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Disneyland was

not like anywhere
else on Earth.

My parents would save
all year long,

and we had one yearly trip
to the park.

You had to have

the Peter Pan hat
with the feather.

We would go in and we'd,
you know,

have our little bit of money.

I mean, it was magic

from the minute
you got onto the tram.

It was just... happy.

When I started
working at the park,

the employees
were so happy to be there.

You were proud

to be a part
of this magnificent place.

And they were proud of you.

That's year one.

Everybody's always thrilled
to get that.

That's Steamboat Willie.

Vanna White it.

The second one is five years.

Ten years...

to 20.

And...

40.

Financially, you know,
they're not worth anything,

they're just...

little pieces of pot metal.

But when you've earned them,
when you've worked hard

and you've given
all those years to a company,

to be recognized with that,
it really means a lot.

And...

it means that the company
appreciated you.

Or at least it did.

Growing up,

Disneyland was
like a home away from home

for my family.

That's me
and my brand-new red coat.

We called
Disneyland "the park."

We went to the park
all the time

to see my grandpa, Roy Disney,

who, along with his brother,
started the Walt Disney Company

almost a century ago.

They were kind of like
Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket,

sort of id and superego.

Walt would go off
and do some crazy thing,

and then Roy would figure out

where the money
was gonna come from.

I'm really proud

of what my grandfather
and great-uncle did.

They brought so much joy
into the world.

I was raised on their story.

It was a story
about bootstraps,

about rags to riches,

about the American Dream.

It's said that...

Somebody told me
and I heard one time

that you could make one dollar
a day for a long time,

and you support the family
on a dollar a day.

What's a dollar a day?

Seven dollars a week.

By mid-century,
their enterprise would help

create the largest middleclass

the world had ever seen.

Only later would I come to see

that there was so much more
to the story.

When you're a little kid,
you can't really understand

that you're growing up
in something at all unusual

or unfair.

The only metaphor
I can think of

is if you're a goldfish,

you don't really know
how to describe water.

But then one day, you realize

your family is a very big
and complicated deal.

And you get trained
from childhood

not to speak badly
ever in public

about the family
or the business.

And I didn't.

For a long time.

We're delighted
to welcome producer,

philanthropist,
and social activist,

Abigail Disney.

You compare the dynamics
of wealth to that of addiction.

I'm sorry,
this is radical,

too much money.

There is such a thing.

If you have a billion dollars

and you wanna send your kid
to school, congratulations,

you can send them to school
for 20,000 years.

Abigail, why do you
wanna pay more taxes?

We do not have a society

structured around fairness
right now,

and the proof is
in the pudding.

Having
the last name "Disney"

is like having
a weird superpower

you didn't ask for.

For years,

I've tried to do my best
with it.

But I have to confess,

even though I knew things were

far from perfect
at the family business,

it's always felt so impossible
to speak out

because of the inevitable
repercussions.

My dad went to battle

over the direction
of the company twice.

And I saw the way he got
threatened with lawsuits

and torn to shreds
in the media.

Anybody would think twice
about getting involved.

But then, one day,
out of the blue,

I got a message
from a guy named Ralph,

who worked at Disneyland.

He told me that he
and his fellow cast members,

as Disney calls them,

were fighting for better pay,

and he asked me for my help.

Even though
I have no role at the company,

I felt like I had
to go to Anaheim.

Oh, oh, there she goes.

Go play!

Ready... set...

Go!

- No, I didn't say "Go!"

- I won!
- You cheat!

- Opal, come on over!

- Are you having fun yet?
- Come on!

Turn around, turn around.

Oh, here we go.

You two can race.

Somebody's a princess,
you told me.

Who's the princess?

They're
all three princesses.

They're all...
Oh, okay.

We... we have...

MacKallien is the one that is
the princess of all the lands.

MacKayla,
our six-year-old,

she is the
princess of the sky...

- The sky!
- The sky!

And then MacKallien,
our youngest...

I'm the mermaid princess!

She's the mermaid princess.

And she's the
princess of all the seas, yes.

You've divided it up
nicely.

Yes.

You guys met at Disney?
You met each other?

Yes, he saw me
in the parking lot,

and I said, "Do you wanna
eat inside the park

or outside the park?"
He said, "Inside the park."

And we've been together
ever since.

So, it was
an inside-the-park home run.

- Pretty much.
- Pretty much.

Go, Kenzie.

Do you see your daughter?

Go.

At the time
when we first met,

I had this idea

that we would move out

and have our family
and everything.

Yay, Trin!

That's the way to do it!

- Get 'im!

Unfortunately,
the economy does not...

allow that.

We live with my mother-in-law.

We're lucky enough to do that.

I've always wanted
to have a house of my own,

always dreamed of one.

But I would settle even
to have an apartment.

It would be nice
to just have it where I can...

show my kids
that I can do things on my own,

and not have to
rely on my parents.

You want Mommy
to come down with you?

Mm-hm.

Even with both of us
working full-time,

we still fall
below poverty level.

We try to do
as much as we can

that doesn't require
any kind of money.

Trick or treat!

We make
15 dollars an hour.

And for people
who work at night,

we only get 75 cents
an hour extra.

But for working the hours
we work,

with the lack of sleep,

I don't think 75 cents
is enough.

Third shift
starts at 11:30

to about eight o'clock
in the morning.

It's very physical work.

We're the people
who do the pixie dust at night.

You scrub the kitchens,
the floor, the toilets.

And I'm proud of what I do,
I'm very proud of it.

And that type of thing

you'll find throughout
all the parks.

The people
who tend to work there

want to provide the best.

I go into work every day

because this is a place
where magic is made,

- you know?
- Uh-huh.

We don't want those memories
of the first time

we were at Disney
when we were ten years old,

and the walking down Main Street
and it feeling

just so...
such incredible joy and magic...

You don't want that
to not exist.

For the first time
in over 60 years,

the union started talking
and we all found out

that we were all struggling
with basically the same issues.

Right.

