Who is the one percent
The One Percent - Documentary
do you hear me yeah what's it sound like
sounds good
can you see anything where's the mic
there
okay all right we good good what are we
going to say if I get buzzed for the
camera we're going to say that your
foreign exchange student no will say
that we're making a video for my
father's birthday and we wanted to
surprise you know when I go okay I
checked Inca position be read it's not
dead on Jana hey Dad how you doing you
may not film this would you feel
approachable yes you may not do it you
just don't plug on it go on like all
just go play golf
you cannot film this I'm serious
here yes is my son Tommy hello good to
see him Jamie Johnson that's my dad am i
a violation of the dress long is this
why you're flying well this is so
exciting you know I don't think I've
ever seen people playing croquet and
all-white before well what do you mean
that is beautiful this is for the club
paper yes
great I'm gonna do my best
wonderful shot are there teams
yes don't you play I wish I did
well you should get your father to teach
you he's good he's hiding that from you
he's hiding a lot of Finch in Lynette
but it's an interesting game because you
can use other people's bowls what it
sure now kill kill are you in college I
graduated from New York University and
I've been working on documentary films
how really yes
what kind of documents are you doing
actually it's about wealth and issues of
social class and things like that in
America
you cannot film this I'm serious
all right I think you're being
irrational I think you could be
interesting go home
this is really what makes a family great
the center of a family what I see is a
white beautiful sphere of pulsing energy
inside of which all of you sit and
you're all atoms growing energetically
helped by each other and that I know I'm
a lucky guy puts out energy doesn't my
great-grandfather started the Johnson
and Johnson pharmaceutical company and
my father inherited a fortune worth a
billion dollars people of this character
are in that first circle every year my
family meets with an advisor to discuss
our finances when you're looking and he
usually says the same thing we keep
getting richer and frankly if they are
in that first circle in fact our
family's fortune is growing faster than
ever we're part of a small number of
American families that own most of the
country's well having so much in the
hands of so few can't be good for
America it's a problem I've asked my
father about before but he has no
patience for it I can't I can't tell you
I can't tell you how you know how to
solve these problems I gotta go I gotta
go
not that we're done dad just wait it I
have more questions
why no I'm not an expert on these issues
what do you want from me it's obvious
that my dad doesn't want to talk to me
and I think I know why
when he was my age my father made a
movie about poverty in Africa I know his
family severely reprimanded him for
making his film and that's probably why
he's so reluctant to participate in mind
for them shining a light on the extreme
gap between rich and poor hit too close
to home the wealth gap is hard for rich
people to acknowledge anywhere in the
world especially when it's in their own
backyard today in America the disparity
between the haves and have-nots is worse
than it's ever been
now the top 1% of Americans like my
family and me own roughly 40% of the
country's wealth and we share an
aggregate net worth that is greater than
the net worth of the bottom 90% of
individuals combined even though the
last 28 years have brought America the
largest economic boom in the history of
Finance most of the rewards have gone to
those who are already at the top of the
ladder and they still do
average members of the 1% now in over a
million dollars a year while a majority
of Americans earn close to 35,000 which
is what the average CEO earns for less
than one day of work
no one has watched the rich get richer
more closely than my family's financial
adviser who manages the fortunes of some
of the richest families in the country
Jimmy I I'm not against you making the
movie the movie is fine for you to make
it's good for you to have something to
do with your life and it's a good
project but you don't know what the hell
you're talking about you have no idea
the scope of the impact of what you're
saying is and before you know it it has
had untended cause of courses which you
can't even imagine and it becomes bigger
than you ever thought and
it's taken forever to get to where we
are you don't need to go blowing up the
applecart you know it just it's crazier
just I hate to see you doing this to
yourself what about the facts and
figures stuff I'm talking about those
sort of ebbs data you're making a fool's
argument and it just depresses me to see
you're doing it and you should just do a
little bit more work on
I don't think Brian does really want me
to do more work when I asked him for the
names of other clients I could talk to
he refused to give them to me
so without his support I'm using my
family name to enroll in one of the most
exclusive wealth conferences in America
where the wealthy go to discuss
strategies for keeping their fortunes
growing the average net worth of the
families that attend our conference is
confidential but it's a pretty large
number there are multi-billion dollar
families represented a number of them as
a matter of fact according to Forbes
magazine we don't ask for financial
statements of course when people
register but we do query them to make
sure that they are a sophisticated
qualified family and in order to attend
I would say the average in the group
today probably around three to four
hundred million certainly some smaller
than that and obviously a number of them
much much larger I mean there are people
who are looking for funding for their
projects that would kill to get into
this meeting that's right absolutely and
we make sure they don't get to get in
my goal as I get older for the families
I serve the few that I'm still
consulting to is to see if I can help
them get to their fifth generations in
good shape and go on from there family
wealth the book you have in front of you
is about the first three generations
from the dozens of families that would
turn up at this conference in in the
early 1990s there are hundreds of
families here today and if you looked
into the numbers that represent private
wealth in a large enough aggregation
that you'd have a family office I'm sure
it has to be in the many trillions of
dollars there is much greater good done
by the people with the wealth in
creating jobs creating business
