One of America's proudest achievements, our national infrastructure, is now its most dangerous embarrassment. Our bridges, dams, levees and highways are crumbling, toppling, being washed away, and putting American citizens and cities at risk. How could the most powerful nation on the planet let this happen'
Narrated by Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss and directed by Emmy Award-winning investigative broadcast journalist Leslie Cardé, AMERICA BETRAYED begins with an exploration of the little-known causes behind the levee failures post-Katrina, and uses this as a springboard to expose the rampant collusion, corruption and cronyism within the government agencies whose very purpose is to protect us. This timely and riveting story of waste, fraud, and abuse at the highest levels of our government exposes how much-needed funding is misappropriated for questionable uses, how the Army Corps of Engineers (charged with ensuring that our infrastructure stays intact) is more concerned with self-serving transitions into corporate America, and how we've wasted taxpayer dollars building other nation's infrastructures and not our own. It is the story of how lobbyists and greedy politicians funnel money to pet projects; how those sent to investigate and police abuses are often bribed into silence, and how shoddy planning and construction frequently contribute to the erosion and destruction of America’s cities.
Featuring interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists from the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and TIME Magazine, noted scientists from Berkeley and Harvard, U.S. Senators and Congressmen, and the whistleblowers who risked their lives and careers to speak out, this searing documentary is both a cautionary tale for those who trust their government, and a wake-up call to Washington and Americans everywhere.