I.O.U.S.A.

Director Statement

Christine O'Malley and I made I.O.U.S.A. for three reasons — our daughters Fiona, Grace, and Charlotte. I suppose we made it for all the other kids in our country, too. Our government has embarked on a series of decisions that is going to make the lives our kids lead much different than the ones we lead today. There’s still a little time left to fix this problem, but it’s running out quickly.

Our kids are quite young now, but at the rate our government is taxing and spending (low taxes and high spending), by the time our kids are our age the only things our federal government will be able to pay for are interest on the federal debt and some of our Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid expenses. All other areas of the federal government (our military, homeland security, education, the interstate highway system, science programs, NASA — the list goes on and on) will be closed and out of business. More frightening still is that very few people want to speak about our growing national debt. We certainly haven’t heard much about it on the campaign trail (how could we with all that talk of additional tax cuts and still more spending coming from both parties).

How did we do this, and who’s to blame for this mess we’re in? That’s hard to say exactly — there’s an awful lot of blame to go around. But the simple fact remains: We Americans are living a lifestyle we cannot afford, and demanding a federal government we cannot afford, and telling our children and grandchildren to pay for it. There are an awful lot of things someone can defend in life; selfishness is not one of them.

When we started making I.O.U.S.A. we were far from policy experts. In fact, between the two of us we knew very little about the national debt and the other topics surrounding this issue. We decided to approach an expert. Actually, we approached the expert.

David Walker was eight years into a 15-year term as Comptroller General of the United States. As such, he was in charge of the Government Accountability Office (better known as the GAO) and he — along with the 3200 employees he oversaw — was responsible for assuring the accountability of the federal government for the betterment of the American people.

Dave had read and enjoyed the book our documentary was loosely based on (Empire of Debt by Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin) and after several discussions he decided to be a part of our project. Having Dave on board helped for two key reasons: For one, there are few people alive today who know as much as he does about the financial condition of the United States government. But as importantly Dave is a political independent. He’s had three presidential appointments (Reagan, Bush #41, and Clinton) and does not have an allegiance to any particular political party. It’s one of the reasons Dave’s often called “the most trusted man in Washington.”

As a result, when we approached others about the film and told them it was a profile on David Walker and a non-partisan look at the financial health of the country, we received enthusiastic responses from people from across the political spectrum.

By the time we had finished shooting I.O.U.S.A., our list of interviewees was beginning to look like a Mount Rushmore of financial, economics, and government experts: business leaders Warren Buffet and Pete Peterson (a Democrat and a Republican, respectively), former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Paul O’Neill (one Democrat, one Republican), former Federal Reserve Chairmen Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan (a Democrat and a Republican), and current Senate Budget Committee leaders Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg (you guessed it — a Democrat and a Republican). Others interviewed include MacArthur Genius recipient and U.S. budget expert Alice Rivlin, U.S. Congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul, and author Bill Bonner. Getting this group of folks to agree 100% on anything is nearly impossible — the matters of finances and economics and government are too complex and nuanced to lend themselves to unanimous consent. And yet every single person in the film agrees with our film’s two central premises: America is living way beyond its means and unless we do something about it our government will go bankrupt in my lifetime (I’m 41 — you can do the math).

Let me repeat that: Without major reform on tax, spending, and health care policies, the richest country the world has ever seen will be flat broke in 40 years. Wake up America! It’s time we take a good, long look in the mirror and admit that our finances are in complete disarray. The sooner we’re honest with each other and begin to work together toward solutions, the better off we’ll all be.

For those of you still seeking solutions to this mess, I’m afraid the solutions are a little more complex than space here allows. You’ll have to see our film to get a fuller picture of these problems and possible solutions. But in the meantime I can offer you one small nugget of wisdom for achieving a fiscally healthy federal government: a long-term policy of low taxes and big spending ain’t going to get us there.

— Patrick Creadon