Tawei Liao

I.O.U.S.A

“I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan but our own fiscal irresponsibility.”   David Walker

David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, telling the truth that most Americans cannot handle.  CBS 60 minutes aired a segment on him back on March 4th, 2007.  He is on a crusade to educate the public on the problem of our national debt.  The documentary I.O.U.S.A. is a full length feature that expands on this subject.  It breaks down the problem of our deficit into four categories:

1. budget deficit
2. savings deficit
3. trade deficit
4. leadership deficit

The program has many easy to understand charts and graphs. It does a good job of making a difficult subject interesting (at least for me). The film is 80 minutes long. There is an abridged 30 minute version of the film on the I.O.U.S.A web site. It is embedded here below:

Are there solutions? Yes there are. The solutions involve raising taxes AND cutting spending. Will the solutions be implemented? I do not think so. Nothing will change unless young people (everybody under the age of 40) start voting in massive numbers or until there is a Second American Revolution.

I used to think a real crisis will force our elected leaders into making the difficult but right choices. The great financial crisis of 2008 proved me wrong. In a real crisis, our leaders made all the wrong choices. They made, and continue to make, decisions that benefit the powerful elites that helped them get elected. Self-preservation of elected officials, not representative democracy, best characterize our government today.

Here is the 60 minute segment on David Walker.