I.O.U.S.A.
Directed by Patrick Creadon
Here’s yet another reason to hate baby boomers: In addition to keeping shows like Wheel of Fortune and Two and a Half Men on the air, they’re about to make the national debt even more disastrous.
Right now, the United States is hovering at a $9.5 trillion deficit—but every year, unused Social Security benefits are used to help pay off some of that. In a few years, when more and more baby boomers retire, those funds will no longer be available.
That revelation is just one of many in Patrick Creadon’s new documentary I.O.U.S.A., about how we’ve managed to rack up such a massive amount of debt since 1835, the only time the United States has been solvent (thanks Andrew Jackson!). When former U.S. comptroller General Dave Walker is interviewed in New Hampshire during his Fiscal Wake Up Tour, the segment doesn’t even make the evening news.
For a topic as inherently boring as economics, Creadon (who accomplished something similar with his doc Wordplay) has managed a creditable job of keeping our attention throughout I.O.U.S.A. At times, the animated graphics and charts feel a little overwhelming and distracting, but even as you find yourself tuning out the narration, the moving bars and whirling pie charts paint a terrifying picture of mismanagement.
I.O.U.S.A. is very good at pinpointing the reasons we’re facing financial disaster, but it’s less thorough in detailing the ways we can reverse the course we’re currently on. Government mismanagement is partly to blame; one of the best sequences in the film involves the reading of a list of misappropriated funds for everything from expensive massages to a $200 bottle of Dom Perignon, purchased at a Hooters restaurant.
A muted sense of impending doom runs throughout I.O.U.S.A., as Walker and fellow grassroots spokesman Bob Bixby talk to Americans and the camera, trying to explain the importance of understanding the facts in order to force politicians to make the tough choices.
Unfortunately, the one time that I.O.U.S.A. severely fumbles (other than its implication that the United States should be more like solvent China) is when, in an extremely brief segment toward its end, the doc lists ways in which we can make changes. These options are as simplistic as they come. All we can do is vote for politicians who’ll make the necessary changes at the risk of losing their popularity, save more and stop relying on our credit cards and conserve energy. Thanks, Pat.
Directed by Patrick Creadon
Here’s yet another reason to hate baby boomers: In addition to keeping shows like Wheel of Fortune and Two and a Half Men on the air, they’re about to make the national debt even more disastrous.
Right now, the United States is hovering at a $9.5 trillion deficit—but every year, unused Social Security benefits are used to help pay off some of that. In a few years, when more and more baby boomers retire, those funds will no longer be available.
That revelation is just one of many in Patrick Creadon’s new documentary I.O.U.S.A., about how we’ve managed to rack up such a massive amount of debt since 1835, the only time the United States has been solvent (thanks Andrew Jackson!). When former U.S. comptroller General Dave Walker is interviewed in New Hampshire during his Fiscal Wake Up Tour, the segment doesn’t even make the evening news.
For a topic as inherently boring as economics, Creadon (who accomplished something similar with his doc Wordplay) has managed a creditable job of keeping our attention throughout I.O.U.S.A. At times, the animated graphics and charts feel a little overwhelming and distracting, but even as you find yourself tuning out the narration, the moving bars and whirling pie charts paint a terrifying picture of mismanagement.
I.O.U.S.A. is very good at pinpointing the reasons we’re facing financial disaster, but it’s less thorough in detailing the ways we can reverse the course we’re currently on. Government mismanagement is partly to blame; one of the best sequences in the film involves the reading of a list of misappropriated funds for everything from expensive massages to a $200 bottle of Dom Perignon, purchased at a Hooters restaurant.
A muted sense of impending doom runs throughout I.O.U.S.A., as Walker and fellow grassroots spokesman Bob Bixby talk to Americans and the camera, trying to explain the importance of understanding the facts in order to force politicians to make the tough choices.
Unfortunately, the one time that I.O.U.S.A. severely fumbles (other than its implication that the United States should be more like solvent China) is when, in an extremely brief segment toward its end, the doc lists ways in which we can make changes. These options are as simplistic as they come. All we can do is vote for politicians who’ll make the necessary changes at the risk of losing their popularity, save more and stop relying on our credit cards and conserve energy. Thanks, Pat.
