Think Before You Buy - I.O.U.S.A Review

The first day of my Thanksgiving vacation I got up early to do some writing. Alone on the couch I beat the keys of my laptop, eventually got a little tired, and then thought, "I'll just watch a few minutes of I.O.U.S.A to see what it's like."

This is a movie you cannot put down. And so I just kept watching. After all the kids got up, I kept watching. After Leanne left to run errands, I kept watching.

You really must watch this movie. It is transformative. It should motivate you to change your life. Not just want to change, but actually change.

I.O.U.S.A. tells the story of how badly the United States is in debt and how irresponsibly we citizens and our politicians are acting. It explains in quite simple and shocking terms that America is a few decades away from ruin. You can get a summary of the plot by downloading the Citizen's Guide 2009 from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation website. The guide is excellent. But you really ought to watch the movie.

Both the guide and movie make two main points. 1. American citizens have been self-focused and irresponsible and 2. American politicians have been the same without being held accountable.

And thus there are two take-aways. 1. American citizens need to change their behavior and 2. hold American politicians accountable.

I am really hopeful. I don't think most Americans want to be selfish assholes. I don't believe that most Americans desire to bury their heads in the ground and ignore the well-being of their families, country, and the world. I just think that most Americans have formed habits of selfish irresponsibility. But habits can be broken.

The first step is a wakeup call. And I.O.U.S.A is a great first step.

Comments

[Moderngreenollie]

I agree. I don't think most people are selfish (same goes for the UK). It seems to me though that we've got ourselves into this mess partly through an urge to be decent - and we've spent loads more than we can afford on "nice" things like welfar and (in our case) healthcare.