The film follows former comptroller (the chief federal accountant) David M. Walker on his 2007 Financial Wake-Up Tour', a cross-country mission to inform Americans that their country is broke and that people are facing the very real prospect of wretched poverty if the problem is not addressed soon. President Barack Obama will inherit US national debt already in excess of $10trn, almost double the figure George Bush inherited from Bill Clinton in 2000. This deficit leaves America reliant on foreign funding, particularly from China, and threatens future health and social security spending at a time when credit-bingeing consumers have no savings left.
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The film isn't perfect, says The Washington Post. The filmic devices used, including "man on the street' interviews that reveal how desperately stupid most Americans are about important policy matters" are in danger of becoming "played out" by overuse in similar "Wake Up, America!" films, such as An Inconvenient Truth. That said, Creadon makes his case using "interviews with impressive authorities", including former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan and Warren Buffet, says Time Out London.
A lesson on the US national debt "can never be as entertaining as animated penguins in Madagascar or chest-bursting space aliens", says Richard Nilsen in the Arizona Republic. But it's "surprisingly engaging for a documentary on economics and numbers", says the Florida Times-Union. "And it's scary. Really scary."
goes on limited release in Britain from 14 November.
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How to shield your money as Reeves refuses to rule out income tax hikes and warns of ‘necessary choices’Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to lay the groundwork for higher taxes in the Autumn Budget on Tuesday morning and refused to stand by her manifesto pledge not to increase income tax.
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UK state pension is least generous in the G7 – how do other rich countries compare?British retirees get substantially less in state pension than in other wealthy nations, and for fewer years, but the balance is a lower tax burden on working age people
