David Simon: “There Was A Class War, And Poor People Lost”

Veteran journalist David Simon was also showrunner for HBO’s critically acclaimed series The Wire. In his latest interview with Bill Moyers, he declares that the class war ended long ago, and gives a pithy post-mortem about the losing side:

“The fights gone out of labor,” Simon told Moyers. “Labor’s lost the fight. Capital’s won.”

“To the victor go the spoils,” Moyer retorted.

“There was a class war, and the poor people lost and the working people lost,” Simon continued, arguing that the country did best economically when labor activists and businesses had a more level playing field, ensuring that neither of them won “all the time.”

Simon also expanded on remarks he made at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Australia last month, saying “broken” was the only way to describe the government at this point, despite President Barack Obama’s inclusive language at the State of the Union address.

“You can buy these guys on the cheap,” Simon said. “And the capital’s been at it a long time and the rules have been relaxed. The Supreme Court has walked away from any sort of responsibility to maintain democracy at that level. That’s the aspect of government that’s broken.”

Hat tip: Raw Story

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.