Commentary - 08/08/2008

I O[wn] U S A

The Washington Post published Indebted Ever After yesterday, August 7th, subtitled: "Scared by National Deficit? You Should Be, Filmmakers Say."
A private-equity billionaire, a former federal government official and a Baltimore newsletter editor have made a documentary film that they hope can do what an endless parade of policy papers has not: Persuade Americans that debt has created a looming economic crisis that would make the Great Depression look like a market correction.

The movie, "I.O.U.S.A.," debuting Aug. 21, is an 87-minute alarum on what it calls the tsunami of debt bearing down on the United States' future, caused by the rising national deficit, the trade imbalance and the pending costs of baby boomers cashing in on entitlements.

There is no argument that USA's debt is horrendously out of line. The problem I have with this it's like the Godfather Don Corleone financing a tongue-in-cheek movie that documents the "success" of his family's business, using Tom Hagen, his Consiglieri, to star in it.
"I.O.U.S.A." offers up as its action hero David M. Walker, former head of the Government Accountability Office.
. . .
In March of this year, Walker resigned from the GAO so he could be even more vocal on the debt crisis, becoming chief executive of the newly formed Peter G. Peterson Foundation, set up by Peterson, billionaire co-founder of the Blackstone Group, a major private-equity player.
The private-equity billionaire, Peter G. Peterson was Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. Although Peterson took the position in 1985 after David Rockefeller, perhaps it's only a coincidence that he retired July 2007, just when the collapse of the credit markets started. His partner at Blackstone Group, Stephen A. Schwarzman, was a member of the Skull and Bones Society with George W. Bush. Hmmm, just another coincidence, I guess. Peterson also founded the Peterson Institute for International Economics. You should see THAT list of directors. Now there's a real a "cast of characters!"

Anyway, the article continues:

The film generally skirts specific solutions -- it does not recommend one form of Social Security reform over another -- but suggests broad entitlement overhaul, tough budget controls, conservation of energy and, at the no-duh level, not buying things you can't afford. In the interview, Walker said that tax deductions and exemptions will have to be reduced and a national consumption tax should be considered.
Uh oh, here it comes. The Godfather now explains how you're about to have to tighten YOUR belt as HIS empire expands. Obviously there will be no solution presented on how you might prevent this planned domain expansion. The article goes on to say:
The nation's debt now accounts for 66 percent of the gross national product. But unless things change, the film argues that the cost of aging baby boomers will push that proportion to 244 percent by 2040, twice what it was at the end of World War II, our highest level of national debt. A debt that high, even super-investor Warren E. Buffett says in the film, "could create real political instability."
. . .
The film will debut in 400 theaters around the country on Aug. 21, followed by a live video town hall meeting from Omaha, featuring Walker, Peterson and Buffett. The next day, the film opens in 10 cities, including Washington.
Super-investor? How about Super-agent? Earlier this year, I posted this commentary: Buffett: Sage of Omaha Just Another Agent. We'll let that commentary explain in detail, but here let's just say that an agent is simply a front for a greater power. His power hides the greater power that finances him.

I look forward to seeing the movie. This self-documentary of what has been done to our country, by those who took some of the leading roles, should be quite interesting.

The arrogance of sociopaths (financial predators) never ceases to amaze me.

Sometimes The Dragon Wins


© 2008 by Edward Ulysses Cate
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