opportunities and in philanthropy than
otherwise and I would say that it makes
more sense to me to encourage business
ownership encourage wealthy to to
generate that wealth so that wealth can
then be shared rather than take it from
individuals to then redistribute it
through social policy and transfer
policies of Medicare Social Security et
cetera
I hope that didn't come out sounding
crass by the way
you know what I mean it's like I don't
want to sound okay didn't want to talk
about it's like don't take the money
from me
in the early 80s the American economy
was rebuilt around the interests of big
business and wealthy individuals with
the idea that their success would
eventually benefit everybody this
trickle-down policy was the brainchild
of the economist Milton Friedman who got
a Nobel Prize for it in 1976 and now his
ideas are more popular than ever thank
you all very much it's a an honor for me
to be here to pay tribute to a hero of
freedom Milton Friedman he is used a
brilliant mind to advance a moral vision
I've studied you know the basics of your
theories and I've read about you in high
school
economics textbooks now tell me company
you say you've read some of my work have
you in fact read capitalism and freedom
well school your assigned readings you
know what I mean and then they Xerox it
okay I'll go back and I'm just trying to
see what how much of a faker you are
actually since the seventies the gap
between the rich and poor is been grown
from what's happened at the level of
income of the poor it's risen but in
comparison to the sakura-san
very very people would it be better if
it hadn't risen at all
would it be better if you would kept to
difference the same but no growth in the
bottom well if we curtail the growth at
the top you'll kill the clothes at the
bottom but the engine will lead to the
miracles and we've seen that enables you
to have a television camera like that
that engine is ambition and drive to
become wealthy people say well isn't it
too selfish that you want to get ahead
now in a sense if you have a certain
talent in a free society you should have
the opportunity to discover what that
talent is
one has a knack for something and
develop that talent and by developing
your talent by trying to meet your goals
and ambitions not only helping yourself
you're helping others you might say I
came to the attention of top management
at a fairly young age as my father said
there is nothing wrong with nepotism as
long as you keep it within the family
this is a chateau a la France where do
some for entertaining for Forbes
international the Highlander is used two
or three nights a week by marking and
advertising sometimes you have to spend
money to make money
capitalism is I think a moral system and
this idea our popular culture you see in
every novel the business man's the heavy
and Hollywood the businessman and the
corporation are always the font of evil
but in the real world even if you have
an unpleasant personality even if you
are the kind of person that make babies
cry just out for yourself you're not
going to make make it unless you're
doing something for other people and
they're given all the flaws of human
nature the system has worked everybody
has a sinful view of making money our
stories that made the most money had the
happiest customers and best co-workers
they were always the most motivated and
there's a relationship between profits
and those things is that there's not a
cinema gwyn the first order was this
lunch room imagine a line straight back
and they see that extra part back there
that wasn't theirs window wasn't here
it's from here back to that wall and
over is about a hundred square feet with
me here here here to here here and have
a sliding window here couldn't let the
customers in right there was enough room
so everybody had to wait outside the
Xerox machine was there and I sold these
notebooks first day of business some guy
who was for Kurdistan cool country I
loved it before I opened up in the
middle of the night like at nine o'clock
he gave me a $50 job so I've loved the
Kurdish people ever since what's called
Kinkos because of my nickname because
they had this kinky here and if you
think of it
the first thing a baby learns is glue
whoo Gaga you think a good businesses
like Kodak Xerox Google people remember
strong constants that's why Kinkos was a
good name but really I had this big
curly curly hair before being called
Kenko I was pube head so I thought
Kinkos was better than pew bows do you
want to make hundreds of millions of
dollars on top of what you already have
yeah yes hell yes yeah more like a hell
of a lot more can you tell me about that
well one day I'd like to go to the moon
and look at the planet Earth and say uh
that's part of my portfolio it sounds
ridiculous but Paul and a few people
like him really do own the world's
portfolio and when you start to look
around the disparity is hard to miss you
know you hear get a belt I have a matter
of opportunity you're all this [ __ ] as
in the head they must go right through
the same neighborhoods out right through
they must don't go through the same
towns I go to they must know visit and
see the same team I visit on a daily
basis and they can't do that riding
around in a damn limo and a helicopter
wealth inequality is probably at an
all-time high in the United States we
have reached levels of inequality that
you've seen only in the oligarchy of
South America starting here with the
Tale of Two Cities what you have is a
level of concentration of wealth
probably never seen before in our
history
now of course you have tens of millions
of workers who can't live on what they
earn and they're earning less in
inflation-adjusted dollars and even 1973
countries like Peru or Venezuela
Colombia even Brazil there have been
armed rebellions going on
for decades now and even the sense of
frustration among the working class in
this country I would not rule out the
possibility of this kind of armed
rebellion in this country it's hard to
say why that particulate was shot but
you know it's a neighborhood where a lot
of things are changing where a lot of
people are upset where people have been
pushed out of their homes by real-estate
value not being able to pay the taxes
whatever else you know I've tried to
think about it I've tried to think about
if I were out there and someone else
burned here what would cause me to be
resentful or envious the south side of
Chicago is one of the poorest inner-city
communities in America but now rich
people are moving in and creating some
serious changes in the neighborhood
mister pants hey mister pants lyin mr.
