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In a CNN interview conducted a few days before the 2008 general election, Barack Obama was asked to name his top priority from a list of issues, including taxes, health care, education, energy policy and immigration.
"[The] top priority may not be any of those five. It may be continuing to stabilize the financial system. We don't know yet what's going to happen in January," he said. "None of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system and financial system. So that's priority No. 1: making sure the plumbing works."
Having just seen Patrick Creadon's illuminating documentary I.O.U.S.A., I found Obama's response greatly reassuring—that and the fact that three of Obama's economic advisers play prominent mentorship roles in the film: Paul Volker (Federal Reserve chairman under Carter and Reagan), Paul O'Neill (former Treasurer secretary), and Warren Buffett (CEO extraordinaire and billionaire investor).
Through deftly constructed collage of interviews, archive footage, and computer graphics, Creadon simplifies the complexities of economics to hammer home a compelling message about the United States' national debt. It's a horror story! And Creadon calls primarily on David M. Walker (recent U.S. comptroller general) and Robert Bixby (head of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition) to shout out the warning.
Unfortunately, few are listening seriously. Their national "Fiscal Wake Up" tour receives only tepid applause and is readily bumped from locals news coverage by “sexier” stories. And politicians generally show politeness at best without fully embracing their passion for fiscal responsibility. Just how many of them can courageously campaign on the concept that we simply MUST raise taxes to pay off the national debt? When President Bush is publicly asked about how he's done with the economy (after doubling the national debt to over 8 trillion dollars), he reluctantly admits not doing tremendously well with economics in school; however, he smirks: "But I got an A+ in cutting taxes!"
Creadon does a remarkable job educating us on the economy—a most timely film in light of the current Recession with its global credit crunch and bearish Market. Warren Buffett is a real delight, complete with an animated summary of his children's book explaining trade deficits, and Creadon achieves the near impossible: finding clips of Alan Greenspan that actually are understandable!
Like the audiences for the Concord Coalition, I.O.U.S.A. has limited mass appeal—there were only 20 some people at the pre-screening that I attended. But this ranks among the most important films of 2008. We really should be thinking of future generations instead of living a relative life of luxury and dumping the debt on them—and it's bigger than you think. Nearly 9 trillion today (while borrowing from social security payments), the REAL future debt will total six times that amount ... and U.S. standing remains threatened when Japan and China could totally destroy the dollar overnight due to the tremendous amount of money the U.S. owes them.
I.O.U.S.A. remains as essential viewing as any common sense advice you've received from parents/grandparents about living within your means, paying off your credit cards, investing disposable income, and saving money regularly for a rainy day.
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