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| Leaders Watch I.O.U.S.A. |
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| News | |||
| Written by Kevin Gray | |||
| Wednesday, 01 April 2009 07:00 | |||
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Paola Mayor Artie Stuteville, City Manager Jay Wieland and City Clerk Dan Droste attended a special Osawatomie City Council meeting Thursday evening to sit back and watch the movie I.O.U.S.A. To see the movie’s title in color, the I.O.U. segment is in red and the S.A. in blue; the subtitle associated with the film reads, One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt. Quite simply, I.O.U.S.A. examines the national debt in a nonpartisan simplicity that explains just how America found itself in such a financial meltdown. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times describes the film as, “…IOUSA accomplishes an amazing thing. It explains the national debt.” Throughout history, according to the movie’s bio, the G. Peterson Foundation that holds rights to the film, and the Concord Coalition, the U.S. 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 de-mystify 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. Osawatomie City Manager Bret Glendening thought city leaders should see the movie, which he attained from the Concord Coalition, another nonpartisan organization dedicated to eliminating the federal budget deficits. As the screen came to life in Osawatomie’s Memorial Hall, phrases projected across the screen announced, “…fiscal cancer growing within us…catastrophic consequences for our country.” Yet, the film went ahead to clearly explain how the United States faces four definite deficits that must be corrected: budget, savings, balance of payments, and leadership. “How could this happen to the richest country in the world?” is asked right away. America must balance its budget, which can be done by cutting spending or raising taxes. Both tough choices viewers were reminded, but without strong leadership this won’t happen. Americans must save, and it was pointed out, the United States has one of the worst world-wide records on saving money. And America is just as dismally bad at trade. China is the second highest holder of American reserves. American trade is out of whack. “We’re importing, when we should be exporting,” came across clearly from the screen. To get America out of this rising debt, every American would have to pay $184,000 to pay it all down.
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