Link to IMDB page here. I’ve heard this movie described at “‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for finances,” and that’s not a bad description. I consider “An Inconvenient Truth” sort of a beginner’s guide to global warming, and “I.O.U.S.A.” is not a bad place to start with trying to understand what the hell is going on with the US’s financial meltdown. It was fairly depressing, though - the graph of the American debt with the Baby Boomers retiring and Social Security costs going through the roof was astonishing - it was like “An Inconvenient Truth” when Gore had to get on the cherry-picker to get up to the top of the graph of the C02 increases to come - the American debt appears to be heading for exponential growth.
Anybody else seen this? What did you think? Did it scare you into wanting to pay off your debts and never live beyond your means again?
[not sure if you’re a native English speaker]IOU is a shorthand for “I owe you,” used to refer to a note memorializing a debt or loan[/sorry if you knew this, not trying to patronize]
“IOUSA” is a further play on that word – it’s a documentary positing that America has dug its own grave through building a culture of irresponsible spending, funded by private and public debt on a massive scale, and that the chickens will soon come home to roost.
It’s rather basic and arguably simplistic, but a good reminder that parties weren’t (as Prince might put it) meant to last forever without paying the tab.
Yeah, I’d like to see “I.O.U.S.A. II - Game Over, Man” now, with the updated forecasts. Maybe once Obama gets a kick at the cat, and we see how he plans to handle being handed the biggest bag of shit ever.
I recall hearing in late in the movie that the president who takes over from Bush (they didn’t know it would be Obama at that point) would be in for a severe shit-storm of anger and hatred if he implemented policies that might right the ship, because those policies would mean increasing taxes to at least what they were pre-Bush, cutting federal spending to the bone, and possibly also jacking up the prime rate to make it much less appealing for consumers to buy anything on credit. Then again, they also said little about what to do about Japan and China basically owning the US at this point, nor did they get into the real practicality of any proposed solutions. Overall, it was a pretty bleak picture they painted.
On the upside, it sounded as if Canada is not nearly as bad off. Woo Hoo!