None of us were
ever supposed to talk about

how much money we made.

I worked two jobs
for eight years

to make ends meet.

Yeah, like, I, myself,
am actually a student.

It's really expensive.
I wanna be a teacher but, um...

I have two jobs.

I don't just work at Disney,

I also work
at Knott's Berry Farm.

- Oh!

I work for the mouse
and the dog.

Disney is an industry leader
in terms of,

like, theme parks, right?

And the same things
that are happening at Disney

are also happening
at Knott's Berry Farm.

We've had cast members
that have to make a decision

between medication or food.

And these are essential things

that you can't make choices
like that.

By a show of hands,

how many of you have someone
you know that works at Disney

that's on food stamps?

Wow.

How many of you know somebody
who works at Disney

who's slept in their car
in the last couple of years?

How many of you know somebody

who have gone
without medical care

because can't afford it?

I do!

I know!

How many of y'all
have children?

I am somebody
who doesn't have kids.

I don't have the finances

to take care of a child
in the way that I would like to.

It's affected my ability
to family plan

and to look towards my future
as far as my personal life.

And it's not... you know,

this is not where I thought
I'd be at 33.

Aw, don't cry.

Aww.

You can borrow our kids.

Everybody thinks

that we can all just
bootstrap it and move up.

If you're doing that job
to the best of your ability,

it should be treated
like a proper job.

I think I should be able
to pay my bills

on my custodial job.

But, you know,

I've always had
somewhat unstable housing.

I ended up living in my van
for a few months.

Right now, I'm renting a room
from a friend,

but she's planning to retire,

so I don't know

what my housing situation's
gonna look like.

I look at the housing nearby

and it's very much
out of my price range.

A studio apartment would take,

like, 80 percent
of my take-home pay a month,

and, like,
a one-bedroom apartment

would be more than I make
in a month.

I am not finding anything

in the Anaheim/
Orange County area

that's in my price range.

All right!

I don't want anybody

to have to deal with

the same stress
that I deal with,

and I know
everybody around me does.

That's why I started getting
more involved with the union.

My co-workers are my family.

So, I don't know about you,

brothers and sisters,
but I'm ready to fight!

Are you ready to fight?!

Yeah!

Show them
what democracy looks like!

This is what democracy
looks like!

No justice!

No peace!

No justice!

No peace!

I am 26 years old.

I do school part-time
and I do work part-time.

For the longest time,
I did feel...

kind of like a failure,
to be quite honest.

I thought that by now,

I would've moved out
from my parents' house,

but now, it's just...
it's a little more

like...anger, because
I realize it's not just me,

it's, like, so many of us.

In 2018,

all the unions of Disneyland
organized a campaign

to do battle with the company

over their wages
and working conditions.

Disney was under an enormous
amount of public pressure,

and so, they reluctantly agreed

to adopt a 15-dollar
minimum wage.

But most experts say

that a living wage in Anaheim

is closer to 24
dollars an hour.

And so, the unions felt
that they were being, um...

can I say "screwed?"

- Yeah.
- Okay.

And so, the unions
and the employees at Disneyland

asked me and my colleague
to do a survey.

We were shocked
by what we found.

One out of every
10 full-time workers

was homeless

at some point
in the previous two years.

And two-thirds didn't have
enough money to pay for food.

At the same time, in 2018,

Disney's CEO Bob Iger,

made $65 million in one year.

Iger's package
was 1,424 times

the median salary
of a Disney employee.

That's 2,000 times

the salary of a custodian.

In other words,

a custodian would have to work
for 2,000 years

to make what Bob Iger makes
in one.

The Disney Company
is ground zero

of the widening inequality
in America.

But there's a myth

that Disney's prosperity

will trickle down
to ordinary people.

The city council
and the mayor of Anaheim

have believed that
if Disneyland does well,

then Anaheim does well.

Anaheim's a tale of two cities.

You have the resort district.

This is where Disneyland's at,

this is where
the stadium is at.

Then, you get
the south part of the town,

you have many of
the working-class communities.

When you go around
through the streets,

you see infrastructure
that's not updated,

you know, you see gang problems.

When we first started covering
Anaheim for Voice of OC,

the big argument was that
all of the money in Anaheim

was spent

on the northern part
of the town.

The south part of the town
does not get the investment.

The only investment it gets
is police.

One of the things,
for me,

in being on Council is

how quickly I learned about...

the focus is so
much on tourism,

and making sure that

the children of the tourists
are happy.

- Mm-hm.
- Right?

In the happiest place on Earth,
and they forget about...

or don't even consider,
they're just indifferent

to the lives
of the actual children

who live in Anaheim.

We've seen a void in policies

that really are centered
around people

and the lives
that they lead here in Anaheim

versus policies
that continue to give tax breaks

and more money
to those who already have much.

So, tell us
the legend of the parking lot,

'cause it's crazy to me.

Yeah, so in 1996,

the city took on
a $500-million-bond.

Part of that bond was

to build a parking lot
for the Disney resort.

The city then leased it
to Disney

for a dollar a year.

Disney would keep
all of the revenue.

All of the revenue.

If they fill up
300 days a year,

it's 10,000 cars, $25 a car,

that's $65 million
in pure revenue.

So, basically,
it's a business...

that they spent
no capital creating.

Correct.

The corporation should not

be looking to get public dollars

to do its private business,
to grow its business.

It's not a start-up company.

And even then, Walt Disney
didn't ask for public dollars

when he was starting up.

And yet,

in the two decades
leading up to 2018,

Disney had gotten
the city of Anaheim

to cough up a billion dollars

in the form of subsidies
and tax breaks.

These deals

moved through
without a lot of opposition,

without a lot of debate.

You know, there's dark money
of Disney influencing,

through a series
of resort-related PACs,

and controlling governance
of the city council.

So, here's a story
from four years ago.

"For another meeting
that went into the wee hours,

the Anaheim City Council
narrowly approves a tax shield

for Disneyland that effectively
strips residents

of their power to tax admission
to the mega-resort

for up to 45 years."

