OK, What Gives?

So I finally got around to watching "Capitalism: A Love Story". It was heart-wrenching. Politics aside, it was horrible to watch people thrown out on the street. It was difficult to sit and watch as the stories of a few rock-bottom families developed along side the tales of clever corporate schemes to horde money. The fact is, though, that politics were not aside. I'm doing some reading now on topics that the movie covered (ie - Reagan economics, modern housing markets, congressional jurisdiction and the voice of the people ignored). I don't have to read for long to find that Moore's fact-checking is right on target. Everyone should see this movie. It was unreal.
I know that in class I tend to come across as negative, but it's really just more of a skeptic thing. After all, my middle name is Thomas. I think it is so important to check credentials and to do some quick fact finding before we swallow information whole. Who's putting the news out there? Who sponsors this website? Whose manifesto is being pushed between the lines? Especially in an age where "information is so readily available" (a feature of the internet we hold in highest regards), it is vital that we know our sources.
One of the reasons I think we should care so much is that we NEVER heard about any of the back-door dealings that took place before, during, and after our financial crisis. Did you know that the top members of the financial firms essentially held congress down to get them to pass the bailout (after it had initially rejected it)? Or that memos were published within Bank of America that openly discussed ways in which the top 1% could effectively RULE the other 99%? I didn't. My point is - what is going on? How did we not know? Why did it take a few people so much digging in order to find out? We are communications majors here. What is happening to our field?
This just keeps feeding into other questions: How did we get to this present situation? Why are so few able to suppress so many? Why, when those of us willing to shout gather in NYC and DC, do the rest of us look on in apathy/amusement/judgment?

Click Here For A Look At "Capitalism: A Love Story"