pants pants mr. pants is my second
kitten I had a kitten growing up and
when I went to get King my first mister
pants my father told me he don't have to
buy the first kitten you see well I
walked in he came over and purred I was
a guy I want that one yeah first kid
nice I bought it well buy a condo is
kind of similar I walked into this room
and I said wow you know I've been in a
lot of the coolest houses in Chicago
I never seen a room like this let's get
this condo so I got with my dad and we
talked about it and I said wow I got
like run to an ATM and get the deposit
and whatever I was just freaked out
about 30 days later I owned the place
and I haven't regretted the transaction
since
it's a very thought-provoking place you
see the train go by and you're reminded
that there other places in the country
other than Chicago and you see what used
to be housing projects are suddenly
condos and you wonder what impact you're
having on the city and who lives here
who can afford to live here
and wouldn't be such a big deal if the
change weren't so drastic
so these buildings used to be public
housing now they're being taken condo
I'm sure you put in new windows and you
boost the place up a little but the fact
is that someone who is using the public
housing system lost his home for each
one of these units that's being created
it's happening too quick the new stores
and everything and the new houses is too
quick the subway right there all this is
I mean it's too quick as to is to uh to
make believe to be true because like
five years ago you would have never
dreamed that those nice condos will be
there and in a subway feeding overall I
think gentrification is a tool that
solidifies the stratification of classes
they're people who live in an area that
becomes a hundred percent people like
them
three big tools have been used in a lot
of areas first you build a big police
station secondly you tear out all the
basketball courts and lastly if there's
a local public school that poor people
tend to tear down the school they closed
three spoons
the school the high school and a baby
school why those three buildings I don't
know I guess they trying to push us half
the neighborhood
this is decent people living the project
they rent
keeping work or everybody ain't the
enemy hey what's happening yeah lives
here possibly my whole life 28 years to
be exact so this is the garbage they put
up here that they pulled have been taken
down because the problem they had is
fixed this is our lobby the phones used
to work when the police just had a
police station right yeah this used to
be a police station right now what
happened to that we ran them away where
the people ran them away because they
were zone vs that our mailboxes have for
the doors don't lock on the mailbox you
see now driving them in I ain't checked
the mail bus today
no I'm going to build yeah I got a bill
from the true groom that I'll never get
the newspaper if they sent it to me the
changes in the neighborhood has changed
the neighborhood around us not to us
around us we got one and a half scooting
on every 35 40 kids in one classroom
with one teacher he can't teach
everybody all you know he needs some
help so that's why all the kids when
they go in class then get no attention
they don't run away
this land is worth more than what the
[ __ ] over here can give so what can
you do with them just place them and the
ones that you don't want over here you
get rid up you get rid of you know and
what you use as an excuse use the drug
dealers you to cocaine how the all says
cocaine dealers you know saying you use
the people it's over here doing nonsense
to try to get rid of nonsense we grew up
as a family you know one building to the
next building to the next building you
know you can sit up here and talk all
you want to but yet still we love our
kids this is my fun
come on this is my son you feel like
your kids have an opportunity to get
rich in this country hell hell naw they
know rappers my kids they gonna be
rappers thing will be they will be rich
it's easier to just cleanse the earth of
these people send them to the far
reaches of the universe and the mayor's
office a build a big police station bill
a bunch of town houses the yuppies will
buy in and Buju fly it and suddenly will
have a community yeah there will be a
bunch of people displaced yeah there
will be a bunch of crime problems but
it's easier
we found the easy solution Charles
Darwin did not invent the term survival
of the fittest that was Herbert Spencer
a social Darwinist who thought that if
we just allowed the rich to get richer
well that was good for society because
we want to discourage the poor from
having lunch ildren and and and
basically surviving that kind of social
Darwinist notion has stayed alive in
certain quarters and i believe that it
is there behind much of the economic
policies we are now seeing look they're
never in history then a time when the
ordinary people of this world and
particularly in the rich nations like
the United States Britain you're never
been a time when the ordinary people
have had a level of income and liver
living that they now do but what about
the tens of thousands of people whose
lives were affected by the second Amin
and without breaking eggs you have a
system which is overwhelmingly yielding
good results but she's no question Erin
there it's not perfect and there are
cases and people will be get hurt but
that's true of any system doesn't it
make you nervous when you see so many
powerful and extremely wealthy
individuals sitting there directly
influencing those politicians when we're
in a democracy and not influencing
anything
they're playing a role in the political
system but Congress is ultimately going
to be influenced by public opinion from
what the public wants the public will
get what the public wants
a few months ago I told the American
people I did not trade arms for hostages
my heart and my best intentions still
tell me that's true but the facts and
the evidence tell me it is not in the
1980's the US government illegally sold
weapons to Iran and used the money to
support Nicaraguan rebels in what turned
out to be the iran-contra scandal at the
center of the deal was one billionaire
who had unfettered access to the secret
workings of the US government
we got involved in this iran-contra
story which unfortunately backfired a
little bit on everybody they asked me to
finance it I said ok so I give credit to
the CIA for a million dollars and they
ship the equipment they Runyan paid me
back it was supposed to be a hush-hush
operation as business people we have
ways of manipulating the government
officials and they have ways
manipulating us I take advantage of
opportunities that come in all
relationship in the world when you have
contacts like if I have contact with you
now I'll call you when I arrive New York
resi hi Edna and I want to see you after
so it's nothing abnormal you probably
will take me out to dinner introduce me
to another person who I make business
with
you would say you're not an arms dealer
