IOUSA

This movie is essential viewing for all voting citizens. Schedule 30 minutes to be educated about the looming debt crisis. This is a bipartisan movie which was created largely in response to the Bush years.



The graphical demonstration of historical debt and the social security time bomb is very illuminating. One bone I have to pick is the simplistic description of the 80's as " unprecedented" in peace time spending. The fact is, it is okay to go in debt if you get a return on investment. WWII: great return on investment. Winning the cold war and creating 20 years of prosperity? Great return on investment. So President Bush, to me, is at fault for wasting the Reagan dividend. He gave us TSA, earmarks, and Medicare part D. I agreed with Operation Iraq Freedom, but we should have been making harder choices at home.

The other bone to pick with this movie is the lack of dynamic tax modeling. The 2003 Bush tax cuts are largely misunderstood. Those tax cuts created more revenue for the government. It turns out that when you reduce penalties to wealth generation, more of it gets generated. Kind of like how McDonalds makes more selling Big Macs for 2.99 as opposed to 4.99. So I say "yea!" for the tax cuts, but why squander this excellent tax lesson on expanding government?

My RX for the national debt is simple: the FairTax along with a balanced budget amendment. Raising taxes on the rich is the wrong answer. If anything we need a flatter tax with less deductions and credits and one which includes all voting citizens not just the top 50% of tax payers.