By Danny Schechter 

“First in External Debt:. The United States owes $10.040 trillion, nearly a quarter of the global debt total of $44 trillion. First in Military Expenditures …”etc. Just wanted to you to know

WHOSE HURTING MOST?

Douglas Craver: “Nearly all additional wealth created in the USA since 1989 has gone to people 55 and older, according to Federal Reserve data. Wealth has doubled since 1989 in households headed by older Americans.
Not so for younger Americans. Households headed by people in their 20s, 30s and 40s have barely kept up with inflation or have fallen behind since 1989. People 35 to 50 actually have lost wealth since 1989 after adjusting for inflation, Fed data show.”

IN DEBT WE TRUST NEWSLETTER
By Danny Schechter

I have been talking about the debt issue on the road—first at Washington State University and then in Santa Fe ad Albuquerque New Mexico. The film has been drawing audiences and almost all of them bring their stories with them about the debt crunch. We had five screenings in 2 days at the Guild. After the last one, one young man told me “we were going to go to that Pirates movie, but this one was scarier.”

 There have been some positive reviews on blogs and in newspapers. Here’s News Blaze:
http://newsblaze.com/story/20070505090842tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOP
In Debt We Trust is an educational expose’ which ought to be watched by anyone thinking about signing up for their first piece of plastic because, today, the average college student owes $50,000 by the time they graduate. While $30,000 of that figure is in tuition loans, the balance is accounted for by an accumulation of consumer spending inflated by interested and fees.

PASATIEMPO (Santa Fe)

“There’s only one movie in Santa Fe scarier than 28 Weeks Later—this expose of the credit card industry by documentarian Danny Schechter.”

The Santa Fe Reporter:

 SFR Pick: With investigative journalism and first-person reporting, director Danny Schechter digs into where many of us are buried—consumer debt. It’s a credit to Schechter that he is able to reap profitable insights, as well as entertainment, from a story of economic interest.

The Salt Lake City Weekly Compares In Debt We Trust to Maxed Out:

Real journalism in the visual medium has all-but-disappeared from television in recent years. Outrage at authority and at the status quo are, however, showing up in movies—in theaters sometimes, but more frequently as direct-to-DVD films sold directly to … well, the angry, the informed, and those who want to be informed.

Flying lower under the radar is In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Bursts, a recent release from the progressive Web site/media company Disinformation.com. Far more rebellious than Scurlock, Danny Schechter here casts an even wider net across the sea of instability just barely breaching the surface of the American economy—Foreclosures up! Bankruptcy “reform” hurts everyone except big business!—to show how deeply the American middle- and lower-class is at the mercy of major banking corporations, and how the bottom must inevitably fall out.

IN DEBT WE TRUST INVITED TO SOUTH AFRICAN FESTIVAL

From ScreenAfrica.Com

The 28th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), taking place from 20 June to 1 July, will, together with SANPAD (South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development), present a special series of films around the issues of poverty and inequality.
http://www.screenafrica.com/news/industry/894211.htm

SOME MAJOR RECENT  STORIES ON THE THEMES THE FILM RAISES

THE WASHINGTON POST ON NEW CREDIT CARD DISCLOSURES
“Regulators are listening to the complaints and preparing to issue stronger consumer protection rules. The Federal Reserve proposed new, long-awaited regulations on Wednesday that would require credit card companies to make disclosures clearer and easier to understand. But some lawmakers say they think that the Fed rules, which could become final by year’s end, may not be enough and that new law might be needed.
All of the major credit card companies — Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Discover, Capital One, American Express and HSBC — have engaged in at least one of these practices…
MORE REFORMS NEEDED
A bill introduced two weeks ago by Sens. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) would ban interest charges on debt paid by the due date, cap penalty interest-rate increases and prohibit interest from being charged on late fees or over-the-limit fees. The measure would also ban late fees if a card issuer delays crediting a payment, require firms to offer the option of a fixed limit a customer would not be allowed to exceed and require companies to apply payments first to charges carrying the most expensive interest rate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/26/AR2007052600152.html?hpid=sec-business
BLOOMBERG: CONSUMERS ARE STRESSED
A pickup in U.S. economic growth is becoming more elusive as climbing gasoline prices, falling home values and fewer jobs restrain American consumers, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month.
Economists cut forecasts for growth this quarter and next by 0.2 percentage point to an annual rate of 2.2 percent and 2.5 percent respectively, according to the median of 65 estimates in a survey taken from April 30 to May 8. For the entire year, the economy is forecast to grow 2.1 percent, the least in five years.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy and expanded at an average 4 percent pace in the previous two quarters, may grow only about half as fast in coming months, economists said. Federal Reserve policy makers, who kept interest rates unchanged today, will postpone a rate cut until the fourth quarter as inflation concerns linger, the survey showed.
“The consumer is stressed,'’ said Gregory Miller, chief economist at SunTrust Banks Inc. in Atlanta. “Energy prices don’t look like they’ll moderate, housing is still in a morass and the labor market has slowed conspicuously.'’ Still, “the Fed is going to stick to their guns and guard against inflation.'’
HOME PRICES PLUNGE; SALES SOAR
http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/24/news/economy/new_home_sales/index.htm?postversion=2007052410
Talk about committing economic suicide! Buying a new home in this economy is nothing less than that. As we all know, while the sale price may be low, trying to maintain a home under a mountain of debt in an economy headed for a brick wall is well, to say the least, a bit self-destructive.