you never work now the truth is if you
just to get through the records and so
you find out that you never dealt in
arms it was just a title given to us by
the press but when you helped connect
the United States government and the
Saudi government over sales of weapons
what would you call that marketing I
worked with the British on the lightning
program I worked with ratio on the
messiah's I work with Northrup on the f5
but this is normal business this is the
whole life around the free system is
like that it's been the case for the
last 25 years in the United States that
the amount of money flowing into the
system for political contributions has
been a major shaper of who gets what
within the economy and because they
always want something whether it's a tax
change or it's a change in regulation or
it's a subsidy or what-have-you and as a
result their number of studies that show
the people giving the money have often
had the greatest benefit in terms of
what happened to their stock price of
their own personal fortune meet the
kings of sugar Pepe and his brother
Alfonso flan pool of Palm Beach Florida
critics has to make these plantation
owners make an extra sixty five million
dollars a year off the sugar program in
American consumers the government puts
the total cost to consumers at at least
one point four billion dollars a year
the line Houle's there is no story
divine who's here if you're if you're
doing got me up this morning to talk
about it on host and we were making an
issue of divine who was at such we could
get it over with in the hurry
in that fatal moment in the Oval Office
when Bill Clinton was confronting Monica
and telling her it was over he's
interrupted with a call from it turns
out alfie fond whole alfie fond whole
was very concerned that Al Gore had made
a speech today before saying that he
shared companies were going to pay for
the cleanup the Everglades so while
Monica set there in her tears
Bill Clinton spent 22 minutes on the
phone reassuring alphaf on hold that
everything was okay that they would be
true to true blue and even that Al Gore
guy he's just saying that to get elected
keep giving us money so al can be
President
nobody knows exactly what it costs to
produce a pound of sugar in the
Everglades but it's the second most
profitable crop to tobacco in the United
States and it is mating them on whole
family extraordinarily rich the
incredible thing is that for every pound
of sugar grown in the Everglades and
we're talking about hundreds of millions
of tons the American taxpayer guarantees
a price of 22 cents a pound way above
the world price of seven cents a pound
the sugar program is a combination of
import quotas and a guarantee that the
government will buy any surplus it
limits dramatically it limits to almost
nothing the amount of foreign sugar is
permitted to enter the u.s. that means
if you need sugar in the US you have to
buy it from the US sugar producers and
that that results in the price being
artificially raised there's a shortage
usually and so the u.s. price of sugar
is higher than the world price so you
can go to Canada and the price of sugar
is one third of the United States or
Mexico is one third of the price in the
United States and they guarantee the
price so there is too much sugar in the
United States the federal government
will buy the sugar at the high price
makes zero economic sense near the
country is running a five hundred
billion dollar a year deficit and we're
subsidizing sugar production in the
Everglades which is damaging the same
system that we're spending hundreds of
millions of dollars to repair if you
really think about it it's nonsensical
it's even comical if it wasn't so
hideous it really would be laughable
the fond whole family makes hundreds of
millions of dollars I'm very wealthy
because of a government program and
there's no reason why the federal
government should create a program to
make the Fon hools Richard we're in
effect subsidizing the Fon huell's and
hurting the American public buying
products that have sugar in it one was
the Republican one was the Democrat
Alfie thought home was the single
largest contributor in Florida to the
Clinton campaign and his brother was the
largest contributor to the republican
bob dole campaign they had it covered
either way what we're talking about is
somewhere over $400,000 to various
people in contributions the Republican
National Committee they are putting down
in most of these cases their occupation
is with the Florida Crystals Corporation
that's the sugar corporation that's them
money doesn't decide every issue in
politics but most issues it plays a
major part in if you're going to try to
understand politics and why things
happen the way they do in Washington you
have to as they say follow the money
that's an industry how Democratic is
that it ain't it is called free
enterprise his free enterprise
while Althea and Pepe Fon who will get
richer off government programs the towns
where they base their businesses sink
deeper into poverty well the city of
Belleville it is a labor community
because we have a lot of agriculture in
the area
sugarcane being the largest and it has a
vast majority of you know I think
backgrounds or ethnicity what's that
word I'm looking for
ethnicity when sugar Barons like the Fon
rules needed cheap labor the u.s. made
an exemption to immigration laws foreign
workers were imported on a special visa
to cut sugarcane for third-world wages
they really disappointment I'm saying
what you gotta see the system you can't
beat it
everybody found doing up a year
to achieve something with support and
family are hard real harder you know
sometimes our supervisor tell is
immortal with blood sweat and tears and
it was I used to see people men go out
cutting cave when I come to visit my
cousin they come back lacerations
the cane either cut them in the hand cut
them in the league as you mean coughing
to clean up Malvo Sydney I see a lot of
things going on in the field the figures
show that every year was an average of
10 workers killed and sugar cane work
when the government came down as part of
their review of the Sugar Act to see
that the workers were being paid
properly it found massive minimum-wage
violations throughout the sugar industry
this we believe cost the workers
probably certainly millions of dollars
years maybe as much as 10 million
dollars a year a lot of time we know
that we was shot pay
you know I doing some work here on a
lotta Lotta lesser money more than what
we supposed to work for you know what
ain't nothing what we can do about it I
got into work all day longer how much
you made today $35 $40
you gotta work you out behind I've to
make 50 bucks
although the Fon Houle's deny wrongfully
cutting wages and putting their workers
safety at risk
eventually mounting lawsuits and
increasing scrutiny caused them to
mechanize their sugar harvest many of
the migrants who had come to work in
their fields stayed in America hoping
for other opportunities but they haven't
made it very far do you think it makes
it difficult for the people living in
