I.O.U.S.A. - One Nation. Under Debt. In Stress.
As the average American can attest, personal debt is bad enough, but as Thomas Jefferson once cautioned, public debt is corruptive of the government and demoralizing of the nation. Patrick Creadon's I.O.U.S.A. documents the efforts of two concerned citizens, former US Comptroller General Dave Walker and Concord Coalition Director Robert Bixby, to explain how America racked up over $9.5 trillion in debt and what we can do to stem the tide.
Based on the book Empire of Debt by William Bonner and Executive Producer Addison Wiggin, Wordplay's Creadon combines Walker and Bixby's Fiscal Wake-Up Tour with observations from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Paul O'Neill, superstar CEO Warren Buffett, and student activists.
The information flows with ease and the clips from Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show add levity to an undeniably dark and timely topic, but the narrative rests on a long list of facts and figures, leading to a production that feels more like a special news report than a work of cinema.
Unlike Alex Gibney's Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, on which co-writer/producer Christine O'Malley (Creadon's wife) assisted, character development takes a backseat to data. Arguably, the director lacks an out-sized personality, like Enron's Kenneth Lay, around which to assemble his argument, but the subject calls for more of a human face to have the desired effect, i.e. to encourage beleaguered taxpayers to care enough to rise up off their easy-chairs and agitate for greater fiscal responsibility.
When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world's wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering .
It explains the national debt, the foreign trade deficit, the decrease in personal savings, how the prime interest rate works, and the weakness of our leaders.
Luke Wilson
Ironically part of the problem is that money is being invented "money outta nowhere".
Wow. Making a big fuss over $8.7 trillion. It's about twice that now.
The people could do something about this national debt problem if they would get involved with their local government and as they say make it better from the bottom because the people on the bottom now will be in DC soon.... You voters have to do something about your own debt. Don't you realize that the interest you pay is a very large source for the Pete Petersons are very wealthy. You are giving them your money every time you use credit. I paid off all my debts in 1977 and have never paid interest since. Now I live quite well with the income you that do use credit is giving me. I am a small investor however it does provide more than I need so I can have some for a rainy day. You can if you want help the nation do the same.
What about the fact that the Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE for Profit Corp? That is a HUGE part of the story that Nobody wants to mention........
the debtor is slave to the lender
Sounds like the world needs a rethink of our monetary-market system. :) Or a very nice and simple debt forgiveness week.
LOL it is more than 15 trillion now :D GOOD JOB AMERICA! Pay up to the rest of the world NOW! we could use that money and maybe achieve KYOTO goals.
i know this particular one is kind of old but i am finding these documentaries to be a bit redundant. the national debt is 15 trillion now...
Mostly bullshit disinformation propaganda. We must refuse to pay the bullshit loans and obviously interest that were "loaned" to us by bankers who created this "money" from nothing using the treasury. We must END THE FEDERAL RESERVE. We must not pay them another dime.
14 trillion and counting
*sighs* The invisible IUOs of the US (national debt) is too large to really be solved with single minded solutions, even that of taxing the rich more. Also are we that stupid? Debt ? What debt? Isn't money some imaginary concept humans created.. all this stock exchange garbage is just some advanced game we're playing. This money... It's not even real... especially now that it has as much value as the colorful papers that make up the money for the Monopoly game. >_> I agree with a previous post here... we need to bring back gold and silver as the currency value in order for us to continue to play this dumb game. It's a pity billions are still playing it even though we know deep down it's all fake, made up by the few elites to separate us further.
Bad fiscal management, Mideast wars and "Girls Gone Wild" weekends didn't undermine the American economy. And the Baby Boomer retirement isn't anyone's fault either - it's an issue many nations are scrambling to overcome.
This documentary uses the coming Baby Boomer retirement as an excuse to promote the director's personal agenda for economic reform.
America has been through a lot in the past few years; you would hope that filmmakers would stop using scare tactics to shock an already traumatized nation that's needs stability, long-term solutions and faith in their democracy.
America: you will deal with your Baby Boomers just fine.
this is fed propaganda, the system is inflationary. go research on mises.org
Great comments.Great discussions! Really Happy that there are smart and AWARE OF WHATS GOING ON people!
The deficit is due as much to insufficient taxing as excess spending. The big problem is the super rich and multinational companies that avoid paying any significant tax by using Off-shore bank accounts and registrations. They own more than 50% of the country's wealth but pay a miniscule proportion of the taxes.
