Title: I.O.U.S.A – One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.
Directed:Patrick Creadon
Year: 2008

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As the average American can attest, personal debt is bad enough, but as Thomas Jefferson once cautioned, public debt is corruptive of the government and demoralizing of the nation. Patrick Creadon’s I.O.U.S.A. documents the efforts of two concerned citizens, former US Comptroller General Dave Walker and Concord Coalition Director Robert Bixby, to explain how America racked up over $9.5 trillion in debt and what we can do to stem the tide.

Based on the book Empire of Debt by William Bonner and Executive Producer Addison Wiggin, Wordplay’s Creadon combines Walker and Bixby’s Fiscal Wake-Up Tour with observations from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Paul O’Neill, superstar CEO Warren Buffett, and student activists.

The information flows with ease and the clips from Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show add levity to an undeniably dark and timely topic, but the narrative rests on a long list of facts and figures, leading to a production that feels more like a special news report than a work of cinema. ~ 1:21hrs