I.O.U.S.A.

The documentary I.O.U.S.A is currently available to stream on Netflix.  It's a nice overview of the problem with the size and rate of growth of the national debt.  It doesn't focus on how to fix the problem. Instead it mainly focuses on convincing people that there is a problem which is only getting bigger.

This film was produced in 2008, well before the election, so it does not contain any distracting attempts to fix the blame for the current budget debacle on Bush or Obama. Just understand that the numbers are nearly twice what they were then. It's almost quaint to watch people freak out over a "mere"  $8 trillion in debt.  I guess those debt clock guys had to buy a new clock, because the debt clock in this film only had space for 12 digits.

Even though it's only 3 years old, this film is a valuable primary source document on the rapidly changing politics of the debt. First, many people from both parties were concerned about the debt, even before the election of a black man.  Someone tell the New York Times.  Second, Paul Tsongas, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1992, co-founded The Concord Coalition, a non-partisan fiscal responsibility group. In this film, he sounds like a Tea Partier.  Fiscally conservative Democrats are not the unicorns of the Washington, D.C. They really did exist.  Third, Republicans love them some deficit spending.  That's why there's a Tea Party.

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