So, they were
protected against a tax

that didn't exist yet.

They were protected
against the idea

of a tax for 45 years.

Yeah, exactly right.

Everything Disney was doing,

from skirting taxes
to stiffing workers,

was happening at almost
every big company in America.

I came home
to my privileged life

feeling complicit.

Everything I had

came from
inheriting company shares.

I had no role
or influence at Disney,

and no idea where to start

if I wanted
to make a difference.

My father always told me,

"First, you try quietly."

I knew it would go nowhere,

but I thought I owed Bob Iger

at least the courtesy
of an email.

So, that's where I started.

"Dear Bob,

there is a painful irony
in the idea

that someone working
at the happiest place on Earth

is sleeping in his car."

"These issues
are real and painful,

and don't represent
who Disney is as a company

and who you are as a man."

"What if Disney chose
to pay people well

and give them job security?

"What if you chose to lead?"

Send.

Is there a way to, like,
sit with Bob and talk about it?

Do you think?

I don't think Bob's
gonna meet with you, honey.

Yeah.
I figured as well.

- Even if I asked him.
- Yeah, yeah.

- And he likes me.
- Yeah.

No, he's not
gonna meet with you.

I always knew him
to be a good guy but,

um... but he just needs
to kinda wake up.

- Yeah.
- Smell the roses, and yes,

I'll probably
not stay friends with him

if he ever hears me say that.

My issue is not
that he's not a nice person.

Right.

My issue is that
nice isn't enough, you know?

And you know, honestly,
it's not all Bob's fault.

He's just doing

what Wall Street
tells him to do.

It's the culture
that's wrong.

You know, and if tomorrow,
he went out and said,

"Give everybody
24 dollars an hour,"

the share price would plummet,
you know?

He'd get punished for it,
he'd lose his job.

So, it's not exactly one CEO,
or...

This is a culture-wide thing.

Well, Bob can rationalize it

because he's brought so much
"value to the company,"

in the sense
of stockholder value...

No question.

...and we have benefited
from that,

and they pay dividends out,
and we benefit from that.

Yeah.

But it's prioritizing
the wrong thing.

It's not prioritizing people.

Yeah.

And it's... the core problem
right there.

That's Grandpa.

Yeah.

You know, Grandma told me
I was his favorite.

Did you ever hear that?

- That's just not true.

There's no way that's true,

'cause I thought
I was his favorite.

It's just hard for me
to imagine.

And correct me if I'm wrong,

but I cannot see

him taking
$66 million home

for a year's work
in the same year,

when, at the same company,
people can't afford food.

I don't see that happening.

That would never
have happened.

That would never have happened.

It was a different time.
Now, it's about money.

- Greed is good. Yeah.
- Greed is good.

I mean, Ayn Rand
was one of the people

who kind of came up

with the idea
that greed was good.

Mm-hm.

And she was seen as a fruitcake!

A nut! An outlier!

Well, maybe that's how
they look at you, honey.

When Bob Iger
wrote back,

he acknowledged the problems
his workers were having.

But he suggested

that the government
was failing them,

and that simply
increasing their pay

wouldn't solve their problems.

He referred me
to the head of HR,

who told me about the company's
free education program...

which is nice,
but it doesn't pay the rent.

It was exasperating.

What's up?

Iger put me in touch
with the head of HR there,

and she was very nice
and very helpful, and...

I don't know
if they don't understand

what I'm getting at

or if they don't
wanna understand

what I'm getting at...

but it was clear
I wasn't getting anywhere.

So, I don't know what direction
this is gonna go in.

So, you...
you want higher taxes.

I do, I do.

I think that
at least the wealthy

need to be paying higher taxes.

And what does that mean to you,

- when you say "higher taxes"?
- Well...

So, after months
of feeling paralyzed,

there I was doing a live
segment about taxing the rich

when I got
an unexpected question.

And then the other question
I was gonna ask you

is there's a Disney shareholder
meeting today,

- as it happens.
- Yes.

Do you think
that Bob Iger's overpaid?

- You know him.
- I think that CEOs,

in general,
are paid far too much.

I imagine you have
a lot of Disney stock, right?

I'm not gonna come
out and say that,

but I will say that if your
CEO's salary is at the 700,

600, 500 times
your median worker's pay,

then there is nobody on Earth...

Jesus Christ himself

isn't worth 500 times
his median worker's pay.

Clearly,
I'd struck a nerve.

She dove deeper
into her remarks Sunday

in nearly two-dozen tweets.

Abigail Disney wrote,

"It's time to call out Disney

and anyone else rich
off their workers' backs."

Disney is testifying
before Congress today

over CEO pay.

This topic
of income inequality

is really heating up
on Capitol Hill.

My mother's voice
is working overtime right now,

telling me to sit up straight

and asking me who I think I am.

It's sort of like, um,

"You need to feel awful
about what you're doing,

but if you're gonna feel awful
about what you're doing,

you should at least
sit up straight."

- Okay, perfect.

Okay.

- I am so nervous.
- What?

- I'm so nervous right now.
- I know, breathe.

Did I ever
show you this ring?

- Do you know what it is?
- No.

Oh, it's bananas.

- No?
- No.

- What is it?
- It's a clitoris.

- It's a clitoris.

I gotta tell you,
when I wear this,

it's always the men who say,

"Wow, that's a beautiful ring."

That's deeply disturbing.

And I just... I love it!

And so, I like to wear it
to the most patriarchal places.

- And point it right at 'em.
- Yeah.

Fight the power.

It did look like bananas
at first.

- Thank you so much.

Okay.

- Thank you.
- Here we go, girls.

- All right.
- Let's do it.

Let's do it.

The Committee
will come to order.

The hearing is entitled

A Review of Proposals

to Strengthen the Rights
and Protections of Workers,"

and I now recognize the...

No, Madame Chair, I have
a parliamentarian inquiry.

Okay.

I'd like to know
the purpose of the filming.

