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Budget Hero: balance the federal budget your way - Time Waster
Budget Hero, released by American Public Media, is an online game where you're in charge of balancing the federal budget. If you're tired of hearing politician's economic policies as seen through the lens of political parties or special interests, Budget Hero cuts through the bull and provides policy options that have been vetted by non partisan government and think tank experts.
The object of the game is for you to balance the budget according to your values or goals, such as emphasis on national defense, health and wellness, economic stimulus, etc. You then play various cards from different categories representing sectors of the budget including among others, defense, school and kids, health care, and environment.
You're supposed to pay attention to the deficit meter and think about what impact your choices will have on future generations. You can then print out your budget and use it as a discussion point with others and even perhaps your elected representative.
We're happy to report in our own game we balanced the budget through 2028 and the budget bust point would not occur until 2070. We did this by repealing the Bush tax cuts, saving money on defense by having the troops come home soon, and raised taxes on the top 1% of wealthy Americans. We also raised the retirement age to 67, cut school lunch for kids who are not poor, and increased spending on mass transit.
So what's the big deal about balancing the budget?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fred Thompson said 11:30AM on 5-22-2008
No matter what I did, health care and social security always broke the bank. This thing just proves the point that those need to be capped. I didn't see any way to change the structure of SS from a pyramid scheme to something else. Health care popup is misleading, too. The government counts 1 day without health coverage as not having any. Without changes in those to reduce abuse and change their growth rates, you'll always bust.
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Dolores Parker said 6:08PM on 5-22-2008
Fred, did you repeal the Bush tax cuts? Try that.
James said 2:41PM on 5-22-2008
I haven't gotten a chance to play this yet -- does it have a "scrap the welfare program" button?
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Dolores Parker said 6:09PM on 5-22-2008
Well, you know I eliminated school lunch for the kids who weren't poor, so maybe....
feffrey said 6:42PM on 5-22-2008
Sadly these developers don;t understand that when the government cuts taxes the government actually takes in more revenue.
Why?
People have more money to spend and save, and when they do the government gets more revenue from taxes as money transfer hands.
compare the tax rate and the amount of money the government pulls in and you will see this happening.
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Rick said 7:38PM on 5-22-2008
Not really. Supply side economics fails.
Fred Thompson said 3:41AM on 5-23-2008
No, