BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

carbuff Definitely left-wing viewpoint on growing inequalities in income, wealth and opportunity in America, but everything said seems to be basically correct and defensible. Quite a few interesting facts presented in a short and very watchable program. Harder on Republicans than Democrats, but both look bad, and the bias is easily justified by reality. I knew the Koch brothers contributed a lot of money to a lot of extreme right- wing organizations with the intent of protecting their wealth, but until this documentary, I didn't realize how truly mind-boggling their interference in the political process was, and I am pretty well-read and educated on these matters. This documentary left me feeling very ambivalent, because I have made good money on investments, but at the same time it is pretty apparent that America's economic system is fundamentally unfair. (Of course, I knew that before this documentary, because I pay very close attention to the financial world for my own personal purposes.) I experience some cognitive dissonance after watching shows like this--the current system is pretty good for me, but is almost certainly not "just" in any sense of the word. Truth be told, it leaves me in no rush wanting any changes for purely selfish reasons, as bad as that sounds. That is, no doubt, the problem with ever truly overhauling the American economic system, taxes or otherwise. The people who are profiting vastly more than I am, also have vastly more political power than I do, and are vastly less inclined than I am to do anything against their self- interest, as this brief documentary well points out.

awasko2 Review of: Alex Gibney's Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream Alex Gibney's Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream, is a documentary that compares the Park Avenue in Manhattan, NY to the Park Avenue of the South Bronx, NY. Gibney starts out by showing the audience the residential building 740 Park Avenue. Here, is the home of the most billionaires living on one block (and building), in all of the United States. The Film focuses on Economic Development and Inequality by using the comparison of the Park Avenue billionaires to the Park Avenue residents of the South Bronx. Eventually the director focuses his attention to these billionaires and the United States government. He brings up points that tie the interests of these billionaires to the way in which the government is currently corruptly run. He uses the classic "School House Rock" cartoon "I'm Just a Bill" to show that maybe in 1975 (when the cartoon came out) the S.H.R. interpretation may had been factual and educational in teaching kids how the system works. Today however, the reality up on Capitol Hill bares no resemblance to the cartoon. Today, bills rarely make it to the house to be voted on. Gibney goes on to make strong ties between Ann Rand's ideologies of capitalism in her book Atlas Shrugged with the underlying beliefs of certain CEO billionaires like the Koch brothers and Republican Senator Paul Ryan. Gibney is here stating that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party members have all been bought. They no longer have the interests of the voters, but they have the interests of the lobbyists who give them money for their campaigns. Gibney goes on and on giving examples of how corrupt the government system is today, and says that billionaires including the ones who live in 740 Park Avenue are constantly playing the game of capitalism. They know that in order for them to become richer, others have to become poorer. This is why they want to have close ties in Washington in order to get the bills they want passed. Although the film succeeds in lifting any veil that was hiding the ugly truths about our government system, it does not offer any solutions. Sure it gives us statistics and pie charts letting us know just how poor the majority of American citizens have become, while the 1% has only gotten richer. It ties this subject back into the beginning of the film where at one end of Park Avenue lives people in the 1%, while at the other side of Park Avenue in the South Bronx lives people in poverty struggling to give their kids shelter and an education. At some point in the film I was waiting for some logical solution scenarios to pop up. Gibney does a great job at making me shocked and angry at how the country's government no longer has the interests of the majority of its citizens in mind, but that is all I felt after it was over, angry. I felt angry and helpless. Maybe this film was produced by the 1% to scare us and put us down. Gibney really missed the marked on the ending of this film. It was surprising to see how stingy billionaires in 740 Park Avenue to their doormen, as one who was interviewed in the film said for Christmas he only received a $50 check from David Koch. What about the Park Avenue residents in the South Bronx? Their identities weren't given to us like the billionaires at 740 Park. They were mentioned very briefly and then forgotten until the last few minutes of the film. Gibney should have and could have interviewed a sociologist, professor of economics or urban planner in order to get their thoughts on how to improve the inequality of the blighted areas like the South Bronx. There is no need to only give the audience the disastrous details of America's economy without also mentioning the theories and plans being devised in order to rebuild and fix the enormous inequality gap.It makes me wonder if Gibney really believes in change for the better, or if his priority all along was just to scare his audience into a nihilist persona. If I had to rate this film on a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 2.5. It is not boring, and it will keep you watching, but it will leave you sorely disappointed.

otownbjj The film brings up valid points about lobbyists controlling Washington. However from someone who is middle class I do not believe the answers are more taxes on wealthy people by increasing capital gains taxes. That would also increase the taxes on MY 401k!! I'm middle class! The film also takes on the topic welfare a food stamps. As someone who works in low income areas I can assure you first hand that the abuse of the welfare system is staggering. Every day at work I deal with countless people receiving welfare/food stamps. In the last 6 months I can count on one hand those that are truly disabled and in need of assistance. The vast majority are those that refuse to work and furthermore have children they cannot afford. This as the amount that I pay for my health care as well my child's health care has increased dramatically. OBAMACARE.... BLAME WASHINGTON NOT RICH PEOPLE. Our elected officials have been bought. VOTE THEM ALL OUT AND START OVER!!!

Joe Bob Jones Short and sweet, Park Avenue is an excellent documentary about the class warfare in existence in the US. It succinctly blends figures with interviews into a fabric of one hour of eye popping financial realities for the uninitiated. The vast sums of money at work from a tiny fraction of our nation, but imbued with enormous wealth, control the strings of democracy. This one hour piece puts it together into one very powerful, useful, and important message, culminating with the fruits of market deregulation which nearly brought down the entire nation: the Great Recession and crash of 2008. Watch it. I would challenge the conservative to view this objectively and come away with the same laissez faire attitudes toward our nation.