Youtube Hit 'Spenditol' Spotlights Frustration Over Debt Crisis
A spoof drug advertisement, created by Concerned Women for America to illustrate just how silly it is for government to continue spending amid a growing national debt, has gone "viral." "Spenditol" has been viewed over a million times on YouTube.
CWA CEO Penny Nance said the video relates to frustrated Americans. "CWA felt that this ad was a way to tap into that angst that exists in America," explained Nance.
The video shows a woman who is seemingly talking about headaches.
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"I was in chronic pain," she says, "and my family was struggling to make ends meet. Food and gas prices going up, even keeping my job was iffy."
Then she introduces the solution: Spenditol, the drug that "makes you feel better now and pushes off the really bad stuff 'til later."
"Spenditol is Washington's answer to all the painful problems Americans face. Had to borrow $800 billion dollars for a stimulus that didn't create jobs or fix the economy? Spenditol," she proclaims.
The humorous ad features cliché scenes of everyday activities and a list of "side effects" that include "a mountain of government debt pilled upon our kids" and "leaving our kids a lesser America that we had"
Nance said CWA conducted eight focus groups with the video and found women loved it. The ad is now being broadcasted in several states including Florida, Ohio and Nebraska.
She said of America’s women, "We control the purse strings of America ... we can make really hard decisions about what bills we pay." Government too, Nance said, needs to make some tough decision and cut government spending.
President Barack Obama has had a series of meetings with Democratic and Republican leaders to decide a debt ceiling deal and national budget that can pass both the U.S. House and Senate.
On Monday night he told Americans on national television that a deal had not been reached.
Obama said that he and other top lawmakers had been working on a "fair and balanced" approach which included tax increases to ensure that "the burden is fairly shared." He then blamed Republicans for the failed negotiations, arguing that they espouse a "cuts-only approach" that would "close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs that we all care about."
While the president seemed to express sincere concern for America's looming debt deadline, Nance said he is "sincerely wrong." Nance said it is wrong to raise taxes while the unemployment rate is a 9.2 percent.
She, like Republicans, believes that lawmakers must cut discretionary spending and reform entitlement programs.
One thing that both Nance and Obama agree on is the frustration of the American people.
"I know that American women are very frustrated right now," she said. "There's a $14 trillion debt threatening this generation's children [and yet] we keep raising the debt ceiling without making the tough decision to cut spending. Their fed up with that."
"This video," Nance praised, "cuts across party lines and gets to women protecting their families."
Commentaries left by the video's viewers reveal just how fed up Americans are with the debt.
A commenter identified as Hyperdrivemom wrote, "Our government has put our nation in this position of being indebted to China and every other country that has 'loaned' us money...Senators get their salary for life, while we have to figure out how to live off [of] SS (social security) ... It has to stop somewhere."
Mulkurul808 wrote, "Its [sic] clear cut: in a private company, if its board of directors acted similarly to the tragic, shameful and wasteful manner that Washington wastes trillions at the expense of current and especially future generations, then it would be obscenely liable for breach of fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders – in this case we the overtaxed citizens."
According to its website, CWA is the nation's largest women's public policy organization. It has a 30-year history of "helping our members across the country bring biblical principles into all levels of public policy."
