I.O.U.S.A. (2008)
I.O.U.S.A.(USA) (doc) Directed by Patrick Creadon
Solid documentary on national debt directed by Patrick Creadon (Wordplay). We currently have a more than 11 trillion dollar debt. The film details from a historical perspective how it is we arrived at this point. It should be noted that former secretary of commerce for Richard M. Nixon, and billionaire head of The Blackstone Group, Paul M. Peterson, was involved in the production of this film, although he has been criticized in recent years by members of his own party for calling republicans to task over spending, tax cuts, fiscal policy etc. Statistics are always open to interpretation, but as the film notes the US is last (out of 224 countries) ranking national trade deficits. According to the film, we also borrow ten times more than any other country. We get a lot of additionally telling stats, detailed by colorful animated charts and graphs (so the kids can understand), and learn additional information about social security/medicare/health care and the extent to which we are becoming leveraged to China. We hear from Ben Bernake; Alan Greenspan, Warren Buffet and a number of other key players in American economics. David Walker, who resigned from his White House Comptroller General position (which is part of The Government Accountability Office) in 2007, and now heads the Paul Peterson Foundation, is featured prominently in the film, as is the head of the non-partisan Concord Coalition (founded by Paul Tsongas), Robert Bixby. We see the two involved in something called The Fiscal Wakeup Tour, a cross-country campaign that spoke to the press and various civic groups about the debt crisis. Peterson and Buffet (and Walker) have continued to stump into 2009, Billionaires calling to a citizenship that is struggling just to keep their heads above water. A multi-tiered, multi-faceted problem well disseminated by Creadon, et al. Perhaps not the last word, and should be looked at with healthy skepticism, but some of the general principles discussed are difficult to debate no matter where one falls on the political spectrum.