I.O.U.S.A. – The Horror, The Horror of Our Mounting Debt.

The former General behind I.O.U.S.A. wants you to know that China could soon have us by the, uh, bank account. The General, David Walker – Comptroller General, that is – and director of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), is on a mission. His message: current fiscal policies are out of control and unsustainable over the long-term (e.g. baby boomers + increasing longevity + rising healthcare costs = Medicare insolvency sooner than you think).

The 85 minute documentary (and watching it definitely beats reading about this stuff) is a crash course in what Walkers calls the “four deficits” that are responsible for our debt - budget, savings, trade and leadership.

It’s narrated by Walker, whose monotone voice is first dry and boring, but soon grows on you, as he travels the country on the "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour," speaking to rotary clubs, town halls and the media (included is a priceless critique of local news). On tour, Walker is accompanied by Robert Bixby, Executive Director of the Concord Coalition an organization dedicated to educating the public about our national debt. Throughout the film, Bixby provides humor that highlights enormity of their mission.

Intermixed with scenes from the tour are sobering interviews with an array of former economic leaders like Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretaries Richard E. Rubin and Paul O'Neil, the latter providing a blunt picture of White House (read: Office of the Vice President) workings. Because no documentary about fiscal solvency would be complete without pie charts and bar graphs, I.O.U.S.A. has them too, here in an understandable fashion that also provides a rich historical overview. And it's the history of economic policy such as the specific threat that ended the British Empire and Bush's "voodoo economics" critique of Reagan that I most enjoyed in this film.

The movie opens with the Jaws theme song, really getting viewers on edge and awaiting their pending doom (ok, I'm making this up). It opens with the 60 Minutes interview of Walker and for those of us who have already seen this segment, fear not, it doesn't stay here too long. Interviews with random kids in America's heartland and young professionals in New York City provide a lighthearted assessment of what the average citizen knows about our debt, not enough.

I.O.U.S.A., loosely based on the book Empire of Debt by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin, documents the struggle for fiscal solvency to burrow into America's consciousness. One particularly poignant scene occurs when the University of Pennsylvania student group, Concerned Youth of America, posts a flyer for their next meeting on a large bulletin board. The board is soon covered with the colored flyers of other student groups, drowning the flyer and the issue in sea of other student events and activities.

As I.O.U.S.A. winds down, I keep hoping for some good news, a resolution, or just Roy Schneider with a rifle. I want to walk out feeling good. But I don't.

Walker and others seem determined to march forward as the Paul Reveres for ours and future generations. Their next stop on the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour is the University of Pennsylvania on the evening of October 14th. See the film, or don't, but join me as we start to write its resolution (and be sure to invite your Congressperson, their district office staff and legislative director).

Rep. Schwartz (215) 517-6572
Rep. Murphy (215) 348-1194, who deserves some kudos for having the "Debt clock" on his website.
Rep. Fattah (215) 387-6404
Rep. Brady (215) 389-4627
Rep. Sestak (610) 892-8623

BUSTED illustrates the right and wrong ways to handle different police encounters and pays special attention to demonstrating how citizens can properly assert their constitutional rights to protect themselves from being searched, arrested, and jailed.

Created by Flex Your Rights and narrated by retired ACLU executive director Ira Glasser, BUSTED realistically depicts the pressure and confusion of common police encounters in an entertaining and revealing manner.

"Most people have no idea that the Fourth Amendment gives them the right to just say 'no' to police search requests," said BUSTED writer and Flex Your Rights executive director Steven Silverman. "With the widespread abuses of civil liberties resulting from the war on drugs and racial profiling, it's essential for citizens to be fully prepared to assert their constitutional rights during police encounters."