that community to change their lives
when they're raised in that community
because they live in those conditions no
I mean there's a lot of talent down
there a lot of talent
you know this community here has
produced several famous football players
okay Fred Taylor for the Jacksonville
Jaguars so that's a weedy I mean that's
just one of the ways uh Jessie Hester
he's play for the Colts and the Raiders
you family lives right back here I mean
that's just one of the things I mean and
then there's other athletes and there
are a lot of talented people in this one
community
it's hard to believe that just a few
miles down the road from Belle Glade is
one of the richest towns in America Palm
Beach the contrast between the two
communities is astounding
but most rich people have come to accept
the blatant inequality as a way of life
in our country I know my father is
different he struggles with it yet every
time I turned the camera on his instinct
is to keep quiet we're in the middle of
the meeting you come in with the camera
we don't want to talk on camera about
what we're doing well I just think you
know which we're secretive secretive
about about well about the American
aristocracy it's written up in every
paper twice a year they tell they tell
you whether the radical haha talks the
secret why can't I be secretive every
man's house is his castle in this
country there's nothing wrong with
shedding light on that and reviewing it
and then hopefully correction sir well I
want you to be careful I'm not I mean
that it's the you know your personal
family will you made your movie now you
don't want to talk Jamie what is so dark
here what do you think's going on what
are you when you talking about take this
camera and your film and do another
person or another family it's not gonna
happen here it's frustrating because I
know when my dad was my age he had
something to say about social inequality
and I think the subject is so
complicated for him that now he chooses
to avoid it at all costs but for some
rich people I talked to inequality is
easy to understand it's preordained if
you inherit money then you feel why did
I get all this and somebody else is poor
well God had a reason for that God's
never going to give you anything that
you can't handle people mistake the
Bible as something that you put on the
Shelf after Sunday but it is it is a
guideline that you run your business
value and your family by and your on
your life by and you will succeed
we have about 260 million dollars in
sales and we have 1,150
employees we're in the top 30 private
landowners in the United States and when
the largest private landowner in
Louisiana
the TV set yeah that shows is how
they're doing real-time it's like the
cover don't muzzle an ox while it's
treading and what that means is keep the
keep everybody happy and they will do a
lot better job we have a plasma TV in
the in the lunchroom so that we can
communicate better with the employees
amazing some scripture up there is them
from the Bible
yep marketplace ministries is a company
chaplain service that we offer free to
our employees they get breaks during the
day and then come in the lunch room have
cokes and sandwiches and so forth and
get their infant in information's
infomercials I should say up there it's
easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than a rich man to get into
heaven
back then rich people in the Jewish
states were the the most of highest they
were the ones they thought that that God
favored the most because they were
Wilson just because you're wealthy
doesn't mean you're you're not going to
get into heaven it means that God has
given you a lot of assets to be stewards
of and he's gonna sit back and watch how
you do it I think empathy is a very very
important quality you can t vote of
eight people have a business of uniting
pathetic view customers on workers hi
how you doing
crazy crippled out of my mind eating my
bread yeah
taking a little nap you know yeah I got
this teachers kinda crazy what's a good
black and whites a good combination
nowadays well go really said get these
in that's good hey you got a dollar
that would really help me out I'm going
to store fix myself up okay hey thanks
for coming by
hey cool bill what is your name Paul hey
Paul it's nice to see you Benny
take care they don't usually give
homeless folks money unless a homeless
person is playing music or trying to
better themselves selling pencils or
doing something I generally don't do
much in this case I thought that most
genteel would also have interleaved was
possibly give them a dollar you want to
look like Mother Teresa I mean how do
you take it to an extreme how much do
you mean if you want to really be the
minimalist you look like Mother Teresa
are you it's always a ambiguous thing
you should have a little bit of guilt a
little bit of pride I don't know how to
answer it
I'm the great-grandson of the meatpacker
Oscar Mayer and when I was 16 my father
told me that I was going to inherit
enough money so much money that I
wouldn't have to work but I made a
decision to give up that wealth I grew
up in a wealthy suburban community and I
went to school with kids who came to
school and chauffeur driven cars Cathy
Iacocca dad was Lee Iacocca alfred
Taubman son you know on Sotheby's
auction house you know that these were
the kids I went to school so we live we
I grew up in a in a wealth bubble but I
remember thinking at that time huh
there's something something wrong here
something about unfairness that's about
as much as I remember that but a little
seed was probably planted then and then
I wrote my dad a letter basically
telling him that my desire intention to
give away the money that I had he called
me after he got the letter he said I'm
coming to Boston I want to talk to you
about this and he came out and he said
you know I'm you've been away from home
for about ten years now I don't quite
understand this decision maybe you
should sort of tell me what's happened
since you left home and so he he
listened to me for a while just talked
about that and then he kind of at the
very end he says oh okay I understand I
understand what this is about you know I
don't I don't think it's a good idea and
my questions have to do with have you
really thought through all the
consequences of this like what if you
have a child one day
and that child has a severe disability
and he really pushed me on all these
what-if questions all the sort of worst
case scenarios for me it always came
back to well I would be in the same boat
as 98% of the people I know I do meet
people today who say it's hard to get by
and 50 million
you know I need more I think those
people are sick you know to to need that
much to have a good life I mean I think
you gotta take a look at yourself there
buddy
you know if you feel like you don't have
enough at that point in Los Angeles and
that I'm staying at the Beverly Wilshire
people ask me why stay at the Beverly
Wilshire rather than other more trendy
hotels and my answer I think it's an
important point this of distinction is
