$53 trillion and counting...
Your kids, and their kids, and their kids, and their kids, and their kids, and their kids will hate you.
More clips and movie info here and here
August 22, 2008
I.O.U.S.A. - Go see this movie if you can
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I'm taking my kids to see it on Saturday. It is required viewing.
I saw the opening show last night.
It was O.K., but not really good:
In 'I.O.U.S.A.,' A Deficit of Originality
It made Bush look stupid. Declare war and go shopping.
p.s., I.O.U.S.A. has that clip where Cramer goes ballistic
Go to 1:37-2:30 in clip
I just got home from the movie. Worth the $18 bucks and I haven't spent a dime in a movie theater in probably close to a decade. Too bad most of America will still vote for Obama and his socialist agenda.
In the end it's gonna be inflation because there is no way we can actually pay back the debt. We have to monitize the debt, ie. start printing million dollar bills.
As for "for Obama and his socialist agenda", it's probably cheaper and safer than financing wars all over the world like McInsane is going to do.
Anyway, if McCain wins I am going long on defense contractors.
I don't know if I would say it was great, but it was good. The panel discussion afterward had its moments, but they should have kept Buffett, Novelli and the Cato guy at home. I was surprisingly impressed with Pete Peterson. Buffett was annoying frankly. I know he is supposed to be a genius and all, but I think a lot of the stuff he said was bogus.
It's worth seeing, it's just not over the top entertainment. I kept comparing it to "Inconvenient Truth." It's harder to use pretty pictures to describe the budget than when describing the environment. They did describe the problem pretty clearly. Although, I don't think they tied together the impact of personal debt with the federal debt very well.
Maybe if I hadn't listened to an hour of David Walker and another hour of Addison Wiggin on NPR within 24 hours of seeing the movie, it would have had more impact.
Well, in case whether you're wondering whether the "mainstream media" gets it, Roger Ebert seems to. No quibbling about the style there - his review is all about the substance. Well worth a read.
Lady Di said...
I'm taking my kids to see it on Saturday. It is required viewing.
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I feel sorry for your kids lady. Jezuz lady, take your kids to the park. Take them to the beach. Take them hiking or camping. For god's sake don't spend an saturday afternoon in a movie theater on a subject they couldn't care less about.
You are like this woman I worked with. She has a 9 year old daughter. For spring break when all the other kids were going to Disneyworld or skiing she took her *** 9 year old *** on a tour of museums.
Let your kids be kids.
It's nice a few of you have seen the flick already - how did you hear about it? Are they advertising?
I'm amazed any Americans would be motivated enough to go watch a movie about the government's debt. Serious wonk alert. Bravo.
It made Bush look stupid.
So, it's accurate is what you are saying.
americans don't give a shit about the debt.Things have been going great.Buy a house and get rich.No need to save anymore.Just buy assets and watch the money roll in brother.
For spring break when all the other kids were going to Disneyworld or skiing she took her *** 9 year old *** on a tour of museums.
When I was in Europe I saw tons of kids even younger than that quietly touring museums with their class. Who's to say that 9 year old doesn't enjoy going to a good museum. Heaven forbid we educate our children, especially on important topics like finance.
Watched this in Denver yesterday. My wife is from Brazil, and as such, does not have much context or historical reference as to how F*cked this country truly is. I think she got the point after watching this.
I have to admit, I was very pleased to walk into the most crowded theater I've encountered in quite some time; and the movie wasn't even based on comic book characters or trolls and goblins having kooky wacky adventures.
The movie was probably a little redundant for HP'ers, but did not move too fast for short yellow bus types, i.e. most of the American populace. There were plenty of pie charts and hand gesturing so even the NASCAR crowd could get the picture. David Walker, former Comptroller at the GAO was probably far too intelligent for the average viewer, as was Peterson, I suspect.
Warren Buffet came across as a complete moron in the town hall segment following the film. His incoherent ramblings about the possibility of being back in the womb and having a twin fetus that could be born in Bangladesh really sealed it for me - he's slipping mentally and still an elitist f*ckwad out of touch with 99.999999999% of humans. Also, the "I'm proud to live in the greatest country on earth" chest thumping was a little much.
The campy finale was somewhat disappointing and FAR TOO optimistic for my taste. Trite platitudes were spouted off in rapid fire succession about how a few "simple corrections" will solve these complex problems. I didn't hear jack shit about our immigration problem and how medical payouts to illegal aliens are killing us. I didn't hear as much as I would have liked about the sheer pervasiveness of corruption in this country. Nothing about the corptocracy that is selling us out and trying to reduce us to pauperdom so we can fill the roll of wage laborers in New China. Lots of good stuff but not enough straight talk. Too much PC bullshit.
WTF? Taking a 9-year old to a museum? What an outrage!
The next thing you know, parents will be making their children read BOOKS!
