Thursday, August 21, 2008

IOUSA



IOUSA is a recently released documentary revealing the precarious state of the United States' national financial health. Yes, we'll be watching this one.

The actors play themselves, and the movie stars the deficit of the United States. Joining David M. Walker of the GAO is Warren Buffett (everybody knows who he is) and Peter G. Peterson of Blackrock Group. The truthy-tongued trio predicts the collapse of the enormous national and personal debts that has contributed to a situation here in the homeland, that by 2040 will, "make the Great Depression look like a market correction" for the US. Well, that sounds, uh, difficult. In fact, the predictions in this documentary are far worse than what we've predicted on this site. The LA Times features a full story here.

"I.O.U.S.A." offers up as its action hero David M. Walker, former head of the Government Accountability Office. With movie-star looks that scream "accountant" rather than "Terminator," Walker has been the Cassandra -- or Chicken Little -- of America's growing deficit for some time. Last August, he compared the U.S. to the final days of ancient Rome, which he said was militarily overextended and fiscally irresponsible.
With this flick, we'll take a side of Freddie Mac, thankyouverymuch. Happy viewing, America. This is what happens after thirty years of financial ignornace. Illusion is amazingly persuasive.

1 comment:

WileyCoyote said...

Yawn. Csssandra here. I've been screaming this since the 80's, no one cares, no one's listening. As long as Wally World keeps opening more stores, as long as the gummint keeps bailing spendthrifts out with our tax dollars, as long as people can get service jobs instead of those 'hard, sweaty manufacturing' jobs, and as long as politicians keep telling folks that throwing more unearned money into the hole will sustain their comfortable way of life, and that gummint dependence is a GOOD thing, we will crash and there is nothing - nothing! - to stop us. We have met the enemy - and he is US, because instead of educating ourselves, we have salivated after more and better. 2040? Give me a break. It will happen much earlier than THAT. By 2040 we will be a struggling third-world country, with half of our population self-immolated, owned by China and Japan.

But Ron Paul is an idiot, and everyone is happy screaming for Obama or McCain, both of whom tell the populace exactly what they want to hear. I'm DONE - got a back row seat in the coliseum, just waiting for the games to begin. Loose the lions... pass the popcorn.