Green Options

Turns out that last month, Blogojevich closed seven state parks in Illinois because of the state’s budget deficit of $2 million. Although the state parks will all still have one on-site staffer and conservationists to patrol the areas, they will close their campgrounds and organized activities,

America has money scorching a hole in her pocket.  Like many a college student with a credit card, Lady Liberty is racking up charges she knows she can’t pay when the bill comes in at the end of the month.  Her spending far exceeds her income and, by the end of 2009, the amount of money she owes will be well over 9 trillion dollars.  Were she a person, she would have no hope for early retirement, or maybe even any retirement at all.

How did America, one of the richest countries on the planet, end up in this situation?  The new documentary I.O.U.S.A. helps to answer that question.  Directed by Patrick Creadon of Wordplay fame, the film follows former US Comptroller General and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation David Walker and the Concord Coalition’s Robert L. Bixby around the country on their “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour.”  Bixby adds comic relief as they trace the history of the national debt, revealing startling facts like, the only year in US history that the federal government was ever one hundred percent debt free was 1835.