What’s Different About Today’s Government Deficit and Debt?
As of today, the U.S. government’s current deficit and debt are indeed currently at unprecedented levels for peacetime—once we account for them appropriately.
On Saturday I got to see a terrific new movie, Sleep Dealer, written and directed by Alex Rivera. It's lefty science fiction, and deals with immigration, global sweatshops, militarism, and the corporatization/privatization of water resources, among other topics. The degree to which it is only barely fiction is a little scary. I recommend it highly.
Mark Engler (author of this article for us, among others), has just posted an interview with Alex Rivera over at Foreign Policy in Focus. He's also posted a clip from the movie on his website.
Here is part of the interview:
Science Fiction From Below
Alex Rivera, director of the new film Sleep Dealer, imagines the future of the Global South
M.E.: How do you describe your film?
M.E.: Your main character, Memo Cruz, is from rural Mexico, from Oaxaca. In many ways, the village that we see on film is very similar to many poor, remote communities today. It doesn't necessarily look like how we think about the future at all. What was your conception of how economic globalization would affect communities like these?
ME: How far into the future did you set the film?
M.E.: In what sense?
Read the rest of the interview; see the clip.