UPDATE TO LINK: CAGW Rolls Out Ad Campaign on the National Debt

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) unveiled a national ad campaign addressing our country’s spending addiction, the dangers of relentless deficits, and the corrosive nature of our national debt.

“We’re mortgaging our children’s future…we’re robbing piggy banks, we’re taxing our defenseless children without representation. … It’s unforgivable.”

This new ad, which features a chilling look at one potential future scenario if we continue on our current destructive fiscal trajectory, is a 2010 homage to a 1986 ad that was produced by W.R. Grace & Co. called “The Deficit Trials.” For those who were able to view it; it was a sensation. However, it was considered so alarming that the major networks refused to run it and CBS News anchor Dan Rather did a story about the controversy. The national debt was $2 trillion in 1986 when “The Deficit Trials” ad was denied broadcast time; today the debt stands at $13.7 trillion, and is projected to reach 140 percent of GDP in two decades, the time in which the new CAGW ad is set.

The group plans to run the ad on major cable networks throughout the rest of 2010 and into 2011. The ad can be viewed here [UPDATED] on CAGW’s website.

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 new 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.