The first film I watched at this year’s festival was the documentary I.O.U.S.A., a film I had hoped beforehand would end up being educational. I’m no slouch when it comes to the rhymes and reasons behind capitalism and America’s recent down swing, I’ve made it a point to be “involved” where I’m moving back to the States, but the film did manage to “show me a trick or two” by its end. I can start by giving my complaints that the documentary unfortunately is made prior to the tumultuous economic upheaval that has occurred over a large portion of 2008, housing crash, stimulus package etc. Furthermore it also seems to have been wrapped prior to the election cycle’s main thrust. These two items lend a tremendous angle to the entire debate on America’s future but definitely do not negate the information provided in the film. Just don’t expect it to be entirely “up to date”.
I.O.U.S.A’s message, which is conveyed via interviews with the likes of Alan Greenspan, and Warren Buffet, to name a few, is that frankly people in the US spend money they don’t have. This may not come as such a shock, and you may be thinking well I just saved you some time and money in reviewing the film but what the film does clue one in on is exactly the long running repercussions of this spending logic, not to mention historical instances of “high debt” the rhyme and reason behind them, and subsequent lack of reason behind the current debt. This is namely to remind us that all major republics have fallen by similar financial mistakes and to clue us in on the hard times ahead.
What I took away from the film was a much clearer sense of who is screwed and who is not. Furthermore, how unnatural America’s form of capitalism is, with the FED playing the role of stabilizer. That is making sure people with money keep said money while milking the poor and middle class. Hearing Alan Greenspan during one interview state that there is no way for the FED to calculate the poor into the equation was priceless, not to mention the clip used where John Stewart “schools his old ass”, have a look for yourself,
