The critically-acclaimed documentary film I.O.U.S.A. was conceived of, co-written and executive produced by Agora Financial’s Addison Wiggin. In July 2008, the film was acquired by The Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
It was featured in a Live Premier with Warren Buffet, Pete Peterson and David Walker in 400 theatres around the nation on August 21st, 2008. If you missed the event, you can read a transcript of the national town hall meeting here.
“From September 30, 2007 to the end of this past fiscal year on September 30, 2008, total federal debt grew by $1.0 trillion, from 9,007,653,372,262.48 to $10,024,724,896,912.49, which is an 11.3% annual rate of growth. The federal debt as of October 16, 2008 is now $10,331,139,000,845.92. So in just 16 days since the end of the last fiscal year, the federal debt has grown by an astounding $331.1 billion, which is a 75.5% annual rate of growth. It has taken just 16 days to borrow one-third of what the government borrowed in all of last year.”– Daily Pfennig
Ron Paul: “We can’t afford to pay all these bills, and if we just pay for these bills by printing money, it will destroy the currency – and that will be a much, much more painful reaction than us just tightening our belts and living within our means.”
Warren Buffett: “I do think that piling up more and more and more external debt and having the rest of the world own more and more of the United States may create real political instability down the line and increase the possibility that demagogues come along and do some very foolish things.”
Resources:
56 Trillion Dollar Deficit
Agora Financial
Bureau of the Public Debt
Debt Numbers Overwhelming
I.O.U.S.A. (Film)
Life and Debt (Film)
Money as Debt (Film)
On Passage of Bailout Bill
Review at NH Film Festival
U.S. National Debt Clock
Source: Ashland Resource Center