[Hate_Machine], there is a big flaw in your logic with regards to your father's debt compared to the government debt. Sure his debt to income ratio was 4:1 compared to the now 0.9:1 ratio of the US government. However, he did not have a yearly deficit. During his time, he probably spent 4 to 5 thousands a year on food, clothing, misc if even that leaving 15k to help pay of his debt. Not only does the US government not have enough money to start paying off our debt, it is functioning on a deficit budget which means the debt is only getting bigger. This is not likely to change anytime soon considering the cost of social security is only going to increase and medicare/medicaid will likely increase as well as the trend suggests. Together, those 3 programs make 75% of our government budget and since they are not going to decrease, neither will our deficit budget. The bottom line is that your father had extra money to pay off his mortgage and saved for retirement while the government will not have that luxury anytime in the near future.
why did it take this GAO GUY (David "moon" Walker) seven yrs or so in to George W's administration to resign from office..this guy may be telling the truth but I think he also jumped asinking ship just in the time. (selfish)
Practically everyone that submitted (or held office) for at least 2 or more yrs under the last administration has got some questionable character if u ask me.
Wow.. Thanks Goodness I'm not an American !
It is interesting to see all the glitterbug mentality surrounding the value of precious metals, which are as inherently worthless as currency if not worse. At least with fiat money you can control your own supply, and you don't end up getting wampum cheated from an outside source.
Also the suggestion that the US would use their military to prevent China from collecting their debt is as ridiculous as the concept that China would all of a sudden completely divest itself of US assets :D
Good documentary :)
How can we expect an elected official that spent $20,000,000 in campaign contributions to attain a $400,000 a year job to be fiscally responsible? That is a 2% return on the investment! It would take 50 years just break even. It wasn’t his money he was spending during the campaign and it isn’t his money he will be spending during his Presidency. This isn’t a Democrat vs. Republican issue; it is a persistent problem no matter who is in power.
The real problem, in my opinion, comes from corporate lobbying. Most of the contributions came from corporations whose only interest is making money, period. Because candidates accept and spend this money they are obligated to do the will of the corporate sponsors.
Before the 1990’s corporations viewed their workforce as their most valuable asset and treated them as such by giving them decent retirement plans, good health care and a respectable income. Because of corporate lobbying NAFTA was passed which put a stake in the heart of the U.S. economy. Corporations are allowed to outsource American jobs to Mexico, India and China (just to name a few places) in an attempt to increase profits. In the 21st century, the most valuable corporate asset is the stockholder (a finicky bunch at best).
We hardly manufacture anything in the United States anymore. Every year more corporations send American jobs overseas. Even computer tech support, an American icon, is outsourced to India.
One last thing I would like to say about this issue is the condition of the American dollar. There is a gold standard in the global market and in the 1960’s when it cost 32 American dollars to buy an ounce of gold, the dollar was worth one dollar on the global market. Now it cost more than $1,000 to buy an ounce of gold…meaning that our dollar is now worth 3 cents.
The People’s Bailout
The International Banks are taking over with plans to squeeze as much money out of you and your children and their children forever by keeping you in debt. We the people can fix it if we act soon; you do not need to be an Einstein to understand it, this is very simple. We need to take the tool they are using against the people away from them; the nameless, faceless tyrants and give it to the people to whom it rightly belongs.
Most people know something is terribly wrong that should or could easily be fixed if only? But most people and many politicians do not understand how to fix it. That is why I am running for the Senate in Alaska. I know how to fix it. If I can help two of you to understand and you do the same for two more and so on, in time the whole country would understand. If you understand that logic, you can understand the banking system’s trap for you. If you don’t, please don’t stop reading, we are all wired differently. Most people see the truth when exposed to enough of it, we have been given a vast amount of disinformation over a long period of time so you may need a lot of the truth in different lights to finally see clearly. The only people who do not figure it out are the ones who don’t actively seek out the truth, they simply shrug it off with a laugh or the ones that say “not me I will be gone by rapture” or those that loose themselves in ridicule of the idea; no one has found a constructive reason why what is proposed will not work, because it will work and it is very simple. A round earth was a hard sell to the flat world believers; after all in their day they were the majority.
It is time for the "Peoples Bailout" before it is too late; this is the how we do it.
1. Federalize the Federal Reserve and place it under Congressional control and oversight.
2. Pay the entire national debt off, with non-interest bearing notes (Greenbacks as Abraham Lincoln did).
3. Place responsibility for funding Social Security, Medicare and a Citizen Dividend to the Federalized Federal Reserve Corporation. (Next to the new consumer protection agency.)
4. Abolish the individual income tax. (Having no interest to pay our government will not need this source of revenue).
5. Plan a return to the banking system our founders gave us, to protect us from what has happened. (We need to get our gold back before going on a gold standard.)
The results would be more wealth for every citizen.
1. Every tax cut in the past has stimulated the economy; zero income taxes on people would really stimulate it.
2. Jobs will be everywhere as the free enterprise “can do” attitude is unbridled and untaxed and all those foreign dollars collecting interest will come back seeking U.S. goods and services. The money as interest the Federal Reserve takes out of circulation would be returned to the people and therefore kept in circulation.
3. The International Monetary Fund would be obliged to return our gold as the debt it secures has been paid in full. Going back on the gold standard might become desirable.
