I.O.U.S.A

I.O.U.S.A

 by Addison Wiggin
(based on 21 customer reviews)

I.O.U.S.A (Paperback)
Author: Addison Wiggin
Publisher: Wiley


List Price: $19.95
Amazon's Price: $11.27
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
16 out of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/11/08


You have to understand the problem before you can fix it

I.O.U.S.A. is the follow-on to Wiggin's best-selling Empire of Debt. It focuses a lot on the stories of people in the previous book who are tasked with making decisions regarding the four deficits our country faces: trade deficit, savings deficit, federal deficit, and the aptly-named leadership deficit. To give you a feel for some of the folks he talked to for the book, it's the likes of: Warren Buffet, Robert Rubin, Alice Rivlin, Pete Peterson, David Walker, Paul O'Neill, James Areddy, and Bill Bonner.

With America's federal debt at $8.6 trillion and growing, it's important to understand how this will impact the countries future, including entitlement programs we've grown to rely on, like Social Security and Medicare. The book isn't perfect, but it looks at a topic that every American will benefit from increasing his or her familiarity with.

Another book I recommend strongly because it is superb and has helped me immensely in keeping my own, errr, "deficits" under control is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book.


9 out of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/12/08


Great intro to the debt crisis

Enlightening. I bought the book after seeing the movie. Both helped me understand parts of the debt crisis that I didn't fully get before. Some of the dangers it warns against seem to be unfolding now.

I've developed a far more skeptical attitude towards the stock market recently, largely because of IOUSA. This skepticism has helped me dodge some of the recent equity losses. I realize this is extremely short-term, but at least I'm aware of the arguments opposing Wall St's continual bull-pumping. The traditional mentality of "don't sell now, it's the best time to buy" is incredibly ingrained in our society. People forget that on occasion there are extended periods of time that are really really bad to invest in equity markets.

This book (and the movie it's based on) helped me realize these things.

6 out of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/18/08


Finally, a honest look at what our lack of leadership is doing to this country.

I.O.U.S.A. is a "nuts and bolts" basic look at the potential financial crisis still ahead of us. While economics in college was tolerated, this book makes it interesting and relevant. It's a wake up call for the average American, and a call to arms to hold our leaders (and ourselves) accountable
for the choices we have made and will make in the future.

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