I.O.U.S.a: One Nation. Under Stress. in Debt

by Kate Incontrera, Addison Wiggin, David Walker

Book Overview

The United States has been spending its way deeper and deeper into the red, and saddling future generations with the mess-but who's paying attention? To answer that question, this companion book to the critically acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A. talks with some of the most revered voices in the nation, including Warren Buffett; former Treasury Secretaries Paul O'Neill and Robert Rubin; and Pete Peterson, CEO of The Blackstone Group. Defiantly non-partisan,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470222778
• ISBN13: 9780470222775
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

I.O.U.S.A.

I.O.U.S.A. directs our attention to the fact that you cannot spend more than you receive forever. Our government and many of our countrymen have been doing just that for a very long time. What we have now is the end game, which is not very good for anyone. This book is a "must read" and the DVD by the same name is a "must watch".

America - face the music!

Great book. A must read. Americans must wake up and see how far in trouble we are getting with the level of government debt that is growing and growing. It is very worrisome when the unfunded liabilities are included for medicare and social security. I am a 53 year old baby boomer and I do realize that when all the baby boomers really start to age and need medical care, provision of and payment for those services will be a significant dilemma because there is not enough medical staff around to provide the care and more importantly, enough money around to pay for it, no matter how you slice it!

Must see

This is must see documentary. It is both unapologetic and realistic in the way that it presents the financial trouble that the United States is in.

Numbers Do Not Lie

This public awareness is needed, but is it too late? This review is primarily about the book, not the film. But the "IOUSA" film was produced and blended with this book written by Addison Wiggin, and the overlapping information about both the book and the film is relevant to IOUSA's basic message. With IOUSA, the information regarding the coming calamity is finally being presented to the general public on a large scale. This is no longer an esoteric issue. Very few Americans were aware of this problem, until recently. The myopic public was and is, not concerned about this. People are too busy working, raising families, paying bills, and buying consumer products. The problem is insolvency. This issue is the #1 threat to the United States. Here is the definition of insolvency: "When an individual or organization can no longer meet its financial obligations with its lender or lenders as debts become due." Regarding the US government, we call "debts," to be the "promised payouts" (obligations) in the coming future as entitlements payouts. THE BIG, OPEN SECRET: This problem has been known about for several decades. But it wasn't discussed until now, because D-Day is arriving soon. It's right around the corner. There is no way out of it. There are reasons for omitting any discussion of America's coming insolvency to the US public for the last several decades, because 1. it's real 2. it's bad, and 3. there haven't been and still aren't enough politicians willing to address this topic. Number 4, is perhaps the biggest reason: there are no viable solutions, except to start radically reducing entitlements. But this is the Third Rail.... The I.O.U.S.A. book and film were produced and put together well. Financial numbers and demographical statistics can bore readers quickly, so the general presentation is a large part of IOUSA's effectiveness in print and on film. Other reviews have noted the lack of "meat." In my opinion, more "meat" isn't needed. These are basically numbers and population demographics: basic math. The book accurately notes the foundations of this historical dilemma. The 4 deficits the US has had and still has are one, the savings deficit (lack of personal saving, and in governmental budgets) two, the trade deficit (current account deficit) three, the federal deficit (annual deficits and total national debt) and four, the leadership deficit, noted above already. (Leaders not only not doing anything, but actually contributing to this train crash.) There are two sections in this book. The first is presenting the information and the second is comprised of interviews of analysts and well-known financial investors. Perhaps these famous investors were included to give some credibility to the statistics, which alone by themselves, are factually correct. There's no need to corroborate the math, or the projected numbers. Nobody is challenging these numbers. Politically, finger pointing and shallow partisanship ar

Great intro to the debt crisis

Enlightening. I bought the book after seeing the movie. Both helped me understand parts of the debt crisis that I didn't fully get before. Some of the dangers it warns against seem to be unfolding now. I've developed a far more skeptical attitude towards the stock market recently, largely because of IOUSA. This skepticism has helped me dodge some of the recent equity losses. I realize this is extremely short-term, but at least I'm aware of the arguments opposing Wall St's continual bull-pumping. The traditional mentality of "don't sell now, it's the best time to buy" is incredibly ingrained in our society. People forget that on occasion there are extended periods of time that are really really bad to invest in equity markets. This book (and the movie it's based on) helped me realize these things.