I.O.U.S.A.

This may finally wake up the average American to what is about to happen to our economy and way of life in very short order. Most smart economists, politicians and business people have known for years that the feathers are soon to hit the fan. Ran Paul, Peter Schiff and others have been warning us for some time but very few have listened. Things have actually become considerably worse since this movie was made. The new housing bill will be the stick that breaks the camels back. Better batten down the hatches folks, the perfect storm is about to hit. Even if you are not one who normally pays much attention to economic data please see this movie and at least try to understand the scope of the disaster that is about to befall us in the next 1-2 years. This is not reality TV its just REALITY.

Comptroller of the United States GAO gives us the facts and describes some history of why the financial crisis of the government budget deficit and national debt are the top threats facing the United States today. Our nation has lost its way and we somehow think it is sustainable for us to spend more as a nation than we earn. The facts and numbers are shocking. Where we will be in 25 years is even more alarming. But it is not too late. As recently as the end of the 1990s the nation was operating under a balanced budget. We can do that again and begin paying down our debts. Excellent presentation of these facts. Not a hopeless cause. But we do need to make some adjustments as a nation. This movie is a must see for everyone of any political persuasion. Very educational.

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)

This documentary is simply outstanding. It has a fast moving pace, covering a tremendous amount of material, without losing a layman's audience. It is educational as well as entertaining. Of course, with the upcoming elections, the timing for the movie couldn't be better. It helps educate voters on one of the most important topics for the upcoming election. At the same time, it is not a partisan movie, and does not lay blame on one party over another. It seems fair in its portrayal of this problem and does not have an ulterior political motive. Finally, it is a great date movie because you will have plenty to discuss afterward.

There is probably no solution to our problem. This documentary is not so much a call to arms, but a history of how we got into the fiscal situation we are in, and how the future we face is going to look.

We have spent and tax cut our way into a fiscal crisis that will never be resolved. It's not as if we can't do it. We did it during the Clinton years, but we immediately lost the nerve. It is not a liberal or conservative problem, it is a problem of will.

Four years from now, all we would be able to pay for is interest on the federal debt and some Medicaid and Medicare. We have no money for anything else.

The state of our union is not strong.