I.O.U.S.A.

Documentary

F.Y.I.
With the return of thousands of military personnel from overseas at the end of World War II, many countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand experienced an unusual spike in birth rates. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the baby boom. The term Baby Boomer is used to describe a person who was born during this post-war period (from 1946 to 1953 or as late as 1964 according to some.)

PRINCIPAL PARTICIPANTS
David M. Walker (born 1951) served as United States Comptroller General from 1998 to 2008 and is now the President and CEO of The Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Walker has a B.S. in accounting, is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a certificate in Senior Government Management from Harvard University.

Robert L. Bixby is Executive Director of The Concord Coalition, an American nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to fiscal responsibility. He has a bachelor's degree in political science, a master's degree in public administration and a doctorate from George Mason University School of Law. He practiced law and served as the Chief Staff Attorney of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Warren Edward Buffett (born 1930) holds a B.A. and Master of Science degree from Columbia University. He is one of the world's most successful investors and the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is currently ranked by Forbes magazine as the second richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of US$46 billion.

Paul Adolph Volcker (born 1927) is an American economist with a M.A. in political economy from Princeton University. He was Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is currently chairman-designate of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board under President-elect Barack Obama.


REVIEW
This is a timely documentary about the growing national debt of the United States of America and the impact it will have in the years to come. Making use of animated graphics with archival news footage this slick presentation is far better than the conventional PowerPoint slide show. Without “talking down” to the audience they take the time to explain the basic principals of Macroeconomics 101.

Presented in a cool dispassionate manner without “the sky is falling” rhetoric there is much food for thought and some truly shocking facts not generally that well known.

CLASSIFICATION
for some thematic elements.