4. Foreign countries will no longer be able to hold American dollars and get interest for doing so. The incentive for them to spend them on American goods and services will increase ten fold as the market laws of Mercantilism take hold our balance of payments with others countries will improve drastically.
5. Once again the United States can show the world a better way.
Do you know? If not, for the sake of those you love find out!
1. What fiat money is? This is essential to understanding the financial crisis.
2. How "Fractional Reserve Banking" works?
3. What the "New World Order" is about?
4. Money is created as debt but only enough to pay the debt, not enough to pay the interest and the debt. The only way to get more money for the interest is more debt, with more interest. Are you starting to get it? Soon the banks own everything.
5. Find the truth. Google it, while you still can.
If we do not get this fixed all the other issues will be irrelevant; so will you and I.
Our founding fathers knew the laws of Mercantilism as evidenced by the constitution they gave us. The international bankers of today are the heirs of the very people our founding fathers kept in check with our constitution. These modern day moneychangers plan to ruin us as a nation using the laws of Mercantilism and take over controlling us with bank credit and FEMA camps for the resisters. Why is Obama calling for “a civilian force equal to and as well funded as the military”?
Ben Franklin said 1813, "The real reason for the war's because they the crown took our currency."
Thomas Jefferson said in 1809: “Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered”.
Andrew Jackson called them organized crooks.
Woodrow Wilson said on his death bed in 1924: "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
The money changers are carying out this tyrany against almost every nation in the world and have been for centurys. My high school history teacher taught his students that the French army was sent to Mexico in 1864 to collect money owed the European banks. The Greeks who gave us Democracy might again be teachng the world as they refuse to pay their debt to these tyrants of today.
Citizen, it is your duty to find out the truth and stand up against tyranny.
“Not everything on the Internet is true however the truth is there.” Mary Ruwart.”
The best tool I have seen is an animated presentation of how the system started with the goldsmith of long ago called “Money as Debt”.
A couple of good books: None Dare call it Conspiracy by Gary Allen 1971 The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin 1994
Don’t be deceived by any means. A lot of concerned citizens are putting the truth on the Internet seek it out. You will not find it in the mainstream media.
There is a simple but radical solution to the dept problem. The American government must nationalize large corporations and take the spare money that the super rich don't even need. Clothes and other commodities should be produced domestically. Instead of importing oil they should use renewable energy and produce biofuels to be sold abroad which would get rid of dependence and maximise profits. Military funds will have to be reduced and all troops abroad should return and the borders closed from all other nations.
All this doesn't have to be a dictatorship, citizens should support it democratically
I just think it's pretty funny that EVERY time I go to the bank the teller says, "Oh I see you're in college! How about signing up for our credit card?". I've NEVER had a credit card, never want one and only buy things with money I already own. It's even funnier when people look at me like I just spoke Japanese when I tell them this. It's just a simple matter of non-instant gratification and patience for what I want. Call me old fashioned but I don't owe anybody SHIT.
In the matter of the US as the world police I just have to say it's all about a lack of sustainability. The fact of the matter is that there has never been a 'world policeman' in history and can't ever be a successful one. Fighting a particularly long and protracted war against another super power is one thing. But to then say, "hey...we're the only ones left standing...FREE FOR ALL!" is foolish and furthermore, America is going to pay an immense debt in blood and money.
It's inevitable because we're one bad slip of the tongue away from pointing our finger in the chest of a country that holds ALOT of our debt (*cough* China *cough*) who is then going to say "Oh you're gonna invade us? With what army? We think we want our money NOW."
To the person above who talked about the Chinese army; you were just wrong. The Chinese army IS ill equipped but they have been refitting their forces since the early 90s and there are two other factors. First, the Chinese army is MASSIVE and second, it's all just sitting in China. Unlike our military, the Chinese have the capability to pick ANY point on the map where US forces are stationed (other than the mainland US) and wipe out anything we have there in one massive invasion. My dad has been in the army for over 20 years and has told me that at any one time our current deployable force is about 60,000 regular army (which is different from the national guard which are basically militia), some of which is already fighting in iraq and afghanistan. Which means our strike capability anywhere in the world is laughable to what the Chinese can do. Just as important is the fact that even though most of our strength comes from technology, people tend to forget that we haven't fought a comparable western-style military since the Japanese and the Germans and the Chinese have some nasty technological tricks up their sleeves as well.
Finally, it is worth noting that we have already had a military encounter with the Chinese and that was in Korea. People forget that we basically destroyed the North Koreans and pushed them all the way back to the Yalu River but that it was the PLA who came over the river in droves and almost pushed us into the ocean. There would be no North Korea if it wasn't for the Chinese military and McArthur was sacked as the commander of NATO forces because he proposed the invasion of mainland China which would've been just as disastrous as the invasion of mainland Japan would've been.