I.O.U.S.A.
For those of you looking for some feel-good cinema this summer, you may want to pass on the movie “I.O.U.S.A.,” which debuts August 21. Frank Ahrens of the Washington Post wrote Thursday:
A private-equity billionaire, a former federal government official and a Baltimore newsletter editor have made a documentary film that they hope can do what an endless parade of policy papers has not: Persuade Americans that debt has created a looming economic crisis that would make the Great Depression look like a market correction.
The movie, “I.O.U.S.A.,” debuting Aug. 21, is an 87-minute alarum on what it calls the tsunami of debt bearing down on the United States’ future, caused by the rising national deficit, the trade imbalance and the pending costs of baby boomers cashing in on entitlements…
The film will debut in 400 theaters around the country on Aug. 21, followed by a live video town hall meeting from Omaha, featuring Walker, Peterson and Buffett. The next day, the film opens in 10 cities, including Washington.
From the movie’s website:
Wake up, America! We’re on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.
Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation’s financial practices and policies. The film follows former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America’s unsustainable fiscal policies to its citizens.
With surgical precision, Creadon interweaves archival footage and economic data to paint a vivid and alarming profile of America’s current economic situation. The ultimate power of I.O.U.S.A. is that the film moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer potential financial scenarios and propose solutions about how we can recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations.
I know where I’ll be August 21…
Trailer, “I.O.U.S.A.” (2008)
YouTube Video Link
Source:
“Indebted Ever After”
Frank Ahrens
Washington Post, August 7, 2008
October 30th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
While there are certainly many grounds to be concerned about the country’s economic condition, the view presented in IOUSA is one-sided and misleading. CEPR’s analysis [http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/iousa-not-ok/] puts many of the issues raised in the movie in a broader context and features a minute-by-minute viewer’s guide of inaccurate or misleading statements in the film. It is important that the public be well informed about economic issues and not allow itself to be railroaded into ill-considered policy choices.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Thanks for sharing that info Nicole.