BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | David Simon Part 2 of 2 | PBS

[pingguo2]

"This stuff is systemic, . . . and beautifully moneyed."

[msheridan24]

can a guy like him run for public office?....or be appointed a prominent cabinet position or something?...someone with the courage and levelheadedness for systemic overhaul?

[psychicriver]

Fantastic interview. What a lovely way to end it, with one of my favorite moments from the series. I am only disappointed Mr. Moyer did not find a way to discuss my favorite character, Omar, in this interview. :)

[philateliceun]

Like my grandpa said, het gaat altijd om de fluit en de duit, which means its always about cock and money.

[hdtwoodsman]

Imagine how good Simon would be as a professor: it wouldn't matter the subject

[ParticleJesus]

2muchtruth

[coolm0di]

David Simon for president! 

[maquih]

2 people are corporate-fascist whores

[123davaro]

For someone as brilliant and human as David Simon, I don't get the term "Empire" he uses...How can a blue collar mind like him still believe in the American imperialism? Unless he just used it as a metaphor, it's not a very adequate word!!!

[scooterboi17]

@123davaro there's nothing ironic about the way Simon uses empire. What do you mean by "Empire"? I must say I don't understand your post at all. Are you saying there is no such thing as "American imperialism" or are you saying that you don't know what that is?

P.s. To your ... and !!! can I ad a ?

[BFitz1976]

The man makes things clear, he sees it the way it is from experience and you can tell it weighs heavy on his mind. America and the world needs to wake the hell up

[Winteruk1]

What an interesting man and a really interesting interview.

[foreverland100]

My god, got no stomach for this ammount of truth.

[GoldeneyePwner]

Bill Moyers and David Simon pwn.

[jekk23]

The answer to 99 out of a 100 questions? Money.

Think logically and carefully about this. The international system of currency determines the totality of life on this planet. Why do thousands starve everyday? Because they have no money or economic power. Whilst still in a monetary system we will see very little, if any, change to Poverty, human suffering and war around the world. Too much money and power can be made from considerable losses. Think about how good for business war is. MONEY.

[afterapplepicking]

This guy needs a history book. If he knew anything about history, he might look around and say "Wow! Sure is good I'm around now, cuz it's always been worse than this!"

[01AlanBennett]

@afterapplepicking If you mean David Simon, I don't think he's suffering personally - he's a fairly wealthy television writer. His concern is for those who don't enjoy the privileges that most of us do. Do you think the underclass to which he is referring is better off now than it would have been in the past?

[Bobsacamano1000]

@afterapplepicking Has it been? Are things really that much better now than, say, in the 1950's? Or the 1730's?

[shiftyLN]

@afterapplepicking yeah that guy talking confidently about sophocles and aristophanes knows nothing about history, you really hit the nail on the head there

[irishman05050505]

Wow, no silly conspiracy comments or anything like that, just true, honest facts. Yes, who controls the money controls the power, and who controls the power is doing about as bad as they can possibly do.

[dooey123]

I'm a massive fan of The Wire and this is the first interview with David Simon I have seen. This man is a legend and his passion for the subject is why The Wire is the best show ever.

[R0undAboutMidnight]

Just finished with the first season, the second is in the post. I'd heard so many good things about the show and I'm glad to say that it really is absolutely brilliant.

[nycjosh300]

When I grow up I want to be David Simon

[Pastor9764]

Is it just me or is David Simon one of the most pleasent speakers ever shown on TV? I'm so gonna invite him to a beer should I ever meet him irl.

[mossimo654]

I thought the phrases "youtube comments" and "intelligence" were oxymoronic. But then I stumbled upon this video. Thank god for David Simon and PBS

[somnolent49]

Good night Bill Moyers.

[thegov08]

good night bill moyers, good night david simon.

[thegov08]

i just jizzed in my pants while watching this interview. this man is so brilliant and talks so much sense.

[TheIkaraCult]

absolutely wonderful interview

[FoGGeRdk]

David Simon got it! This is definately 1 of the best interviews i've seen ever

[cracker416]

1) Try to do well in school, don't drop out

2) Practice safe sex, don't get std's or knocked up

3) Don't engage in drug or alcohol use

4) Stand on your own and don't get caught up in peer pressure

5) Don't engage in criminal activity

Follow these, success may follow

[TheSwiech]

Now that the pooe class knows change will happen!!! YAAA!!!

Who are telling this too? Whos gonna not drink or do drugs or get knocked up? Whos not gonna engage in criminal activity if thats the only way out? Whos gonna pass if your making money selling drugs?

[soursourapples]

@cracker416

i got told that when i was a kid. i am now a grown up and don't believe in fairy tales.

