I.O.U.S.A. exposes the ugly financial truth about our federal government
If you’re not outraged enough by the ongoing collapse of the American economy, don’t miss I.O.U.S.A. Directed by Patrick Creadon (Wordplay), this urgent documentary explaining the sorry financial state of the union didn’t make it into wide release before the fiscal tsunami it warns about hit us. Still, this timely film offers historical, social and political perspective, along with some ideas on what we, the people, can do about it. Noting that the biggest threat to the U. S. is not “some guy hiding in a cave,” but fiscal irresponsibility that threatens to cripple the nation with debt and rob our children of their future, the film zeroes in on two men. David Walker, U. S. Comptroller General, and Robert Bixby, director of the financial Concord Coalition, spread the word with their Fiscal Wake-Up Tour across the heartland. With the current national debt at a whopping $8.7 trillion, the film identifies and explores what these men see as four crucial deficits: in budget, savings, trade, and leadership. Creadon’s graphs and pie-charts sometimes resemble a high school social science movie. More fun are snippets of interviews with Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart (who deftly pins uber-economist Alan Greenspan to the wall by pointing out that finagling interest rates to suit the government actually punishes citizens who save their money), and a "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring Steve Martin as a clueless Everyman unable to grasp the simple mantra “Don’t buy stuff you cannot afford.” The film chills with the news that China is now our largest and most powerful creditor. As to leadership, the film surveys administrations from Eisenhower to the present, including the disastrous “Supply-Side economics” of Reagan, and the astonishing fact that Bill Clinton not only balanced the federal budget for the first time in decades, he left office with a surplus in the coffers. Which didn’t last long in the hands of his successor, with his politically popular but financially idiotic tax cuts, expensive wars, and corrupt cronyism. (Funny, nobody ranted about “checks and balances” when the Republicans ran the show the first six years of Bush’s presidency.) As in any other budget, the film argues, the Feds can’t continue to spend more than they earn. Without necessary revenue in the form of higher taxes, and reduced spending, expect “a tidal wave that will swamp our ship of state.”
(PG) 85 minutes. (***)
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