(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) re-released its “Chinese Professor” ad to continue to draw attention to the country’s spending addiction and the dangers of mounting public debt.  The ad will air for two weeks on CNN, FoxNews, CNN Headline News, CNBC, The Weather Channel, AMC, and CNBC.  It will also air on local broadcast stations in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Featuring a frightening view of what may lie ahead if the U.S. government continues to fritter away the fortunes of present and future generations, this ad pays tribute to a 1986 ad that was produced by W.R. Grace & Co. called “The Deficit Trials.”  The national debt was $2 trillion in 1986 when “The Deficit Trials” ad was denied broadcast time.  Today the debt stands at $14 trillion, and is projected to reach 140 percent of GDP in two decades. 

The “Chinese Professor” ad, which aired for two weeks on October 21, 2010 and again on January 24 and 25, 2011, has caused a stir among budget hawks and big-government advocates alike.  James Fallows of The Atlantic described it as a “spot … you can imagine people actually remembering a decade from now.”  The ad has already received 1.5 million hits on YouTube. 

J. Peter Grace, CAGW’s co-founder and the chairman of the Grace Commission, was committed to sounding the alarm about what the debt would do to future generations.  “We believe the ad does justice to Peter Grace’s legacy and CAGW plans to produce additional ads addressing this critical issue over the next several years,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. 

The ad is part of an ongoing communications program in CAGW’s decades-long fight against wasteful government spending, increased taxes, out-of-control deficit spending, and a crippling national debt that threatens the future and survival of our country.

In the prescient words of J. Peter Grace, “we’re mortgaging our children’s future…we’re robbing piggy banks, we’re taxing our defenseless children without representation. … It’s unforgivable.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.