I.O.U.S.A.
by Patrick Creadon
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DVD details
Actor: Bob Bixby (Concord Coalition), David Walker (Peter G. Peterson Foundation)Director: Patrick Creadon
Brand: PBS
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-04-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: PBS (DIRECT)
DVD Reviews of I.O.U.S.A.
DVD Review: Informative review of American debt, major error of omission ignoring the role of economic growth
Summary: 3 Stars
Highly recommended because it informs the American public on our public debt in a manner that is easily understood from the perspective of what it is, though the movie fails to adequately tell the story relative to the role economic growth and stagnation plays in determining the seriousness of debt.
The movie describes Americans' relative ignorance regarding the components and summation of the total national debt. Many people think our debt is the annual U.S. federal budget deficit. Few realize our current booked debt is the net aggregation of unpaid past deficits and a mere handful can acknowledge that our debt also includes unfunded, future entitlement liabilities totaling over $56 trillion - $36 trillion of which was generated during President George W. Bush's tenure, much of which starts hitting when Baby Boomers in aggregate get into their 70s. The movie does nail describing the actual debt and how it's allocated, primarily in entitlements.
However it's not a perfect explanation, inadequate attention is focused on how health care costs played a role in the formation of this future unfunded debt along with available levers for getting control of future entitlement liabilities in future budgets. This could lead to a reaction of over-moroseness and futility by viewers not cognizant of past economic history. In addition, while the movie properly expounds on how supply-side economics and Bush's tax cuts created our current booked debt, the movie fails to mention future budgeted structural deficits and the ease tried and true past tax rates similar to Reagan/H.W. Bush/Clinton-era effective rates would help solve future structural deficits. In fact looking forward we're budgeting a $600 billion per year structural deficit directly and wholly attributed to Bush's fiscal policy results even if growth recovers (a big if), otherwise this debt will be booked at even greater rates. Higher, and smartly targeted, effective tax rates not only solved this issue in the past, but also led to even greater economic growth rates (end of Reagan's term and most of Clinton's). The results of past federal policies on spending have also provided clear examples of how to spend smartly or stupidly relative to economic growth/decline and the resultant tax revenues generated by growth or contraction of the total economy; this is a solvable problem. It does require a more elevated debate than modest tax increases equates to socialism from the Right or "let's spread the wealth" from the Left.
This documentary is descriptive, not prescriptive; expect to be informed, do not expect to see proposals on what to do with the exception of a few hastily thrown slides presented at the end of the movie. Hopefully the Peterson Foundation will produce a sequel that focuses on prescriptive proposals for how to get out of this mess though I'm not confident they'll nail that given their missing the role economic growth plays in increasing or decreasing debt, both nominally or as a percent of the total economy.
In fact this error of omission indicates two major flaws in the movie if the viewer excuses the lack of prescriptions, which I do. The first is the continuous mantra that our only way out of avoiding ever-increasing annual deficits is to either raise taxes or decrease spending. That is overly-simplistic mantra is fatally flawed in terms of looking at current and near-term federal deficits, and if taken literally as I assume most viewers would, is not only inherently wrong, but leaves out the most important lever we possess to get debt under control, i.e., growing our way out debt so it's a smaller portion of our budget. The directors are correct that our only avenue to get unfunded liabilities under control is to raise taxes and reform health care to reduce its burden on GDP (both of which are merely mentioned quickly); however they do not dwell on how this would occur in a way that also promotes economic growth given mere tax raises coupled to unwise spending like we saw during the Bush years could lead to economic stagnation that decreases federal revenues in spite of higher tax rates (this is exactly what is happening this year and why revenues are coming in less than predicted by Bush's 2009 budget).
A good example of why covering economic growth as a major topic as both a reason for our current situation and a major factor in any successful recovery is that most viewers who watch this movie, if this was all they knew about economics, would argue that the stimulus package was wrong in principle, and so is any federal economic reform policies that would increase future federal deficit spending, such as health care reform. While I'm an advocate of not only pay-go but economic reforms that are revenue-positive such as a carbon tax, one can deficit spend if such spending is stimulative enough that it grows the economy at a rate that makes this deficit spending a smaller percentage of the federal budget. This same group of people would also argue we can't afford to address energy policy in way that decreases greenhouse gasses. However such a misconception given this error of omission would cause such a viewer to miss a central point: If we keep taxes the same or do not reform our economic policies to promote growth, our total economy will either stagnate or decline, which will in turn depress tax revenues, which will cause past booked debt and future entitlement obligations that are unfunded to become an even greater burden relative to the size of the economy that must finance these liabilities.
One last half-hearted `atta boy' with a qualifier: The producers are correct that this problem can only be solved if we have a president with an Administration that has both the courage and the degree of functional excellence necessary to take it on. Far too many people think that the Executive Branch and Congress don't have the power to affect the economy when in fact they have incredible powers to wield for better or worse (as does the Federal Reserve Bank and its Chairman). However, this movie's producers fail miserably in assigning the American voter their responsibility to vote for Congress-people and Presidents based on what is in the national interest, rather than their pet peeves or prejudices. We get what we deserve, and we deserve our debt. Will `We the people' have what it takes to climb out of this hole? I'd argue the litmus test is in the health care bill currently being debated and its ability to decrease health care costs from 17% to what other countries pay for better results, which is around 6% - 11%. Given the current state, I'd argue `we the people' do not have the collective desire nor does Congress have the leadership necessary to enact true reform. I find it particularly relevant since Congress is actually succumbing to the pressure of ill-informed delusional protesters that appears to have them modifying any effectiveness the health care bill might have had in introducing true cost effectiveness, such as a public health insurance option.
Given their failure to explain how economic growth causes debt loads to be either significant or trivial, I'm forced to knock down the movie two stars though still recommending it because it does describe our debt picture.
Description of I.O.U.S.A.
America is on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.Over 125 minutes of bonus materials, including exclusive interviews with Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan and others.
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 outsized 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 easychairs and agitate for greater fiscal responsibility. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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