that I'm really not interested in being
cool I'm interesting being served
I'm from Italy and in Italy I possess
money but also the notoriety not writing
for what for having been rich for say
five centuries when I moved to New York
all I was was a young kid with money and
I really felt that there was something
missing at home I was you know the Baron
here in America you're nobody
are you model
actor I'm Adams desk ah no I don't do
anything actually that's the point of
the whole documentary I just like a like
a rich dude in Rodeo Drive and and the
fact that I don't do [ __ ] you know that
the [ __ ]
here there's no monarchy that can night
you and say you're a baron now but there
is the media and so what I did was I
hired a publicist and started doing
events and red carpets all of a sudden
you are a baron in a different way but
in a contemporary way
today I'm in Los Angeles for some
meetings with some production companies
and networks for possibly a reality show
which would be featuring me America is
fascinated by seeing the trappings of
wealth and more specifically rank
Americans rejected inequality at the
inception they said no to aristocracy
they said no to all this but at the same
time when you shed your sins you retain
a secret desire of having them back
in America some of the richest citizens
are treated like aristocracy even when
they go to great lengths to control how
the public perceives them when I
contacted Warren Buffett about this film
he refused to talk but a friend
introduced me to his granddaughter and
she invited me to her home to show me
what life is life in the second richest
family in the world
you're holding economy on an economy
owning Nicko
nam myoho renge gonna me owning a gonna
me owning aghanim you're hoarding
aghanim you're hoarding a on the mooring
aghanim you're hoarding aghanim your
warning hang on them your warning I
think we can really let go of excessive
stuff and the need to you know kind of
have excessive stuff is is a real
there's a lot of dignity in that I've
been very blessed to have my education
taken care of and I have my living
expenses taking care of while I'm in
school after we're out of school we
don't get any money from our family
I work for a family here in San
Francisco I do a lot of organizing of
just things in their home organizing of
toys I'm actually pretty good at looking
at a very messy closet or space and
making order out of chaos so that's
something I'll do before the kids come
home and then usually when the kids get
home I'm responsible for very general
things like bath time and dinnertime and
homework time I think it's a very weird
thing to be working for a very wealthy
family considering I do come from one of
the wealthiest families in America and I
feel that the family I work for feels a
bit of humor around the fact that I am
from one of the wealthiest families a
wealthier family then I believe they are
I don't want to make any assumptions but
I think that might be the case and I
think we all kind of find it odd and
also just wild and a little bit funny
but that's the case
since I was like 18 I've been totally
focused on making art being artists I
transform a lot of my questions doubts
and and fears through art I feel very
fulfilled I feel really happy in my life
I feel like I have more than what I need
and definitely what I need how do you
feel like your grandfather
react um I definitely fear judgement
money is the spoke in my grandfather's
Wheel of Life
I think either people are coming from a
place of love or fear and fear drives us
to want to hold on to things and not
share because we're afraid that there's
not enough for ourselves and if we let
go you know we're going to not have
enough for ourselves fear is what stops
most wealthy people from talking about
their money
in many cases children and wealthy
families are nervous that they're going
to get punished for what they say
I don't think Nicole or I expected how
severely her grandfather would react to
her presence in this film
but after the shoot in her studio she
received a letter from him that
surprised us all so did you read that
first opening line no you would never do
your grandpa I guess in the letter he
states that their relationship is over
and that she is no longer a member of
their family my family adopted you as a
niece or cousin because I was in this
film you know it has made grandpa Hino
upset upset to the extent that now he's
gonna say I'm not his real granddaughter
in this picture of grandpa and us little
girls here I've spent months and years
of my life at his home in Omaha which
was my twin sister and I but in spring
break we would go and visit him and we
would stay in his home it was just us
and we spent so much time bonding as his
grandchildren money is a part of life
you have to make money to live and so
but I think that when that element of
necessity is taken to an extreme there's
an imbalance there and with that with
that monetary imbalance comes an
emotional imbalance
at the same time of Nicole's struggle
with her grandfather Warren Buffett came
out and announced that he was giving a
majority of his fortune to charity
I asked Nicole how she felt as the world
celebrated his generosity I feel that
who my grandfather is publicly as a
public figure and who my grandfather
Warren Buffett is as a grandfather as a
father as a brother as a son are two
completely different things
Warren Buffett's reaction to the film
ended up in a newspaper my family
started to get nervous and they called
me in for a meeting with my father in
his financial advisor Jamie I don't
agree with the thesis of your movie I
don't respect the way in which you
documented it I don't know that you're
right I mean I think this movie is
taking in a good direction I think so
far I've learned a lot and I think if
anything what I've seen suggests that
some of my original thoughts about it
were on the right track and I don't
understand why your resistance would be
so severe I mean if it's not a
threatening thing then why are you
reacting this way Jamie I'm not freaked
out by the project I'm disappointed and
what you've conspired to do with it Jim
what you just you think Brian's right
what do you mean brought
he's upset I can understand it I'm not
sure whether he's right or wrong but I
feel like this movie is a good idea and
I feel like I've got to go forward with
it either way I can't take any more it's
too much right
oh dear
well Brian I don't understand why human
I get pissed off when you say okay fine
I'll do I'll go do my homework and you
don't I don't need it it's a pain in the
ass you're behaving like a little
arrogant trustafarian you know come on
give me a break I'm not surprised that
Brian is upset with this movie his job
is to ensure that members of the 1% keep
getting richer and for him the growing
wealth gap is an indication that he and
people like him are doing their jobs but
not all rich people see the growing
wealth gap as a good sign for some it's
a problem that needs to be reversed
people who have been enabled to
accumulate very very large will have an
