Moore calls on bankers to help prove bailout is a swindle
February 15, 2009
By Pat Wechsler
Film maker Michael Moore, who says the Wall Street bailout is "the biggest swindle in US history", is asking bankers to help him make a movie to prove it.
The Michigan native posted an open letter on his website on Wednesday, seeking volunteers to "step up as an American and do your duty of shedding some light" on the almost $1.1 trillion (R10.9 trillion) in global losses and write-downs. Moore also sent the letter to people on his e-mail list.
While some bankers might be tempted to get involved with the film maker who pilloried former president George W Bush's response to the 2001 terrorist attack on the US, they should think before they contacted Moore, said Davia Temin, the chief executive of crisis management firm Temin & Co.
"When you're in a firestorm, you don't stand up," she said. "You duck. I'm sure Moore will keep names confidential, but these things have a way of boomeranging when you tell a friend, because you're excited about being on a movie set."
Moore declined to comment, according to a spokesperson for Overture Films, who asked to remain unidentified because he did not represent the film maker directly. The firm is owned by Starz, part of cable billionaire John Malone's holdings. It is the movie's distributor for North America. A release date has not been announced.
The film maker, whose previous documentaries have skewered General Motors (GM) and the US healthcare industry, is in the middle of shooting the movie, according to his website, www.michaelmoore.com.
He made his name with the 1989 release of Roger & Me, documenting his unsuccessful efforts to confront former GM chief executive Roger Smith about his management of what then was the world's top car maker.
"Moore's reputation is locked in," said Howard Rubenstein, the president of Rubenstein Associates, a public relations firm. "Whatever he touches gets gored. Wall Street better gird itself. The Huns are invading."
Bankers should counter potential fallout from Moore's venture by assembling a rescue programme to buy houses going into foreclosure and give them back to their owners, Temin said.
"Popular culture has always had a love-hate relationship with Wall Street," she said. "Now that we see that much of what people were paid was based on vapour, that needle has moved to hate. Wall Street needs to figure that out and respond to it."
While the Overture spokesperson wouldn't comment on the title of Moore's movie, the film maker asked in his e-mail for responses to be sent to bailout@michaelmoore.com.
Moore claimed on his website to have heard from a "few brave people" already. He wrote: "You have information that the American people need to hear. I am humbly asking you for a moment of courage, to be a hero."
John Thain, the former chief executive of Merrill Lynch, has been subpoenaed by New York state attorney-general Andrew Cuomo to testify about $3.6 billion in bonuses the firm distributed to employees before its takeover by Bank of America. Thain declined to comment.
"Everybody I know on Wall Street is ducking into bomb shelters these days," Rubenstein said. "It may be the next hot business."
Moore's project was announced at the Cannes Film Festival last May. It's being financed by Overture and Paramount Vantage, a unit of Viacom's Paramount Pictures handling distribution outside North America, according to Overture. - Bloomberg
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