budget hero
by John at 5/20/2008 08:09:00 PM
I saw this fun game on Boing Boing and gave it a try. It's called Budget Hero and it's from PRI's Marketplace.
The goal is simple. Design a budget that accomplishes your goals (you pick up to three) by cutting or expanding federal spending in a number of areas. Here's a hint: It's surprisingly easy to afford everything you want if you repeal Bush's tax cuts and cap and limit green house gases. Raising taxes on the wealthy doesn't hurt either.
Anyway, give it a shot. It's not easy to share my full results, but if you are curious you can read this. In short, though, I reduced the debt from 37.7% of GDP in 2008 ($8.4 trillion) to 6.0% in 2018 ($1.3 trillion), I delayed the budget bust until past 2070, and I shrank government from 20.0% of GDP in 2008 ($4.4 trillion) to 18.7% of GDP in 2018 ($4.1 trillion). If only it was this easy in real life.
The goal is simple. Design a budget that accomplishes your goals (you pick up to three) by cutting or expanding federal spending in a number of areas. Here's a hint: It's surprisingly easy to afford everything you want if you repeal Bush's tax cuts and cap and limit green house gases. Raising taxes on the wealthy doesn't hurt either.
Anyway, give it a shot. It's not easy to share my full results, but if you are curious you can read this. In short, though, I reduced the debt from 37.7% of GDP in 2008 ($8.4 trillion) to 6.0% in 2018 ($1.3 trillion), I delayed the budget bust until past 2070, and I shrank government from 20.0% of GDP in 2008 ($4.4 trillion) to 18.7% of GDP in 2018 ($4.1 trillion). If only it was this easy in real life.