It's highly unusual.

Is this a for-profit
or not-for-profit entity?

It might be for profit entity,

but I've certainly never seen
a profit on any of it

- but um...

Reclaiming my time,
I don't believe this is a...

I don't believe...

The objections
to my having

a film crew present

came seemingly
out of the blue,

though I would later learn

that a Disney lobbyist had been
working behind the scenes

pressuring both sides
to prevent me from speaking.

Move to adjourn.

All those in favor
of the move to adjourn,

say "Aye."

Aye.

All those opposed, say "Nay."

Nay.

In the opinion of the Chair,
the nays have it.

Dr. Disney,
you are now recognized.

Thank you.

Today, I hope
to raise some simple questions

about CEO compensation.

Does a CEO's pay
have any relationship

what his hotel maids
and janitors get?

Do the people
who spend a lifetime

at the lowest inch
of the wage spectrum

deserve the dignity
of a living wage?

This is a moral issue.

The burden
is not just on Disney,

and Disney is a long way
from being the worst offender.

Disney could tomorrow
raise the salaries

of all of its workers
to a living wage.

It was possible to do this

when my great-uncle and
grandfather built the company,

it's possible now.

People made this problem,

and by people, it can be fixed.

Thank you.

The gentleman
from Indiana is now recognized.

Well, Dr. Disney,
I heard you several times say

what CEO pay should be,
what living wage should be,

up and down the spectrum,
sea to shining sea.

That is...
We have a definition of that.

That is socialism.

Here we go with socialism.

We know what that is.

This idea
that a company exists solely

to maximize profits,
that is simply not true.

Companies have moral obligations
to their employees.

If you don't wanna
call this "socialism,"

I suppose you can call it

"Marxism," "neo-Marxism."

It certainly isn't the path

that made our country
the world's land of opportunity.

The reality is
the entire American workforce

is benefiting
from this era of prosperity.

Where do you want the...
uh, yellow onions?

- Next to the reds?
- Right next to the red.

We got up at four o'clock
this morning.

I haven't been feeling good,

and Ralph was up for...

over 24 hours.

He worked the night before,
he got off work,

and he went over
to the food bank.

Sometimes, we feel like
we miss our kids, whatnot.

But at the same time,

we also want our kids to know

exactly what it's like to give.

Here, Ellie.

We have one more
over there, too.

I'm gonna hand you
the stuff over here.

Okay, sounds good.

Did you wash the apples?

- Si.
- Thank you.

Snow White,
I always wash the apples.

No, you don't.

The Disney Company
did respond to Abigail Disney.

Disney fired back
with their own statement...

Saying
her statements are,

quote, "unfair and libelous."

"We strongly
disagree with this

characterization
of our employees

and their experience
at Disney."

My colleague asked Bob Iger
about that massive pay gap,

and he said, "It's not an issue
I want to address"

but believes
the interest of the employees

have been served,
quote, "very well."

January, February, March,

we'll be having this
once a month.

To be clear,

2019 was one of Disney's
most profitable years ever,

as it was
for many American companies.

And yet,
food banks across the country

were struggling
to keep up with demand.

The business narrative

had come totally unmoored
from reality.

Abigail Disney,
she's missing the big story,

which is we are
reducing income inequality

through free-market capitalism
and through the tax cuts,

more investment by businesses,
a tight labor market.

That's the best thing you can do

for, you know,
working-class Americans,

'cause we all want... look,

we all want Americans
to climb the economic ladder.

So, lemme ask you
about this. Okay,

here I am, hacking away

at trying to make a difference
at this company,

partly because I think Disney's
like a bellwether company.

Their power is so immense,

but they're being stalled
by fear...

and conformity and... well,
and greed.

I mean, am I wrong about that?
If they change,

there will be those
that follow behind?

No, you're gonna need Disney,

but you're gonna need
one or two other companies

of people running them
with a conscience.

But you've gotta
get that first cog moved.

Yeah, exactly.

So, what's the strategy?
What am I missing?

What do I need to do?

Make a movie about it?

There's that.

Well, that was meta.

But I did grow up
steeped in the power

of stories to change the world.

My family is itself a story.

One that's invoked constantly
as the embodiment

of the American Dream.

But an unexamined story
is a dangerous thing.

That American story

about rising on your own

teaches us all to believe

that if you work hard enough,

anything is possible.

Climbing the economic ladder.

It's as if race doesn't matter,

gender, disability,
or anything else.

It's magical thinking,

and you can hear it
in the language we use.

"Shooting the moon."

"Reaching for the brass ring."

"Pulling on your
own bootstraps."

I mean, think about,

you can't pick yourself up
by anything on yourself.

It's physics!

But the language
is always about rising.

Rising on your own.

My grandfather and great-uncle
did not rise alone.

In the '50s, '60s, and '70s,

a full-time worker
at Disneyland

could afford

a house,

food in the fridge, a car,

and the ability
to raise a family.

I never intended
to make a career out of Disney.

Never. It was a summer job.

But you could advance
in the company,

and if they realized

that you were really happy there
and worked well,

then you got quite the raise,

'cause I remember
all of a sudden,

I was making pretty good money.

Roy talked about

how he hoped
that some of us would go on

to stay with the company,

and he meant it!

Roy Disney, we call him "Roy,"

and they'll correct you
every time

if you call him "Mr. Disney"
or "Mr. Tatum,"

and that... doesn't that
make you feel good?

It does me.

I remember him
as a pretty regular guy,

who lived a no-frills lifestyle

by today's CEO standards.

In fact,

in 1967, his pay,
including stock options,

was just 78 times
his lowest worker's pay...

which was typical
for a CEO of his time.

So, what was different then?

Why didn't executives
in the 1950s and '60s

give themselves the kind

tremendous, tremendous salaries

and bonuses and stock options
and everything?

You just didn't do it.

There was a certain ethics.

There was a certain way
you behave.

Is it overly romantic
for me

to think of my grandfather
as someone who...

you know,
thought about his employees

as important partners and...

and wanted to make sure

that people could raise families
on their salaries?

