I.O.U.S.A. | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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Directed by | Patrick Creadon |
Produced by | Christine O'Malley Sarah Gibson |
Written by | Patrick Creadon Christine O'Malley Addison Wiggin |
Music by | Peter Golub |
Distributed by | Roadside Attractions |
Release date(s) | 2008 |
Running time | 85 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $825,037 (worldwide) |
I.O.U.S.A. is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Patrick Creadon. The film focuses on the shape and impact of the United States national debt. The film features Robert Bixby, director of the Concord Coalition, and David Walker, the former U.S. Comptroller-General, as they travel around the United States on a tour to let communities know of the potential dangers of the national debt. The tour was carried out through the Concord Coalition, and was known as the "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour."
The film competed in the Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.[1] It began its nationwide showing at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha, Nebraska on 21 August 2008, with a live discussion among Warren Buffett, Pete Peterson, David Walker, William Niskanen, and Bill Novelli following the screening. The film was broadcast on CNN on January 10, 2009.[2]
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The film follows Bixby and Walker who describe systematically four serious deficits shaping the U.S. economy: budget, savings, the balance of payments, and leadership. As of the early 2008 release of the film they had created a national debt of over $9.6 trillion, $30,000 for each American.[3][4][5]
The cast includes Robert Bixby, David M. Walker, Warren Buffett, Douglas Durst, Alan Greenspan, Yoni Gruskin, Kay Harms, Chrissy Hovde, Paul O'Neill, Diane Rehm, Robert Rubin, Scott Spradling, Mike Tully. It also includes several members of Congress, including Senators Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg, and Representatives Ander Crenshaw, George Miller, and Ron Paul.[6]
Archival footage included in the documentary features Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby, Stephen Colbert, Sue Herrera, Steve Kroft, Chris Parnell, Peter G. Peterson, Donald Rumsfeld, Tim Russert, Brian Williams, as well as footage of ten former U.S. presidents: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.[6]
In the cut of I.O.U.S.A. screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008, the original designers from Agoura Financial had audiotape of Nixon conspiring with his advisers to blame the decision to close the “gold window” on “speculators. ” After they sold the film to the Peterson Foundation, that story beat was edited out. The final cut of the film released in Aug. 22, 2008 blames rampant inflation in the 1970s on Arthur Burns, then chair of the Federal Reserve.[7]
In February 2008, Walker announced that he would be resigning from his post as Comptroller General to become the president and CEO of the newly established The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a position from which he could more freely draw attention to the serious issues the U.S. is facing.[8]
I.O.U.S.A. received mostly positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported a score of 91% and a Certified Fresh rating with a consensus of "A potent and lithely constructed documentary about America's financial crisis, I.O.U.S.A grabs you with figures but holds you with irreverent wit."[9] It received a score of 70 from Metacritic and a label of "Generally favorable reviews".[10]
In a January 2008 review after the film's Sundance premiere, Justin Chang wrote:[11]
In an August 2008 review focused mostly on the film's subject matter, Roger Ebert began with the following:[12]
According to Ebert:[12]
Later that year, I.O.U.S.A. made Ebert's list of five best documentary films of 2008.[13]
I.O.U.S.A. - The Book (ISBN 0470222778), published by John Wiley & Sons, was released in September 2008. Written by the film’s executive producer Addison Wiggin and Agora Financial's Managing Editor, Kate Incontrera, the book expands on the film and details America’s budget, personal savings, trade, and leadership deficits. It also elaborates on several statistics mentioned in the movie - from the $9 trillion federal debt to the $738.6 billion trade deficit to the fact that each citizen owes an average of $30,000. The book includes interviews with Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin, Alice Rivlin, Pete Peterson, David Walker, Paul O'Neill, James Areddy, Arthur Laffer, Steve Forbes, and Bill Bonner. I.O.U.S.A. was also loosely inspired by Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin's book, Empire of Debt.[14]