PATRICK CREADON
USA,
2008, 85 minutes, Color, film website In Person: Concord Coalition Executive Director Bob Bixby
Brimful of disquieting facts on inflation, trade deficits and Wall Street's influence on national monetary policy, Patrick Creadon's resolutely nonpartisan movie tracks America's "fiscal cancer" through centuries of budgetary highs and lows. Packaging his inconvenient truths with as much humor as he can muster under the circumstances, Mr. Creadon balances his talking heads and pie charts with the folksy progress of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour, a grass-roots effort spearheaded by David M. Walker, the former comptroller general of the United States, and Robert L. Bixby of the Concord Coalition. Equal parts enlightening and alarming, I.O.U.S.A. highlights our unwise preference for short-term reward over long-term planning. The movie's wrist-slapping tone, however, is softened by Mr. Walker's eloquence and Mr. Bixby's rueful, self-deprecating charm as they trudge tirelessly from one town hall to another, urging Americans to save rather than spend.—New York Times
Brimful of disquieting facts on inflation, trade deficits and Wall Street's influence on national monetary policy, Patrick Creadon's resolutely nonpartisan movie tracks America's "fiscal cancer" through centuries of budgetary highs and lows. Packaging his inconvenient truths with as much humor as he can muster under the circumstances, Mr. Creadon balances his talking heads and pie charts with the folksy progress of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour, a grass-roots effort spearheaded by David M. Walker, the former comptroller general of the United States, and Robert L. Bixby of the Concord Coalition. Equal parts enlightening and alarming, I.O.U.S.A. highlights our unwise preference for short-term reward over long-term planning. The movie's wrist-slapping tone, however, is softened by Mr. Walker's eloquence and Mr. Bixby's rueful, self-deprecating charm as they trudge tirelessly from one town hall to another, urging Americans to save rather than spend.—New York Times