I don't think
it's overly romantic at all.

You know, the motto
of the Harvard Business School

"Making a decent profit
decently."

- Really?
- Yeah.

And that wasn't that unusual.

It wasn't a crazy idea

that business was in service
to society.

So, the economic
situation we're currently in...

I think a lot of people assume
is just what happens, right?

Yeah, people think

the economy is
like the weather.

The economy is not the weather,

it's not a set
of uncontrollable forces

that we just have to sort of
try to protect ourselves from

as possible.

People set the rules
for capitalism.

Greed's been with us forever,

and there have always
been businessmen

setting the rules
to favor themselves,

so what was holding them back?

In the middle
of the 20th century,

norms and laws set a different
standard and understanding

in terms of
what Americans expected.

That basically was
a social contract

between business, government,
and labor

that said, "You know what?

We're all gonna do our part

to ensure that we all have

a pretty decent
standard of living."

And you had
really strong labor unions

that gave workers

a real voice
in the conditions of their work

and of the business practices
and business strategies.

It wasn't just
the generosity of the CEOs

that made capitalism

a little more humane.

It was that the labor movement
fought a fight,

and the government
backed them up

with worker laws...
workers' rights laws.

Those laws,

in addition
to mid-century norms,

are what kept my grandfather
and other CEOs in check.

I remember talk
around the dinner table

about the notorious strike
way back in 1941,

when nearly every worker

walked off the job
to protest unfair pay.

Grandpa and Uncle Walt

didn't like being told
what to do by anyone,

but they didn't have a choice.

Walt did everything
he possibly could,

but unions
were incredibly powerful.

And so, Walt Disney
had to capitulate.

In terms of how employees
were treated more often

and how companies

did not feel required

to take out every last possible
penny like Scrooge,

um... it was different.

You know,
in the 1950s and '60s and '70s,

tax rates on corporations

were high, higher
than they've been in 50 years.

And yet it worked out.

It built up all
kinds of things.

The interstate highways,

they were brand new
and they were wonderful

and it was fantastic!

And, of course, it funneled

all those hundreds
and thousands

and millions of people
to Disneyland.

This is Disneyland.

Since its opening,
50 million people,

or over one-fourth
of America's population,

have come here.

And in ten years, almost one

billion dollars
have been spent,

all because of tourist money
generated

by a unique recreation industry

in this vast
Orange County area.

It sure seemed

like money
was trickling down then...

even as companies
were making profits

and the economy
was going gangbusters.

You had
the big hallmarks we think of

as middle-class life,
paid for by tax dollars.

Things like
massively subsidized housing,

the ability for someone
on a working-class income

to get into home ownership
without a down payment.

And the government subsidized

healthcare, free college.

It was the creation

of the greatest middleclass
the world had ever seen,

the highest standard of living
in the world.

The American Dream

was a gift
of the American government.

But it was
largely for whites only.

So, everything about
the collective social contract

that built what we call
"the middleclass"

in the United States

- was racialized.
- Yes.

Like so many
white people,

growing up,
I hadn't been taught

that government policies

had actively stacked the deck
against people of color

by limiting access

to all those on-ramps
to the American Dream.

In the United States,
we so often...

don't want to see...

the harm, the exploitation...

- Uh-huh.
- The power.

It's...

that's the Disneyfication
of American history

and of our American story.

To all who come
to this happy place,

welcome.

Disneyland is your land.

And there's
Aunt Jemima!

It's painful,
and it took me a long time

to fully comprehend the role
that my family,

the people that I loved,

played in perpetuating
centuries-old

myths and stories

that made this racist system

seem perfectly natural
and completely benign.

You know,

our original economic model
in this country

was stolen land, stolen people,
and stolen labor.

It's an economy in which

white men are sitting
at the top of a hierarchy.

That's really our
founding myth.

The idea that some people
and groups of people

are simply better than others.

Here I am,
down here on Main Street.

I've got my whole family
with me, my lovely wife, Mary,

and my daughter, Melinda,
and Bob.

You know, this is a Main Street,
ladies and gentlemen,

just like my grandma used
to tell me about

back in Joplin, Missouri.

When he created
those amusement parks,

Walt Disney created
not only a false reality,

but he also changed
reality itself.

As Disneyland was being built,

Walt was very conscious

of creating that berm
around the park.

And the idea of creating
that berm was

that reality was out there...

and it didn't invade here.

But outside the berm,

it was getting harder and
harder to ignore reality.

People of color
were suddenly saying,

"We want a seat at the table."

"We've been contributing

to this great American engine
of prosperity

and we want our shot too."

When the Civil Rights Movement
and the gains in the courts

empowered Black Americans,
the federal government switched

from being the enforcer
of the racial hierarchy

to the up-ender
of the racial hierarchy.

And millions of Americans,
white Americans,

who had been taught to disdain
and distrust Black Americans,

felt betrayed
by that government.

The sense of
betrayal white Americans felt

planted a deep seed of mistrust
in the government...

which would only expand
across the political spectrum

as unrest continued
into the 1970s.

All kinds of people

weren't so crazy
about the government

for a lot of reasons.

There was all this talk
of revolution and socialism

and everything else.

Many CEOs and rich people

who wanted to maximize
their wealth and power

thought, like,

"My God, are the guillotines
gonna come for us?"

Some of 'em thought that.

And they thought, "We gotta
get together and stop this

or we're gonna be washed away,

and the anti-business sentiment
is just gonna ruin us."

The business class
may have been fearful,

but in all this upheaval,
they saw an opportunity

to use white
fear and insecurity

to sell a new economic story.

They began
to see that white Americans

would turn away from government
and unions

and towards the quote-unquote
"free market."

And that's when we began
to see the business class

really organized,
with a message that said,

basically, "Turn your back
on the formula

that created your own
middleclass prosperity."

And what we see today is

we have an economy

that always existed
for Black and brown people,

and yet now,
it's existing

for nearly the majority
of American workers.