Oh, wait a sec...
When I was in Europe I saw tons of kids even younger than that quietly touring museums with their class. Who's to say that 9 year old doesn't enjoy going to a good museum. Heaven forbid we educate our children, especially on important topics like finance.
Sorry but that's bull. I am very well educated in finance and the world in general. But when I was 9 I was out playing baseball, riding my bike, building forts, etc. I wasn't on a tour of museums. There's a time an place for everything and a 9 year old in a museum or in a theater watching a movie about budget deficits is the wrong time and the wrong place.
"You are like this woman I worked with. She has a 9 year old daughter. For spring break when all the other kids were going to Disneyworld or skiing she took her *** 9 year old *** on a tour of museums."
This country is hopeless. Everyone just give up now.
It's no wonder that we as a nation have more debt that we can pay and fight wars we cannot explain in rational terms. (They hate us for our freedoms.)
Perhaps my memories are incorrect, you get old and that happens, but, really, for the love of God, people used to aim a little higher. They really did.
The US government needs to just declare bankruptcy and f*ck paying off the "debt." - it's not even realk and it's not even our problem anyway - it's the Federal Reserve's.
And, Buffet is/was a douche.
anonymous said...
I feel sorry for your kids lady. Jezuz lady, take your kids to the park. Take them to the beach. Take them hiking or camping. For god's sake don't spend an saturday afternoon in a movie theater on a subject they couldn't care less about.
You are like this woman I worked with. She has a 9 year old daughter. For spring break when all the other kids were going to Disneyworld or skiing she took her *** 9 year old *** on a tour of museums.
Let your kids be kids.
Hell yea, then they can grow up to be just like all the other kids that they work with.
baaaa baaaa
JaneZ
My kids won't hate me, we'll just move all our assets offshore. Or the US will just say, "F-You" to the world and default.
There is a reason David Walker was somewhat ignored as he pulled a Michael Moore/Ron Paul, whining cross-country.....
The government writes off 100% of the value of assets purchased as an expenditure, never offsetting the assets/liability equation. In other words, the debt is nowhere near that $53T figure.
That's your schooling for the day ignorant HPers.
I saw the movie last night too!
I agree with anonymous that the movie wasn't all that great.
The old geasers, who talked at the end-- except for warren buffen, were full of anxiety and thought that health care costs would "bankrupt our nation;" thus, they said: "giving 47 million people universal health care would only make budget problems worse."
Of course, the audience was told to "save money" but nobody on the panel offered an explaination about why the stock market would bail us out when deficit spending would't; They also didn't explain why the irrational exuberence of the DOW-- which grew almost 400% during the clinton adminstration, was normal and a reason why we should kill social security and put everything into equities especially since inflated market caps and Enronish balance sheets don't produce health care and that's why health care prices are rising towards the moon.
Greenspan did note in the movie that "a nation can only consume more than it produces for a short period of time." The entire panel, though, seemed to ignore this and kept pushing equites since some panel members thought that the government insured too many things; warren buffet was a bit more honest than most and said that the "pie will get bigger" but he didn't empasize that this bigger pie would have fewer calories, due to inflation.
Unfortunately, neither the movie nor the panel hinted that the Japenese economy tanked, despite their savings rate, since their savings where due to housing speculation! Hence, someone should have asked the panel: "why should I save my money if it didn't make a difference in Japan?"
As a last comment, nobody really talked about city/state and federal pensions or the fact that coporations deficit spend like the government since they keep refinancing old debt continuously.
And, morover-- as another poster noted, the well-to-do panel and the movie indicated that military spending was important to keep the nation strong; in the long run, however, military pensions and benefits will strangle the pentagon just like everyone else!
Hence, like all the other republics that existed, we'll probably fail since our wealth was based on might not right.
"There is a reason David Walker was somewhat ignored as he pulled a Michael Moore/Ron Paul, whining cross-country....."
globalization, I'm thinking, will stabilize the major currencies since the major curriences will be secured with a common set of corporate cultures.
hence, while trade deficits might be interesting, something like the "rum/sugar/slave" trade must be happening and it's not measured in the currency we know.
To me, the real currency is how power is shared around the world; Unfortunately, too many people-- including myself, were brought up on patriotism and nationalism.
Overall, I like what Ron Paul has to say although I think he's biased towards emotional arguments-- instead of direct ones, since people only understand the contemporary (the ones in textbooks) ones.
"Warren Buffet came across as a complete moron in the town hall segment following the film.
based on your writing, you're not philosophical and that's the way buffet communicates. in general, i thought he was the night's prize.
"Nothing about the corptocracy that is selling us out and trying to reduce us to pauperdom so we can fill the roll of wage laborers in New China."
I thought they covered this by wanting "more military spending" since our military is obviously an anchor tenant in the halls of power and might around the world...
"I didn't hear as much as I would have liked about the sheer pervasiveness of corruption in this country."
