I.O.U.S.A. One Nation Under Stress and In Debt

January 11, 2009 | by

I.O.U.S.A. is a documentary directed by Patrick Creadon that examines the rapidly growing U.S. national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival; last summer, it was screened at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions last summer, earning significant acclaim from critics and audiences alike [1].

This weekend, I.O.U.S.A. is making its television debut on CNN. You can catch it this afternoon, Sunday, January 10th at 3 p.m. EST. The broadcast will be hosted by Ali Velshi and Christine Romans, co-anchors of CNN’s weekend business roundtable program Your $$$$$.

I wrote about Healthcare Costs and the Looming U.S. Budget Crisis last summer here on Highlight HEALTH. I.O.U.S.A. follows now former Comptroller General David Walker and Robert Bixby, Executive Director of the Concord Coalition, on their cross-country Fiscal Wake-Up Tour to talk to the American people about the country’s debt problem. The movie further underscores the need for immediate reform of Americas major entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

According to the I.O.U.S.A. movie website [2]:

Wake up, America! We’re 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 and its citizens. 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.

Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation’s financial practices and policies. The film follows former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America’s unsustainable fiscal policies to its citizens.

With surgical precision, Creadon interweaves archival footage and economic data to paint a vivid and alarming profile of America’s current economic situation. The ultimate power of I.O.U.S.A. is that the film moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer potential financial scenarios and propose solutions about how we can recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations.

Creadon uses candid interviews and his featured subjects include Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul O’Neill, Robert Rubin, and Paul Volcker, along with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s own David Walker and Bob Bixby of the Concord Coalition, a Foundation grantee.

Pointedly topical and consummately nonpartisan, I.O.U.S.A. drives home the message that the only time for America’s financial future is now.

If you’re concerned about America’s impending financial disaster, you owe it to yourself (and your children) to see this movie.

References

  1. ‘I.O.U.S.A.’ Makes TV Debut on CNN. Documentary.org 2009 Jan.
  2. About the Movie. I.O.U.S.A. the Movie. Accessed 2009 Jan 11th.

Grand Rounds 5.14 Holiday Edition

December 23, 2008 | by

Seasons Greetings! Welcome to the Holiday Edition of Grand Rounds, featuring some of the best articles of the biomedical and healthcare blogosphere.

There’s a revolution occurring on the Web: those “authoritative” articles written on traditional, static websites are being replaced with blogs, wikis and online social networks. In the sphere of health, medicine and information technology, this “real-time Web” consists of many who are professionals in the field; their posts are listed below.
In the digital age, these are the characteristics of new media: recent, relevant, reachable and reliable.

At this time last year, I announced the Highlight HEALTH Network, a single source that aggregates content from all the Highlight HEALTH websites. This year, I have a similar gift for biomedical and healthcare blogosphere readers:

Health and Medicine blog carnival email and RSS subscriptions!

Health Highlights – August 21st, 2007

August 21, 2007 | by

Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.

Health Highlights

Healthcare Costs and the Looming U.S. Budget Crisis

June 20, 2007 | by

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report last month on the state of the U.S. economy [1]. The report warns that the U.S. is headed for a budget crisis unless it reforms healthcare spending.

An Inconvenient Financial Truth – Healthcare Costs Endanger U.S. Financial Stability

March 29, 2007 | by

The federal government has made financial promises over the next 75 years at an estimated value of $50 trillion dollars. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), medicare obligations alone represent almost $39 trillion of that amount and have increased 197% since 2000 [1].

You read that right — future Social Security benefits and future Medicare benefits increased 197% from 2000 to 2006.

And — here’s the clincher — in the absence of extensive reform to both the Medicare program and the nation’s healthcare system, the government won’t have the money to meet those financial promises.