CAGW RE-RELEASES AD ON THE NATIONAL DEBT

(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) will re-release its national ad campaign drawing attention to the country’s spending addiction and the dangers of mounting deficits.  The ad, known as the “Chinese Professor,” runs today and tomorrow on FOX News Channel and CNN in advance of the President’s State of the Union address.  As President Obama speaks to the nation about its fiscal health and outlines his legislative agenda for the year, CAGW hopes to remind taxpayers about the government’s crushing debt. 

This ad, which features a chilling look at one potential future scenario if the nation continues on its current path, pays homage 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. 

CAGW’s latest ad caused an immediate stir when it first aired on October 21, 2010.  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.

-###-