I.O.U.S.A.

August 21, 2008 8:07 AM

I.O.U.S.A.
I.O.U.S.A. is the new documentary from Patrick Creadon, the guy who did Wordplay. Reviewers are calling it An Inconvenient Truth for the debt crisis. My organization is doing the marketing/building the website for the film, but even if we weren't, I would've still really enjoyed this movie.

I.O.U.S.A. follows Dave Walker, the former head of the GAO, around America as he tries to tell everyone how deep in the shitter we are with the federal debt burden. The film itself is quite good - there are some clips on YouTube - and overall I was really excited to be a part of this project.

posted by harperpitt (1 comment total)

I recently read Andrew Yarrow's excellent book "Forgive Us Our Debts" on the topic of the national debt after hearing him give a talk on the book. This convinced me of the gravity and urgency of the issue. Seeing as how the current presidential candidates and the media are completely disregarding this very important issue, I was wondering how awareness of it might be spread to the masses to the point that it could play a role in the debates. So kudos to the filmmakers, and to you for marketing the film.

Regarding the website, I like that it's nice, clean, and simple. I would add a short description of the movie on the main page. I would also add a tab for the main page, and move the "about the movie" tab to the left of the "take action" tab. The "gallery" page doesn't seem to add much to the site -- maybe you could have fewer, larger pictures with detailed captions. It would also be great to have a tab for finding venues and showtimes for the film in each city.

One last comment -- in the "about the movie" page, it is stated: "Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes." This is a little misleading -- peacetime deficit spending in the US only began after WWI.

Best of luck with this project!
posted by Sar HaPanim at 9:37 AM on August 22, 2008