[peaceandlove]

Interesting article from Mises Institute

I.O.U.S.A. Misses Point
Daily Article by Doug French | Posted on 11/14/2008

Complete Article Here: http://www.mises.org/story/3213

Excerpt:

I had high hopes for the documentary film I.O.U.S.A., because it was conceived of, cowritten and executive produced by Agora Financial's Addison Wiggin, coauthor with Bill Bonner of the excellent book Empire of Debt. When the movie finally started, the opening credits even indicated that the documentary was based on the book. I wish.

Bonner and Wiggin wrote that the purpose of Empire was "to show that the United States is headed for trouble." And, "their burden is only to show that the people making important policy decisions are morons and frauds." I.O.U.S.A. shows that the United States is in trouble, all right, but instead of politicians and central bankers being outed as crooks and mountebanks, the likes of Bill Clinton and Paul Volker are treated as heroes. Ex-Fed Chair Alan Greenspan is made to look like an idiot by Ron Paul in one clip and by comedian Jon Stewart in another, yet the filmmakers continually go back for sound bites from him and ex-Fed governor Alice Rivlin as authority figures. The film even claimed that one Federal Reserve mandate is to keep inflation low. Good grief, the Fed creates inflation.