Tell Washington Budget Experts How to Fix Our Fiscal House:

The "Voices of America" Video Contest Winners and Runners-Up

Here are the two winning submissions to the CRFB Fiscal Video Contest!

Daniel Lamoreux. Thornton, Illinois.

Daniel is a writer, editor and, as you’ll see from his video, a giant flag owner. Dan told us “the problem that's worrying him the most these days is the national debt and our out of control defense budget.”

In his video, Daniel talks about the potential consequences of failing to address our national debt and the tough choices we must make to get back on a sustainable fiscal path. He says that while the federal government will have to make significant spending cuts, there are many areas of potential savings to be found – and highlights the defense budget.

Jessica Levinson. Los Angeles, California.

Jessica is the Director of Political Reform at the Center for Governmental Studies and an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Law School, where she teaches a class on campaign finance laws. She blogs for the Huffington Post and KCET.org.

In her video submission, Jessica says the root of our country’s fiscal problems is that people want to pay lower taxes while continuing to benefit from government programs. She adds that a government with low revenues and high spending is fundamentally unsustainable, and puts forward the idea of PAYGO as a way to control future deficits.

Below are the two runner-up submissions!

Anna Flaherty

Originally from New York and Hawaii. Anna is a trained Emergency Medical Technical (EMT), with a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and a minor in Religious Studies, plus an Associate’s Degree in Science. She is also an aspiring writer and musician who is heading toward the medical profession.

In “Fiscal Crisis Song”, Anna sings about the ways that the fiscal crisis has affected her life and the lives of other Americans – particularly through high unemployment. She also sings about the importance of continued investment in education to improve competitiveness and the merits of implementing a consumption tax on gas to increase government revenue.

Christopher Murray. Frederick, Maryland.

President of the Murray Financial Group since 1994, Chris has won many awards for his work as a financial planner and for his civic activities in Frederick County. He produces and hosts “Your Financial Editor, a weekly radio program on 930 WFMD.

Christopher Murray focuses on the various harmful effects of excessive government spending. His video offers ideas on how to enforce fiscal discipline within the federal government, and finishes up by reminding us that the time to act on our fiscal challenges is now, and the time for making promises and pledges is over.

Here is a video compilation of some of the ideas put forward by the two contest winners and the two runner-ups!