If you build into any system

a belief in a hierarchy
of human value

that gives permission
to exploitation of anyone,

ultimately, that system
will sort of swallow us all.

All across America,

tourist attractions
are shutting down.

Disneyland in California,

closing because
of the coronavirus.

They are
proceeding with the closure

of these parks.

Here's what's new at 2:05.

Disney will furlough 30,000

of its workers
in Anaheim alone.

An additional 43,000...

What the company
is asking them to do

is to certainly apply
for state benefits

in the interim.

With no clarity
about whether or when

permanent layoffs would come,

cast members wondered

how long their unemployment
benefits would hold out.

To try to keep things
fun and interesting,

we are in our tent camping
in the front yard.

Cold!

It can't be cold, honey.

Mommy just got it off the grill.

It is cold!

Feel it!

Okay, I'll find a way
to heat it back up.

How dare you?!

How dare you?!

How dare you?!

It's raining!

You like camping, huh?

Mm-hm, in the rain!

In the rain!

I like it.

It's good to see everybody!

There you go!

So, how's everybody doing?

It's the same day
it's always been.

Tomorrow, I'll let you know
about tomorrow.

And after that,

I'll let you know
about the day after that.

You gotta roll with the punches.

People say, you know,

"We're worried
about the future."

It's kinda hard to get worried
about something

that you never
had an opportunity

to have in the first place.

We're coming here
to Michael's high school

and seeing if we can
pick up food for everybody.

- Four.
- Four?

- You like her mask?
- Yeah!

It's so pretty!

- Thank you!

Just worried
about today and tomorrow

and being able
to just do the basic stuff.

We live day by day.

It's been difficult
because of the pandemic.

I don't know
what's gonna happen,

and, uh, I feel like
I'm way off course.

I wanna graduate.

Hopefully,
I get to do that someday.

But the way things
are going right now...

it's not looking
so good.

I don't know
if I'll ever be able to...

move out from...

my parents' home.
You know?

I'll just never move out.

Yeah.

Are you okay with that?

I just feel sad about it.

I feel sad
that I can't even help.

- Yeah.
- Because I need help.

It'll work out.

I know, baby, I know.

My poor cats are so confused.

Right now,
I'm going to stay with a friend

because we had
a pipe back up in my house.

They literally have
to rip out a bunch of walls.

My roommate is letting me
borrow the truck.

When you're
in my financial situation,

you can't afford to have
any emergencies at all.

I am fortunate

that I have people
helping me out

and I have a place
to stay with my cats.

I grew up in a very
unsteady financial home.

And every time
we ended up moving,

we'd lose something emotional.

I used to have my mom's ID,

which was my only
picture of her.

And I can't find that anymore.

So, I... I kind of tend
to associate moving with,

um, losing things
that are important to me.

You know,

I'm kind of pushing that
feeling to one side

and doing my best
to move forward.

Hey, baby, want to look?

What do you think?

- Yeah?

CEO Bob Iger
announced this week

he would forgo
his entire salary

because of the crisis.

Early on,
Bob Iger and top executives

made a big show
of giving up their salaries.

But it was just
a matter of months

before the Disney board

would quietly
restore them fully.

Look at the $3 million check

Bob Iger gave back
for his salary.

My first thought was

"But what about
his stock options?

What about his...
all those other things?"

We all know that
that's not where

the majority of his money
comes from.

They were never at risk
of losing their homes.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

soared 358 points.

It was
the best August for the Dow

since 1984.

In fact,
as workers were struggling,

the 1% was better off
than it had ever been.

In 2020, as the pandemic raged,

sales of super-yachts
were up 46 percent.

When did this become normal?

What happened to the way
my grandfather did business?

He died in 1971,
and within a decade,

the country's personality
had completely changed.

It didn't
just change magically,

it changed
because powerful people

changed those norms
and changed those values

and put aside the values

that had operated for decades
and decades in this country.

I use the word "confederacy"
a lot,

but all of these people
corporate CEOs,

uh, intellectual zealots, uh...

just plain rich people...

they worked together during
the '70s and '80s

to change this system
and this culture

into one that really is

about serving the rich guys
and the business guys.

In 1971,

business leaders
at the Chamber of Commerce

asked Virginia tobacco lawyer

and future Supreme Court
Justice Lewis Powell

to come up with a plan

put business firmly
in the driver's seat.

They began
this campaign

to change minds.

Government is not only
not the answer,

government is bad.

Government is incompetent,
government's corrupt.

Government can't do anything.

Get out of the way

and let business
and Wall Street do everything.

- All that mattered is profit.

They created a road map for

an ideological takeover
of American life,

from how business
should organize and lobby

and contribute to politicians,

to how they need
to go into the universities

to make sure that young people
were understanding

the dangers of labor unions

- and government regulation.

"We gotta set up
these think tanks,

we gotta create some media."

And this super-free market,

"Profits for all that matter"
idea

was sold to
the American people.

In any event,
I'm not in favor of fairness,

I'm in favor of freedom!

And freedom is not fairness.

Milton Friedman
was a celebrity economist

arguing corporations

have no responsibility
whatsoever

beyond profits, full stop,
end of story.

Milton Friedman said
a corporation is a machine

for making money for investors

and maximizing
shareholder value

would make
everyone rich and free.

You don't have
to worry about anything else.

All you have to do is put
your head down and make money.

Did you ever have
a moment of doubt

on whether greed's a good idea
to run on?

Well, first of all,

is there some society you know

that doesn't run on greed?

The world runs...

on individuals pursuing
their separate interests.

Milton Friedman thought,

"Greed is good, and that's
what makes America great."

Of course, that idea

is a mischaracterization
of our economic system

for more than a century.

They just re-wrote the story.

And suddenly,

that story was everywhere,

even on morning television.

What made it so easy
for Americans to imagine

that the free market
would serve their interest

any better
than the government have?

On the one hand,

up front
is the free market story,

and on the side
is the dog whistle.

