interestingly, that you actually need very strict regulations to free the entrepreneurial spirit. Charles Ferguson regulation favors needs WikiLeaks combines several of my prior interests in technology, policy questions, and journalism. Charles Ferguson wikileaks journalism technology A very high fraction of America's economic problems come not from our difficulties with education or globalization or competition with the Chinese or whatever. But they come from the fact that a small number of wealthy and powerful people who run dangerous and/or inefficient companies are able, through the use of money in the political process, to prevent the government from regulating them properly. Charles Ferguson small-numbers powerful running I used to be a businessman and I enjoyed what I did and I thought that it was socially useful. I don't have anything against business or private enterprise or capitalism per se, but I think that it is time to rethink the regulation of capitalism. Charles Ferguson regulation used thinking
