Until you hear the urgency in Addison Wiggin's voice, you may not think that our $8.9 trillion national debt is an obvious topic for a film documentary, but you may leave the conversation convinced it’s a great subject for a horror flick.
The movie I.O.U.S.A., opening Aug. 21, follows Dave Walker, former U.S. comptroller general, and Concord Coalition Founder Robert L. Bixby on their Fiscal Wake Up Tour. For 18 months, at Rotary Clubs, Better Business Bureau luncheons and town hall meetings, they discussed the national debt, its implications and possible solutions to the looming economic danger that threatens the United States. The film also features interviews with “the Mount Rushmore crowd of American economics,” including former Federal Reserve Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volker, and former Treasury secretaries Paul O’Neil and Bob Rubin as well as Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world’s wealthiest men, to tell the story. “We have the guys who are responsible for the Federal Reserve and heading up budget committees in Congress, and the former Treasury secretaries,” but it’s not just charts and figures, Wiggin says.
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The film’s target audience is not the financial elite. “We are trying to reach everyday people,” he says. “Now that gas prices have gone up, and oil dominates the news, and house prices have started to fall – people are now starting to ask questions, like ‘why is this happening?’ and ‘isn’t America the world’s richest nation?’ and ‘why is the economy faltering?’ We wanted to reach a wider audience of people that are now beginning to wonder what’s really happening in the economy.”
In as many chapters, the film explores four deficits: America’s $480 billion budget deficit, the trade deficit, and the personal savings deficit, which was negative for two years in a row, in 2005 and 2006. The last time that happened, Wiggin says, was in 1933 and 1934. “The statistics that are piling up are as bleak as what we saw in the 1930s in the Great Depression.” Finally, Walker addresses what he calls the leadership deficit, which has led to ignorance and apathy on the part of the American people, Wiggin says. “They think these decisions are made by experts in New York or Washington and that it doesn’t concern them. The net is that they abdicate responsibility and they don’t hold people accountable for the decisions that are made.”
Wiggin and Bill Bonner, his partner at Agora Financial, have been writing about trends in macro economics and America’s place in the world in their newsletter The Daily Reckoning, as well as their Web sites and other publications, including the 2006 book “Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis,” which provided the genesis of the film. Since 1980 the national debt has become a dramatic feature of the American Economy and a danger to America’s position in the world, Wiggin says. “If you are trying to build wealth and invest in your own futures, that’s one feature of the economy that you can’t ignore.”
The film was directed by Patrick Creadon, who created Wordplay, a documentary about the New York Times crossword puzzle – another topic that doesn’t seemingly lend itself to film, but which received solid critical reviews and was shown at the 2006 Sundance and Tribeca Film festivals.
I.O.U.S.A. was purchased by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, named after its founder, former U.S. commerce secretary, who also founded private equity firm The Black Stone Group. Last year Peterson sold 10% of the firm in an initial public offering. “His paycheck on that day was $3 billion,” Wiggin says. “He took a billion of that and started this foundation…. David Walker left the GAO [government accounting office] to head that up, and their first act was to buy the movie from us. And they are using it as a tool to get the message out there. And that’s how we ended up with the premier hosted by Warren Buffet. Pete Peterson and Warren Buffet are long time friends.”
The film opens at selected theaters on Aug. 21. Click here for listings. After the showing, there will be a live discussion with Warren Buffett; William Niskanen, chairman of the Cato Institute; Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP; Pete Peterson; and Dave Walker, president & CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former U.S. comptroller general. The panel will be moderated by Becky Quick, co-anchor of CNBC’s morning news show Squawk Box.
Futures Magazine will be giving away tickets to the premier on August 21, to the 7 p.m. showing at the Century 12 Evanston/CineArts 6, located at 1715 Maple Ave, Evanston, IL.
Check back for details on how to get your free tickets.