In Chicago,
they found a woman

who holds the record.

She used 80 names, 30 addresses

to collect food stamps,
social security,

as well as welfare.

I've always felt

the nine most terrifying words
in the English language are,

"I'm from the government
and I'm here to help."

Reagan was able
to win large majorities

of working and middle-class
white people

by campaigning
against the government itself.

The emotional logic was

"Government is on the side

of these lazy Black people
who don't want to work."

"You are better than that."

"You are one of us."

"You, too, can be rich."

And he marketed it
extremely well.

My friends,

thank you again for the gift
of this magnificent parade.

Tomorrow evening,

I will address the nation

about a dramatic proposal
to reform our tax system

to launch a new
American revolution

and expand our economic freedom.

It became known
as "trickle-down economics."

If the rich get richer,
then it'll help everybody.

Of course,
the result was

a set of policy changes...

slashing tax rates

on millionaires
and corporations,

gutting social spending

that really helped
working-class families,

and then, of course,
attacking unions.

It really signaled the end of

the reign of organized labor
in the country

as a way for millions
of workers to demand

an equal slice of the pie
they spent all day baking.

The changes
that came

with this free market ideology

were reflected
inside of Disney,

after my father helped
bring in a new CEO

and corporate priorities
drastically changed.

Management
wants the workers

to give up some
of what they already have,

asking a three-year wage freeze

and some cuts in benefits.

Workers say

they cannot accept
a two-year wage freeze,

and they say
they cannot understand

the company's attitude
towards its employees.

The morale has been really down,
and I honestly can say

I don't think it'll ever be
the same out there.

Disneyland will open
this morning as usual,

with or without
its union employees.

They discovered

they didn't have to
spend so much money

on people that they no longer
appreciated anyway.

I was appalled
at what they were telling me,

and I just thought,

"Well, this isn't
the company I knew."

It was part and parcel

of this treating workers
and employees

more and more like...

cogs, like something
less than people.

Around this same time,

the average CEO

went from being paid
60 times the average worker

to 100, to 200, to 300,

to 600 times, in some cases.

And that's just because...

it was decided that they
could get away with it.

The "they"
in this case was Wall Street,

where a lot of things
were suddenly possible

on what would become
the proving ground

for the free market ideology.

You know, I think of it

as the asshole-ification
of America.

Totally!

A word I... yes, indeed.

It is the asshole-ification
of America.

This...

This is a great view
from up here.

You bet it was
a great view from up there.

And for the next four decades,

Wall Street
and corporate America

would spend billions lobbying

to dismantle almost every law
and regulation

keeping them in check,

stacking the deck further

and further against
Main Street.

Rather than trickle down,

money has flowed relentlessly
up to people like me.

Well, you know,
trickling down always,

to me, sounded like urine,
right?

I mean,
that's what trickles, right?

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Do you know

that there was a version
of trickle-down economics

in the 1890s

that was described as
the "Horse and Sparrow Theory"?

If the horse eats enough oats,

they make their way
through the horse,

and the sparrow gets 'em.

Ooh!

And yet,
that trickle-down story

just will not die...

- no matter how much it stinks.

Big announcement
from Disney,

and not a good one
for Disney employees.

Today, Disney announced

that it will be laying off

about 28,000
domestic employees.

"Dear cast member...

The COVID-19 pandemic

has had a significant impact
on our businesses."

"We have made
the very difficult decision

to reduce our workforce."

It makes me scared.

Knowing that that many people
lost their jobs now...

and I might end up losing mine
somewhere down the line,

and I don't wanna lose it.

It's the ice cream guy.

Glad the kids aren't here.

See?
I know how to make you smile.

- Took me a second.

You know, been through
rough times before,

this is just a different format.

Don't worry about it,
I got this.

- I got this!
- We just laugh...

When I say the words
"I got this,"

it means "I ain't got
a f... clue what I'm gonna do,

but I gotta think
of something fast,

'cause this shit is sinking.

It's like the Titanic
and another... like,

the icebergs are
ganging up and they're,

like, attacking the boat now.

The color of the day
is green on Wall Street.

All three major indices
closed at record high levels.

As stocks continue...

No matter how bad
things got for workers,

Wall Street continued
to ride high.

Disney could not have written
a better comeback story.

The stock back
at all-time highs.

Disney+ up big
over the Christmas holiday.

Fans rejoiced over

upcoming Star Wars
and Marvel movies,

and stockholders
celebrated too.

Well, most of them.

Abigail Disney
had a different reaction.

Her take was that share prices
were divorced

from what was happening
to the company's workers,

and she called that

"a complete moral breakdown
of this entire system."

I don't believe
the company and the magic

can survive this kind
of corporate behavior.

I think you
see this more broadly,

not as a Disney problem
and emblematic of the problem

in boardrooms and corporate
cultures across this country.

I'm saying...
it's time to do it differently,

and I don't care
what the business school says.

There's a certain level
below which you cannot go

in the name of human decency.

You guys are ready
to move up.

Merry Christmas and stay safe,
all right?

Merry Christmas,
thank you!

Have a merry Christmas,
now.

They just told me

that there are over 300 people
in this line,

and I believe it.

The line pretty much
wraps around

this entire neighborhood.

All of us need this help.

All right.

All right, here you go.

This time, we got wipes.

I hear you've
been real good boys.

- Really?!
- That's what I heard.

You're on the Nice List,
aren't you?

You're on the Nice List?

Yeah?

Remember the PS5
and the Switch!

Ho ho ho!

I just read
an article about Bob Iger.

He literally became
a billionaire

right before the holidays.

So, he got a
wonderful Christmas present,

while everybody else
was being handed pink slips.

That doesn't make sense.

When we have
a pandemic, as we've had,

where almost 60 new
billionaires were minted,

where the billionaire class
increased their wealth

by almost 50 percent,
while tens of millions of people

went without,

this inequality economy

is one that honestly looks
a lot more

like the Gilded Age
and the plantation economy

than the one that we

associate
with the American Dream.

