GLOBE EDITORIAL
THE RECORD is mixed on whether documentary films can provoke political action. Just ask Michael Moore, whose Oscar-winning “Bowling for Columbine” had little real effect on the nation’s gun control laws. Still, the producers of “I.O.U.S.A,” which opens in selected theaters tomorrow, are hoping to muscle in with an even more difficult policy issue – the nation’s $9.5 trillion (and growing!) debt.
Based on the book “Empire of Debt” by Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggins, the film is a nonpartisan red alert, with cameo appearances from national scolds as ideologically diverse as Ron Paul and Warren Buffett. It aims to demystify a dense topic by breaking it down into four deficits plaguing the country: in savings, budget, trade, and – worst of all – in leadership.
Contributions to the debt are bipartisan as well: John McCain’s proposals – $100 billion in additional tax cuts for corporations, another $65 billion for individuals, and a continuation of the $11 billion-a month war in Iraq – will flood America with red ink. But Barack Obama is doing his part, with $80 billion in tax cuts for working families, an immediate $50 billion stimulus package, and a $65 billion healthcare expansion.
The film’s improbable star is David Walker, former US comptroller general, a mild-mannered accountant who travels the country interviewing clueless Americans about the four deficits. Walker is the independent-minded former head of the Government Accountability Office, who sued Vice President Dick Cheney over his refusal to disclose who met with his energy task force. Now he’s blowing the whistle on the economy. “We suffer from a fiscal cancer,” he says in the film – a line that may not rival “Make my day,” but an ominous mantra nonetheless.
What “I.O.U.S.A” has that some other timely documentaries lacked – even Al Gore’s stirring film about climate change – is a prodigious budget for distribution and publicity. Pete Peterson, who was commerce secretary under President Nixon and is now a deficit hawk of the first order, has established a $1 billion foundation to back the film and engage voters – especially young people who will pay the bill for the national spending spree – with websites and social networking activities.
The producers have an uphill battle: A Pew Research Center poll conducted this summer shows that while the economy has eclipsed Iraq as the most important issue for voters, only 2 percent of those voters even mention the debt – far behind high gas prices, unemployment, mortgage problems, and healthcare costs.
Few political figures have the standing to change the conversation. But the movie, which will screen at both national conventions, is a start.