indebtedness to society for having made
that possible they live in a place which
generates individual wealth the creation
of the microprocessor the human genome
research the internet none of those
things would exist but for the 90
billion dollars that the federal
government spends every year on basic
research people don't really see the
role that the use of tax dollars plays
in making our economy so vibrant hold on
what if we had a slightly more
aggressive tax system and supported the
bottom the bottom you would have let you
would have less growth and the bottom
would be poor would in the end end up
worse off we would do harm not good but
people don't pay those high taxes they
find ways of getting around and you're
never going to be able to stop them from
finding ways to get around it I mean I
think there's some there's definitely
merit to that and I certainly wouldn't
advocate socialism well you are
advocating excuse me don't talk that way
you are advocating socialism that's
exactly what you're advocating you're
just not willing to call it socialism
I'm just advocating a slightly more
progressive tax structure that's
socialism if you're gonna have a society
of bad
the load of the taxes have to fall on
the people with the money and I don't
resent the very wealthy as a matter of
fact I'd like to be one but I do think
that many of the wealthy people
understand that they could probably pass
a little bit of another tax break to
have a little left for Head Start back
in the old days you would tax passive
income meaning dividend and interest
income differently than salary income
right now a guy making money from
dividends pays 15% tax but a soldier
over in Iraq pays 40 percent tax thirty
percent income tax imagine the idea of a
worker going to a foundry every day heat
dust working imagine a society that says
to that fonder worker you're going to
pay more share of your income in federal
income taxes then the multi-millionaire
is going to pay on his or her dividends
and capital gains entrepreneurs and
small business owners are also singled
out for punishment by the estate tax
better known as the death tax when you
die if your if your assets flow to your
descendants than the descendants that
receive it are required to pay a tax on
that transfer the estate tax in itself
is a is really to me anti-american it is
a redistributionist type tax because
that money has been taxed in tax and tax
all throughout your life and then they
tax it again taxes on estates are our
board are criminal but and are unethical
affect the estate tax in about five
years will only apply the federal estate
tax to about three four thousand estates
the real rich estates you know ten
million and above
maybe it's even less than that but the
propaganda by the Republicans and the
rich have been so relentless that most
people think gee you know my estate
should go to my kids not in the federal
government shouldn't tax it you don't
pay the estate tax unless you are
already extremely wealthy
it's mythological that this is for small
farmers or for small businesses no we're
talking about the wealthiest people in
this country
I remember in 1997 there was this big
push to abolish the inheritance tax and
at the time I was like wow where did
this come from now I know that the Mars
family and the Gallo family and all
these enormous ly wealthy families
bankrolled an effort to abolish the
inheritance tax Forrest Mars net worth
ten billion dollars you know lives in
Virginia and wants to get rid of the
estate tax I mean how much money does
you want to pass oh honey
it was a December 2000 that I got an
email from Bill Gates senior the father
of the founder of Microsoft who said how
can I help you no I'm he he said I'm the
idea that we would eliminate the estate
tax is just wrong he says well I'll uh
I'll call Warren Buffett and George
Soros and Paul Newman and so I said all
right you you call your friends and I'll
call my friends and we'll we'll see what
we can do
I'm here talking to people in the Senate
about the federal estate tax bill the
Republicans are trying to repeal it
their constituents don't like to pay the
tax and they're trying to help their
constituents by refusing we are
developing a very serious wealth
disparity and the fact of the matter is
that the disparity has developed even
though we do have an estate tax so I
hate to think how how bad it would be if
we we hadn't had an estate tax over this
time if we continued to reduce the
estate tax on the schedule we now have
it means that we are going to have the
children of the wealthiest people in
this country owning more and more of the
assets of this country and their
children as well we're going to have
family dynasties of a sort that we had
in the late 19th century meanwhile the
rest of the country is going to have to
be paying more and more in taxes to keep
a safe from terrorism to make sure we
have roads and bridges and an education
and the minimum amount of health care we
do Medicare and Medicaid it's unfair
it's unjust it's absurd
in late August of 2005 Hurricane Katrina
at the Gulf Coast of the United States I
want every American to know that their
government is doing everything it can to
help get relief to those in need as
quickly as possible you want to be
rescued go to the Superdome all of a
sudden are they telling us go to the
bridge yeah we have very few resources
what are we supposed to do it is wrong
we have no water you could have dropped
it from the sky from the helicopter as a
three week old infant girl baby survive
out here with no milk no water look how
hot he is he's not waking up very easy
we have regular care like bodies
floating dance my front door you know
Americans are generous to each other and
I just hope that what the world is
seeing is that even though we've been
hit with something that is unlike
anything that we've been hit with before
the generosity of this country and the
caring of Americans for Americans is I
think what is coming through
for five days tens of thousands of
people waited for help from a government
that had seemingly forgotten them
when the president finally did show up
he didn't seem too worried about those
most in need out of the rubbles of trent
lott
houses had lost his entire house there's
going to be a fantastic house and I'm
looking forward to sitting on the porch
while the president enthusiastically
planned his future visits to Trent Lots
beach house
thousands of people waited outside the
Superdome for food and water
within a few days of the disaster people
are ready living on the edge of poverty
were pushed to increasingly desperate
measures to survive
it was the poor the people that didn't
have an opportunity to buy ticket I
didn't have an automobile to get out of
New Orleans and even we saw people
calling out for help help us help us
save us we were slow to respond we want
people with one family we have one house
and we all must have a place at the
table in this house and I think those in
high places whether it's the President
of the United States but it's the