Well,
the happiest place on Earth

is giving people
a big reason to smile today.

Disneyland is back open

after being shut down
for more than a year!

For the city
of Anaheim this morning,

reopening, it's a big step
toward economic recovery.

For the fans,
it's just a day of excitement.

As the park reopened,

Ellie, Artemis,
Ralph, and Trina

were all called back to work.

Shoulder to shoulder
against corporate greed!

But many cast members

were not brought back.

A bunch of my crew
is still laid off.

There are still so many
messed up things happening.

Shoulder to shoulder
against corporate greed!

Shoulder to shoulder,
more respect and dignity.

How much are those little ears,

the Mickey Mouse ears?!

Thirty!

Thirty dollars!

And how much
are Disney workers making?

Fifteen.

Fifteen bucks!

How about somebody with...

Our workload
has increased,

our wages are the same.

It's just a never-ending fight.

I don't have
love for the company anymore.

Hey, everyone,
I'm a Disney cast member,

I'm a custodian!

I really wanted

to quote Walt Disney
for you guys right now!

"You can design and create
and build

the most wonderful place
in the world,

but it takes people
to make the dream a reality!"

Thank you!
Well said, Ellie!

Okay, gracias,
thank you for coming out.

After my time with the union,

I've come to really appreciate
the work that they do.

I hear you're
going back to college!

So, what are you gonna study?

Labor studies.

I...

That makes me really happy
to hear you say that.

I mean, it makes me
really happy to imagine you...

doing that...
I can't tell you.

I have this new passion
growing within me now

with working alongside unions

and building power

for working-class people
like me.

Meanwhile, after
months of searching and saving,

Artemis was able
to find a place

within her price range.

Before,
I was only living like a ten,

15-minute drive from work,
but now

it takes about two hours.
Or if I ride the bus...

Yeah.

It feels good in here.
It's light.

- Yeah.
- You have light.

Yes.

And you have Keanu,
which...

He's very beautiful,
he keeps me company.

So, when did you
start back at Disney,

and how are you feeling
about that now?

When I first got back, like,

it was really nice
to just be working,

but I've been getting
more and more frustrated

the last couple of months
just thinking

about this job that was
supposed to pay my bills

while I focused on the things

that are supposed to be
what life is about,

about the things
that make me joy.

You know, I haven't focused
on any of those things

because I've been so focused
on the fact

that I couldn't survive
on this job.

You got a second job?

Yes, yes,
I got a job at a school district

working as a sub-custodian.

It's kind of a foot
in the door to potentially

become full-time
at a school district.

So, you're laying
the groundwork to leave.

Potentially, yeah.

So, is that something

that you've been thinking about
for a long time?

It's something I probably

should have been thinking
about for a long time.

I had a five-year plan
when I went into Disney,

to be done with college
and onto the next thing.

And that didn't work out.

It's nine years later now.

And it's just been frustrating

because I was brought up
with the idea

that I'm healthy,
I'm intelligent,

if I put in the work,
I'm gonna be okay

and I'm gonna be able
to make money

and take care of myself.

But... I don't think

that it's as true
as a lot of people say.

Far and wide,
the reputation of Disneyland...

stands out primarily
for the courtesy...

and the cleanliness

and the friendliness
of the place.

I've always said,

in my end of the work,

that it takes people
to run a business.

You people have been the heart

and the running soul
of this business.

And we appreciate it no end.

And we say congratulations

to you for doing the grand job
that you have done.

- Thank you.

Humans are
meaning-making creatures.

The idea of the economy

was to give us the resources
we needed

so that then,
we could tell the stories

and build the relationships

and have the meaning
that we needed.

We've let the search
for daily bread and for things

completely overwhelm...

what our ancestors
called our "souls."

It's really good
to see you guys.

It's been a hella-long time,
huh?

Yeah.

I mean, it's been
a year and something,

but it feels so much longer
than that.

It feels like five to ten years.

Well, you look
like Father Time now,

so that works.

I feel more comfortable
this way.

So, Ralph, rumor has it
you're not going back.

No.

Tomorrow is his official
last day at the company.

Wow.

It's not
an easy decision.

I mean, it's...

it's more like moving onto
a different and new chapter

that'll be hopefully

more beneficial
for our family overall,

and leaving a chapter behind

behind that really
I'd like to forget I read.

I mean, there were
some highlights but...

Tell me
why you're leaving.

Um...

Right now, it's...
I'm getting at that age,

it's wearing on me,
it's a lot of physical work

that we were doing

for not a lot
of financial reward,

and that's taken its toll.

So, what's next?

What are your options?

See, uh, where life takes us.

Happy birthday, Dad!

- Happy birthday, baby.
- Thank you, Daddy.

'Cause I know you
get everything good

when this happens,
you get cake...

- Yes.
- Yes.

Oh, those can't be for me,
that's much too old.

- Happy birthday.

- Yes.
- Surprise.

All right, here we go,

we're all gonna try
to block the wind.

If you
could tell Disney anything,

what would you tell them?

We'd like to be able
to have a home.

Got a little help there, huh?

- Who wants one first?
- I want cake!

- Me!
- Me!

Me!

Is that good cake?

Yeah?

Come back here!

One, two, go, Daddy,
get 'em!

Ahh!

Whoo!

Woo, that was tough, Mom!

Let's go.

"Dear Bobs...

"Yeah, this is for both of you.

Bob Iger

and Disney's new CEO,
Bob Chapek."

"You didn't seem to
understand my email,

so I made this film."

"This is for you

and for all the Toms,
Dicks, Harrys, and Marys

running Wall Street
and corporate America,

because this isn't
just a Disney story,

it's the story of nearly half
of American full-time workers

who can't make ends meet."

"These problems are the result
of a complicated system

that constrains us all."

"It may not be our fault,

but it is our responsibility,

and you and I both know

that with imagination
and courage,

it can be changed."

"Maybe I sound
a little too Disney,

but trust me,

I'm not alone."

"To be continued."