STRUGGLING TO KEEP A HOME IN MICHIGAN
http://www.record-eagle.com/2007/may/27forenews.htm

FROM THE “HALLOW KINGDOM”

This problem is increasingly global. Here’s a report from England on Tony Blair’s legacy:

From: ThisisLondon.co.uk:

In his powerful new book, Mail on Sunday economics editor Dan Atkinson offers a devastating new analysis of Blair’s Britain - a hollow kingdom where we make nothing, but believe anything…

The truth is that after ten years, Blair’s Britain is a fantasy island.

Mr Blair is currently obsessed with his legacy, but it makes most sense to think of him as a dreamer, a fantasist capable of getting millions of people to fantasise along with him…

The first daydream is the debt fantasy, in which vast amounts of consumer and mortgage debt can now be racked up either because the borrowing is secured on a home that has inflated in value, or because credit-card debt can be painlessly reduced or written off entirely through Labour’s quickie’ bankruptcies.

And billions of pounds of Government borrowings can be kept off the books by claiming them as part of the private finance initiative - a sort of hugely expensive mortgage scheme for public assets.
Between January 2000 and December 2005, the total outstanding on mortgage debt rose by 94 per cent and that on consumer credit by 65.8 per cent.

So what happened to earnings during that time? They rose by just 22.4 per cent. Perhaps it is not surprising that more and more people are declaring themselves insolvent to escape their debts.

Do you find these INDWEBTWETRUST/STOP THE SQEEZE newsletters of interest? Give us some feedback, and send in news items you think others should know about.

COSTS OF MEDICAL CARE—CHECK THIS OUT

http://med-cents.com/2007/05/23/cost-of-health-medical-care-facts.aspx
NEED HELP IN FIGURING OUT YOUR DEBT?

FROM http://lawforaliving.blogspot.com/

 I found this great website - www.ezpiggy.com - and I’ve spent the last week figuring out my debt, how to pay it off quickly (www.bankrate.com has some great calculators)

LETTTER FROM JOE BUSS, HUMANA CALIFORNIA

I’d like to thank you for making a film about something most people don’t want to talk about these days. You did a wonderful job in documenting the major forces that are responsible for exploding levels of personal debt
load.

I’ve often compared credit to fire. If used properly, it can be very useful. If mismanaged, you’ll get burned. I can also make a convincing metaphor
between those that push credit; banks, and those that push hard illegal drugs; drug dealers. Both banks and drug dealers offer an addictive product.
Both groups know that their product is addictive and they will go to great lengths to initiate the addiction.

I do have one bit of criticism for your excellent film. I don’t think you did as good a job as you could have in presenting a balanced view about personal debt. Yes the banks/credit card companies are evil, BUT consumers
who get way over their head in debt are equally as responsible for getting themselves in trouble. Your film should have exposed the consumer’s relentless pursuit of living beyond their means. I think the theme of “living beyond one’s means” and its connection to loose lending practices and credit should have been more central in your documentary.

Thanks Joe. The film couldn’t be about everything. In Debt We Trust does feature Steve Barnett’s concerns about our “shop until you drop” society, and Attorney Lou Cherico’s advice to ignore the hype and not borrow money you know you cannot afford to repay. We live in a marketing culture where the buy, but, buy message is everywhere and reinforce by TV commercials which are very seductive and designed to sell. Yes, some of us can and so hold back—but many of us want what they think others have. It leads to the disease called “Affluenza.”