[ehcmier]

Define "success". I doubt you can define it realistically in light of that list of ideals, fine as they are outside of the actual spectrum of real contexts.

[zeb120]

Capitalism just does not have those elements that can glue a country through chaos and failure

You can never achieve harmony by taxing people 20%

Capitalism and socialism are vicious demons and injustice and inequality

Suck it through

[Gastumto]

@cracker416 bullshit. i fit all these categories. life's still shit

[Iconoclastocles]

Wow, you are so smart. It's right in front of us, why doesn't everyone see it?

[sidsinnocence]

@cracker416 Oh wow- when you say it like that it is easy to do. Never mind the fact information alone does not facilitate behavior change. Particularly when looking at the context of the inner cities and poor folks living situations and the desperation and defeatism that emanates therefrom.

[kfmaster0]

@cracker416 There is more in a human society than the sum of individual decisions.

[chrisjoneschrisjones]

so its white peoples fault that 'black people' turn to crime and turn their communitys into no go areas???? come on .that is such a childish and lame argument-everyone has freedom of choice and can make their own decisions

[anansi2k]

no chris jones, i think it is childish to imagine that people make choices independent of systems. perhaps it will make more sense to you if you step away from the term "white" and think political elites.

[GorterPoss]

@chrisjoneschrisjones not exactly. I think Simon is claiming that the system is market driven and so is indifferent to those that have no substantial role in the system. Among those people are many blacks.

This argument has face validity but I would make a cultural counter-argument using the stats on married black couples having incomes nearly on par with married white couples. That is to say, Simon may be right but changing black culture might work too.

[scrubmacdub]

have you been watching this interview? have you watched the wire? it's not the fault of whites as such but largely the fault of a system created primarily by rich whites. listen to david simon he explains it best

[berlinbrown03]

Response to David, here is what is going to happen. Some rich (apparently not Bush) will screw up really big and then we will wake up.

[IAMtheNewWorldOrder]

I thought I knew all this stuff before I watched this interview, yet I'm feeling like I've learned more about politics & the system watching this interview than I have my whole life.

[ThaTrillMagician]

I'm not going to be lied to anymore.

[j2y2k3]

One of the biggest problems in this society today is that when it comes to socialism and capitalism, people have no idea what they're talking about. Capitalism and Socialism, operate on a scale. The fact of the matter is no other nation in the world practices the level of capitalism that we do, on a scale of 1 to 10 we are a 8.5. Most other Western Nations are about 6s and China is a 5.

Moving down the scale is what got us out of the great depression. Ignorance would have kept us in it.

[hitch4645]

i wish i could guve you more than one thumbs up

[wildebeestodd]

@j2y2k3

bullshit.....what scale? Capitalism got us into the great depression. your so deep in the game you can't see your even in one.

[mossimo654]

Dear lord please tell this to about 70% of current television pundits.

PLEASE.

They seem to dictate policy these days, and this stunted economic dialogue NEEDS to change

[HuxleyWasRight]

Great interview, especially on the drug war, but i think he's a bit confused about "capitalism", he claims "greed" caused the housing bubble, yet that is wrong, what caused the bubble was artificial interest rates being set too low encouraging lending to people who couldn't pay it back, also these banks took risks because they knew the government would bail them out ("too big to fail"), this is not capitalism, if REAL capitalism was allowed to function poor people would benefit hugely .

[HuxleyWasRight]

P.S granted the bankers were greedy, that goes without saying, but without the safety net of government bail out they would have been more prudent, so greed was not the cause of the housing bubble otherwise we'd be in a perpetual state of depression, which we're not.

The federal reserve monetary policy has a lot to answer for, if you want a reall good analysis of this crisis read "meltdown" by Thomas Woods.

[RealTulac]

no, no and no. there would still be a part of society that just isn't needed, and that's what The Wire is about, and that's what he is talking about

[SweetSweetWaldo]

Well, it's just like my friends on hard left--the Marxist Leninists--would say in the face of the atrocities committed by the USSR, Red China, North Korea, the Eastern Bloc, East Germany, Cambodia, etc., etc., "If REAL communism was allowed to function poor people would benefit hugely."

[zoso7889]

Just because thats Ron Pauls opinion dosnt mean it's neccesarily correct

[huckstered]

The greed was in the short term gains for the brokers and CEO's in commissions and bonuses.

Noone planned the bailouts. Greed outweighed ethics. It hasn't changed.

[MinorPlutocrat]

@HuxleyWasRight No, it was the securitization of debt, the packaging and selling of loans as investment vehicles, and what drove such foolhardy pursuits? GREED! A new profit mechanism discovered and exploited. How exactly does an investment driven society aid those with no capital to invest?

