I.O.U.S.A. (2008)

Director:

Patrick Creadon

Writers:

Patrick Creadon (writer) and
Christine O'Malley (writer) ...

Release Date:

14 November 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.

Plot:

Few are aware that America may be on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. explores the country's shocking current fiscal condition and ways to avoid a national economic disaster.

Plot Keywords:

Economics | National Debt | Financial Crisis | Entire Title Is Capitalized Acronym | Acronym In Title

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Robert Bixby	...	Himself
Humphrey Bogart	...	Himself (archive footage)
Warren Buffett	...	Himself
George Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jimmy Carter	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Clinton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stephen Colbert	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kent Conrad	...	Himself (as Sen. Kent Conrad)
Ander Crenshaw	...	Himself (as Rep. Ander Crenshaw)
Bing Crosby	...	Himself (archive footage)
Douglas Durst	...	Himself
Dwight D. Eisenhower	...	Himself (archive footage)
Gerald Ford	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alan Greenspan	...	Himself
Judd Gregg	...	Himself (as Sen. Judd Gregg)
Yoni Gruskin	...	Himself
Kay Harms	...	Herself
Sue Herrera	...	Herself (archive footage)
Chrissy Hovde	...	Herself
John F. Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Steve Kroft	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Miller	...	Himself (as Rep. George Miller)
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Paul O'Neill	...	Himself
Chris Parnell	...	Budget Book Author (archive footage)
Ron Paul	...	Himself (as Rep. Ron Paul)
Peter G. Peterson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Diane Rehm	...	Herself
Franklin Delano Roosevelt	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Rubin	...	Himself
Donald Rumsfeld	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tim Russert	...	Himself (archive footage)
Scott Spradling	...	Himself
Mike Tully	...	Himself
David M. Walker	...	Himself
Brian Williams	...	Himself (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Untitled Patrick Creadon and Christine O'Malley/Debt Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some thematic elements.

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG | UK:U | Australia:G

Company:

Agora Entertainment

Movie Connections:

References Girls Gone Wild (1998) (V)

Soundtrack:

Born to Be Wild

Credit not going to the right person

The subject of estimated unfunded liabilities of the Federal Government did not originally come from David M. Walker, the former head of the GAO. Dr. Lawrence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns wrote a book on this subject much earlier (Lawrence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns, "The Coming Generational Storm, What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future," MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004).

In this book, Dr. Kotlikoff also states that in 2002 Paul O'Neill, George W. Bush's first Secretary of the Treasury, had asked Dr. Kent Smetters to use generational accounting to estimate the unfunded liabilities of the U.S. Government in the future, which was then done with a Dr. Gokhale. The report had been included the 2004 Budget. However, when the White House (i.e. Bush, Cheney, and their cohorts) found out about this, they removed the study from the 2004 Budge and fired Sec. O'Neill.

The publicity that David M. Walker has been getting for himself by talking about this very serious problem has helped bring it to the light of the TV talking heads and the makers of this movie, but Drs. Kotlikoff, Smetters, Gokhale, and others are not getting the credit that they deserve, which I consider a serious injustice. If this were being conducted in peer reviewed journals, it might be considered to be on the verge of professional misconduct.

If I were an adviser for Barak Obama (which I am not) or John McCain (which I am not), I would recommend Drs. Kotlikoff and O'Neill to be senior Economic Advisors to the President and/or Secretary of Treasury or both. Everyone that wants to know more should read Kotlikoff's book or its most recent update (if there is one)