This American Prospect article illuminates what the film REALLY was about:
Stark's reckless debauchery provides the perfect pretext for the U.S. government to take away his Iron Man suit. Explosions, tattoos, and Scarlett Johansson notwithstanding, the disputes between Tony Stark and his antagonists revolve around ownership of the rights to the Iron Man technology.
If Iron Man 2 were real, this is what would have happened...
Stark's competitor Hammer could have immediately begun production after acquiring the Iron Man suit, insisting that it had generated the technology itself. Had Stark sued, the government could have claimed state-secrets privilege, protecting details of the contract and production design from Stark's lawyers. Stark would have been left without recourse to obtain the evidence needed to prove his case. However, when the developer of such trade secrets is a well-connected defense contractor like Stark, institutional relationships with the Pentagon will tend to protect its interests.
The American Prospect article Robert Farley and Davida H. Isaacs surmise that it is not the super suit that Tony Stark possesses that is his greatest asset... rather, it is the political connections he wields in Washington.
And that should give us pause.