[scooterboi17]

@HuxleyWasRight You Sir/Madam are wrong, so wrong i suspect you are lying to yourself. "...interest rates being set too low..." WTF? You don't know and you don't know you don't know.

[supergoing7]

watching this interview just makes me appreciate The Wire even more. Simon speaks the truth.

[chawk111]

A lot of people are scum.. and not for reasons that aren't there fault. As bad as you think politicians are, you wouldn't want those people in power. And there are a lot more people than politicians. Unlike Simon, I am a misanthrope.

[passenger9411]

The rich elite at the top of the pyramid know the truth but don't care and they've work so hard to brainwash upper class that if you help the middle and lower class it's called socialism. Greed has been embedded so deep into society and along with that came the end game of humanity. But humanity is not dead no matter what people may tell you.

[678Drummer]

When I was watching and listening this video, I asked myself How did this video only get 2,000 and somethin reviews? and the truth is people are afraid of the truth

[pizzawar]

Things will become worse until Jesus comes again. This is an exposition of the sadness, the sorrowful melancholy, of witnessing the death of a beautiful world. Those who believe know a better world is to come.

[nighthawk750]

@pizzawar

Waiting for Jesus is part of the problem. You can't sit around moaning and wishing for the great sky father to come down and heal everything. You (we) all need to live more in line with the teachings of charity, caring for the sick and poor and seeing our common humanity rather than grasping for everything and stepping on everyone to get it. Don't wait for Jesus, embody him and he'll be here.

[denyer9]

This man is a genius

[cs00024]

never stop speaking the truth david simon......long live the wire, long live david simon

[chump203]

Except the proles failed winston in 1984. Coming from Simon, in is example of immobilising a movement in the 60's, it took a threat on MIDDLE class children for there to even be a complaint. Other then that we're living in a age whos ethos is best described as "The Age of Got-Mine"

[kamaly2k25]

America is the only country in the world where Socialism is a dirty word.

The media has manipulated and brainwashed the masses to such an extent that they are willingly propping up their capitalist masters and the system that keeps them oppressed.

What can be so wrong with a society that puts people before profit?

"If there is hope, it lies in the proles"

[pizzawar]

"America is the only country in the world where Socialism is a dirty word."

Um -- how about the former Eastern Bloc? Simon said very clearly in the first segment that capitalism is the only game in town, for better or for worse.

Your problem is that you think there's a political answer. There isn't. Politics is what got us into this mess and others like it. It's a *human* problem, and requires a humane solution.

[jete121991]

True,political self interest is just as bad as economic self interest. Something that confuses me about Simon is that he blames capitalism for society's ills but he dedicates TheWire towards exposing political corruption.

I think though,that American must not be afraid of reform and socialist ideas.And I agree with Simon that we need more emphasis on social programs, rather than sending poor folk to prison. Because all human institutions are prone to self interest, society needs constant reform

[killwhitey88d]

brilliant insight, i finally get what he was saying, it's not the politicians it's us

[xeryms]

Wow u obviously dont no nothing...

shocked your from america aswell

[kamaly2k25]

I was referring to the Socialist principle of the greater good before the individual. Not the brand of Stalinist Totalitarianism the right-wing media have programmed you to immediately associate with the term Socialism.

In the world's richest country there is no universal healthcare system, a polarised education system and a legal system vastly favouring those with means.

It would be foolish to assume that these problems were down to individuals and not an inherent flaw in the system.

[MaxyPadUltra]

@pizzawar

"Simon said very clearly in the first segment that capitalism is the only game in town"

That's because the man understands what saying otherwise would do to his career. No one will hold it against him that he doesn't want to lose his job, and anyway, he is in a position do much more good this way.

[edmundsampo]

I think you are wrong. What real alternative is there to capatalism ? Communism ? Many countries have proved that dosn't work. I think he advocates Socialistic capitalism. And i think to suggest that he needs to conceal his true political views for the sake of his career is somewhat overdramatic.

[MaxyPadUltra]

Its impossible to go into the history of socialism with a 500 letter limit, though US foreign policy has ensured that no democratic move towards socialism has been sustained. It is naive to believe that our current social order represents the be all end all of human potential to organize in a rational and moral way simply because we happen to live now and are unable to see past our time. Social structures have been evolving since hunter gatherer times, I doubt that our time is much different.

[pliskin619]

wow there are no solutions lets give up.

not freethegreenenergy

[AlNouveau]

Sad commentary on what's become of our country. People just don't care about their friends or neighbors anymore, if they even know them at all.

[alexandrataylorshow]

this is scary if u read this far u will die in 10 days if u dont send to any 15 videos in 2 hours good luck hope u dont die