majority leader the Senate but the
Speaker of the House for the mayor of
our cities of business leaders we must
recognize the fact that none of us not
one of us are going to get out this
predicament
do we all sort of get out together
the tide together as a nation and as a
people the one thing you would depend on
everybody said he's going to put his
interests above yours I don't think
that's a very hard thing to understand
well aren't all these signs that we're
starting to see in America that are
emerging in America what time's sign
didn't they all apply to past
civilization why are we don't we we're
not exempt from those if we builder
young if I when our society collapses
there will be not be for the reasons
you've cited it will be because our
government has grown too big because we
have not held government down to size
nervous that because we're not asking
the right questions because we're not
willing to curtail our rapid growth
because of you to get out of here we're
at the stage now where the gap between
the rich and poor exhausted my patience
I asked there is no equality in life
forget about it we are what we are we
were created layers over each other's
this is it
there are the withers that serve your
coffee there are the cooks there are the
and there are the people who will buy
the facilities and enjoy it what can you
do that's life
I think that what we've seen in the last
20 years is reckless because of where
the United States sort of is at the top
part of its trajectory going down we use
too much oil we make too much money out
of finance there's too much debt there's
a recklessness about resources a
recklessness about borrowing a sense
that it's always going to be up up and
away for the United States serious study
just doesn't support America has been
blessed because of its judeo-christian
background its alliance to the Ten
Commandments and and it's it's laws were
based upon that and that's why it's been
blessed it gets away from that even fail
in the Progressive Era in the first
decades of the 20th century
we had a huge gap in income and wealth
between people the top and people at the
bottom in the working class our cities
were festering the rich were capturing
more and more power and wealth but what
did we do as a society we didn't have a
revolution we didn't turn to socialism
or communism or fascism we reformed
ourselves the Progressive Era was an era
of reform we adopted they graduated
progressive income tax we regulated
corporations we busted up the big
Trust's big monopolies we made jobs
safer
we provided eventually and by the 1930s
unemployment insurance and also old-age
insurance old Social Security we in
other words did not embrace socialism we
embrace reform the whole history of
mankind is that similar to geology the
center of the earth is all molten lava
and there's only a thin layer on earth
you can live on three four miles and
there's so much down there that's all
hot hot hot that thin layer is that
there's between rich and poor you need
incentives and society so rich achieved
things but the whole history of mankind
is that the lava overflows it kicks
their ass I think there are more and
more really wealthy people still small
in number we're basically saying we
cannot continue this devastation of the
lives and hopes and rights of tens of
millions of our fellow Americans that
it's not smart from our point of view
their multi billionaires but they're
beginning to be fearful of the future
my great-grandfather started the Johnson
and Johnson pharmaceutical company okay
John and John big money the old money
old crooked money and money they come
out of their moonshine of the whole
fiction truth to them man I know it to
design way to get into the board Lansing
the truth no great did you I can tell
you something and you might think I'm an
idiot my family warning richest family
in the world but not with money with
little kind of Tom's and patient
qualities that worth more than money and
you can't buy that they taught me how to
love people for who they are not what I
want on the bed they taught me how to
get along with people they taught me to
treat people to wait I want to be
treated
they told me to treat each person for
who they are not Club them together but
we all different in our
that division mr. Oliver I know making
this movies been a little bit
complicated for you it has been
complicated Jamie I wish that I've shown
more outward support from the very first
because you know I am proud of you and I
have to tell you this cuz I cryed all
its but it's true and I just wish I'd
shown you right away how proud I was of
you and how much I agree with what
you're trying to do I wasn't born rich
so I might have started out with a very
different set of ideas and I've tried to
be sensitive to your dad's ideas about a
little bit careful you know some would
consider it of him and
how he likes it to be and so that
creates a little conflict and that
creates a little conflict about the
movie what is so complicated about it
when I first married your dad he was
after all a surfer and a painter then he
was not the grown person that you see
today and I I think you and he could
spend time exploring that and now we've
come to a conclusion and I know you have
some questions to ask me and I'd like to
proceed with him well what about the
movie you made when you were mine um
when I was much younger just out of
college I gotten involved in charitable
giving to an anti-apartheid organization
that was making a film in South Africa
it involved wages and workers and in
certain companies when it aired on
public television
Johnson and Johnson I know was included
in that and several people connected
with the company started to complain to
the CEO there about what's Jimmie
Johnson doing he's undermining our
business my name also appeared on the
film credits and I remember going down
to meet with the CEO at the time and I
began to realize that it was a story
with two sides that the yes they didn't
pay that I forget it it's going nowhere
just keep going you're kind I've got you
gotten you got what I feel and I can't
give you solutions for the world what do
you mean well if you have a way to help
you should do it if you can affect one
or two lives you've done a good work I
don't think you are necessarily set the
goal of changing the world because it's
it's maybe beyond what what's possible
I'm proud of my father for making his
movie it's surprising it took him so
long to tell me about it but the
scolding he got from the company clearly
took a toll on him and it explains why
he hates talking about money
unfortunately many rich people feel the
same way as the executives who
confronted my father self-preservation
has given rise to the growing wealth gap
in America and the bigger the gap gets
the more removed wealthy people get from
the world around them but if you're
always hiding from the problem you're
never going to find any solutions
you got me
the sugar you got me I just believe I
just
I just
mother's feeling I just can't believe
ah
honey honey
my girl you got me one day you
