National Debt Trending up

I went to see I.O.U.S.A the other night. The documentary was accompanied by a live panel of 5 including Warren Buffet. The show was simulcast live to over 400 theaters nation wide. What an eye opening experience. I left the theater shocked and wondering how we (The United States) are going to fix the many financial problems facing this country over the next several decades. I pride myself at being informed. I thought I had a fairly good understanding of our collective financial situation. Boy was I wrong. Our National Debt is out of control! Every American ought to watch this documentary.

I am not going to attempt to explain the details of what we are facing. However, I would like to point out a few statistics mentioned in the movie. For starters, as of today, we are 9.6 trillion dollars in debt. That’s $31,586.31 for every citizen in the country! However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The total sum of all of our unfunded obligations, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and our National Debt is an astonishing $53,000,000,000,000 (53 Trillion dollars). That equals a mind blowing $175,000 for every American according to the Peter G Peterson Foundation. Crazy. Freak-in crazy!

I was especially impressed with David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States under Presidents’ Reagan, Bush and Clinton. He did an excellent job of explaining the problem in terms everyone can relate to. He resigned his government position to join the Peter G. Peterson Foundation as the President and Chief Executive Officer to focus on helping the public become aware of this enormous problem.

This was a real wake up call. I am very concerned about the immense debt load we are leaving our children and grandchildren. If the situation is not addressed future generations will undoubtedly be faced with a much lower standard of living than we Americans have come accustomed.

I highly recommend you check this out. It is opening in theaters across the country on August 22, 2008. It is an unbiased, nonpartisan look at one of the biggest problems facing our nation. It will be played at both the Republican and Democratic conventions. It is timely and informative. Find a theater and be prepared to be shocked!

Did you catch the live performance? Have you seen the movie? What did you think?

If you want to learn more, visit http://www.pgpf.org/ and http://www.agorafinancial.com/iousa.html

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