Recent Financial Documentaries Contain Whining & Not Enough Personal Responsibility

The problem with documentaries is that they are so subjective. The message doesn't depend only on fact, but also leans very heavily on the opinions and politics of the producers and funders of the film.

Since we are interested in things like finances and the economy, and have ourselves experienced what it's like to struggle financially, we thought the documentaries Maxed Out and Waging a Living would be interesting. They were interesting, but as my husband said, they were ruined by the insertion of opinion. The prevailing messages were: rich people are inherently bad, big businesses are evil, good people just can't get ahead, all poverty is caused by outside forces rather than personal behavior, America is a horrible place to live, and Maxed Out naturally slipped in the Bush-is-stupid-and-it's-all-his-fault jab. Even Dave Ramsey didn't get great treatment in Maxed Out, perhaps because he's currently rich, and he's all about personal responsibility.

I find myself so troubled by these kinds of films, for two reasons: one, because I agree with them in part, and two, because I think they disseminate falsehoods that hurt people. It's so frustrating to be thinking "Yeah, that sounds right. Credit card companies are certainly predatory" and then find myself sympathizing with people who are up to their eyeballs in debt for the simple reason that they spent more than they earned on worthless, unneeded consumer goods. On the one hand, it is ridiculous that credit companies actively recruit jobless teenagers at college. On the other hand, it is ridiculous that my peers have so little sense that some of them will run up tens of thousands of dollars for....what? Ipod, cute dorm décor, the must-have fashion of the month? On the one hand, it is a travesty that a credit company would issue a card to a mentally disabled man on the basis of a "signature" that he had to copy because he has the mental capacity of a 4 year old. On the other hand, his mother sat there while he was doing it and let it happen. What was she thinking? Let's see, if you're out of money, you're already not able to pay your bills, the solution is to add another bill under the name of your son who can't even sign his own name, let alone work and pay that bill? Who, exactly, is at fault if a family can't pay their mortgage on a 3,500 sq ft home? The government? The mortgage company? The builders? How about the people who originally decided they wanted to pay money for that much empty space? I'm supposed to feel sorry for someone who bought way more house than they needed because they wanted the status and then discovered it's hard to pay the bills? I think what bothered me the most about Maxed Out was that it was all about condemning the rich, but everyone featured in the film wanted to be rich and live like the rich. Just because you label your desires "necessary for survival" doesn't mean they really are.

I was struck, while watching Waging a Living with the common denominator in the lives of all the featured families-they were fractured. Single parents, absentee dads, no extended family support, and trying to buy children's happiness with stuff to make up for the family mess. Towards the end of the movie, several people acknowledged that a stable family life with two people instead of one was definitely easier financially and emotionally, but somehow the film didn't connect that fact with the problems these people had as single parents. Nor did anyone point out that while it's wonderful to celebrate Christmas, if you are on the verge of losing your house and you're behind on the car payment, buying lots stuff to put on a show of Christmas cheer is just plain financial stupidity. Once again it was all about the evils of big (or even small) business, the inability of hard-working people to get ahead, and the unfairness of the welfare system. It's not that I think these people are bad. I just couldn't help thinking that if the root problems had been addressed, this film would never have needed to be made. People who have family peace and financial wisdom don't end up feeling hopeless and beaten down, even if they are poor.

I did feel a lot of sympathy for the people in Waging a Living. They really were suffering. But not because the Evil Rich People were out to get them. The waitress was rightfully distressed at getting $8 paychecks and having to train people who would then take away some of her work. But running a rural family restaurant is no picnic and her employers no doubt spent a good deal of time tearing their hair out over their own bills and income problems. Nursing home caregivers don't get paid nearly enough, but neither do the managers and I was sad to see them getting somewhat poor treatment in the film. I've done the nursing-home thing, and while my manager was paid a lot more than me, she was also older, more experienced, and ended up in the hospital due to the stress of her job and the hours she had to work to keep things going. A mom with 5 children and an $8/hour job is a sad situation indeed, and I felt that woman's pain as she discovered that a $400/month raised meant that she lost $600/month in government assistance (in other words, with $400/month more she was suddenly expected to cover $600 in expenses, which is not possible in this world). I cried when the grandma was evicted along with her two daughters (one sick with cancer) and 4 grandchildren.

Still, I never could get past the fact that all of these horrible situations were ultimately the direct results of choices made by these people and/or their former spouses. Young women, make a note....If you have 5 children and no daddy for any of them, you are going to struggle. That's a sad fact. Men, if you don't want to make the effort to work out your relationship with your wife, you may lose your kids. Especially if you decide to live on the opposite coast from them in a high-cost-of living city. The solution to problems like these is not going to be developing and society where nobody can earn more or less than anyone else (how boring!) and where the government plays mommy (big brother, nanny) to us all.

It's true that "making it" in the USA is not as easy as some would have us believe. Life is a struggle, no matter where you live. My husband and I have had moments (sometimes months!) of desperation and worry. We have scraped the bottom of the barrel more than once. We have also made our share of financial mistakes, and find it difficult to pin the blame on some corporation or individual beyound ourselves. Our choices have a huge impact on our success (or lack thereof) and I wish films like these would acknowledge this.