David Walker, in my opinion, had his own agenda about wanting to maintain economic power for the economic elite. That attitude, which I sensed, is why David Walker hasn't been more successful. i.e. to him, it was all about socialize the risk and privatize the rewards.
I feel sorry for your kids lady. Jezuz lady, take your kids to the park. Take them to the beach. Take them hiking or camping. For god's sake don't spend an saturday afternoon in a movie theater on a subject they couldn't care less about.
You are like this woman I worked with. She has a 9 year old daughter. For spring break when all the other kids were going to Disneyworld or skiing she took her *** 9 year old *** on a tour of museums.
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Calm down. I love that you know so much about my parenting style from my 2 sentences.
P.S. I was at the Smithsonian this summer (with my kids) and it was PACKED with kids.
P.P.S. My kids could kick your ass anyday on a ski slope.
Idiot.
Buffett: Economy Is Experiencing a 'Correction'
OMAHA, Aug. 22 -- The two long-term views of the U.S. economy were on vivid display at a town hall meeting here Thursday night, with the world's richest person on one side and pretty much everybody else on the other.
If there is general agreement that times are tough in the short-term -- the markets are flighty, foreclosures are widespread and jobless claims remain high -- there is sharp disagreement on what the future holds.
Some, such as super-investor Warren E. Buffett, believe that the economy is merely experiencing a "correction" and that subsequent generations of Americans will have a much higher standard of living than those alive today.
Others, such as David M. Walker -- former U.S. comptroller general and a traveling Cassandra on the perils of the mounting national debt -- fear that the economy is at an inflection point and could be headed toward disaster if something isn't done, immediately.
So the two sides went at it on Thursday night, while taking questions from an audience of more than 2,000 Omahans who had been given tickets to the event; the whole affair was beamed live to more than 400 theaters around the country to viewers who had paid money to watch five men in suits debate the severity of the national debt.
The town hall was the second half of an evening's worth of entertainment, which began with the premiere of "I.O.U.S.A.," a documentary on the national debt starring Walker and featuring Buffett and other notable thinkers on the economy.
anon,
Museums are usually oriented towards kids. There is little prior knowledge required. I was thoroughly enjoying museums when I was in elementary school (6-11); first visit to museum of history and museum of natural history was the month before going to elementary school.
By age 12, it became quite obvious to me that museum content was a little too rudimentary. That's when encyclopedia came in. With internet at their finger tips, kids are incredibly lucky nowadays, so long as we parents prime them on the urge to learn.
Every year I would go with my neighbor and their grandkids to every museum in the city. It was a great experience, and these people were not even my family. How many of you would do the same?
Too bad most of America will still vote for Obama and his socialist agenda.
For God's sake, what is wrong with socialism? It works fine for Sweden and the rest of the Scandinavian countries. Taxes are not going away. You might as well get something back from your tax dollars. Why are buying clubs like Sam's and Costco effective? Because they are socialist at a certain level.
Ask yourself daily:
"What did I do yesterday
to turn the tide ?"
Dear Lost Cause,
The problem with socialism is that it is a failed system. There is no incentive to work hard and it destroys economic freedom. It robs people of self sufficiency and quite frankly is only a good thing for the weak. What we want in American is CAPITALISM. That is what made our nation flourish. This socialization of everything is the downfall of our country. Read the bible of economics by Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations.
What are you talking about?? Sam's Club, Costco, BJ's etc these are all COMPETITORS! Thats called capitalism not socialism. Where did you learn about economics?
Great film!!
Well said, Jordan.
Lost Cause,
Swedish economy has been doing poorly ever since the early 80's, just when the socialists of the west turned to worship it after the dysmal failure of the USSR. Finnish girls used to go to Sweden en masse to work as nannies ever since, well, the 19th century (when Finland was occupied by Russia), however, by the 1990's, the nanny traffic was the other way around. Would Volvo and Saab have sold themselves if Swedish economy was so hunky-dory?
There is nothing socialist about any of the warehouse clubs. The key to socialism is not "sharing" but compulsive levy. Voluntary sharing can take place among any group of free people. It's the compulsive nature of "socialism": compulsive service, compulsive regulation, compulsive contribution(taxes)to programs that are near and dear to the big brother, that's what defines socialism and what makes socialism bad . . . because the quality of such decisions on resource allocation are not priced in the market place competitively minute by minute.
Deficits don't matter, especially when you're the newly-appointed VP with a corporate mandate to ram a special interest agenda down the throats of an ignorant/naive constituency.
And then came all the death and destruction...
I don't believe lady di said she'd be confining her kids to a movie theatre on a saturday afternoon.
I could see this being a treat for them on a Saturday night to see an adult movie and then stretch their minds with a little 'adult type' conversation about it afterwards.
Kids deserve to know about their inheritance.
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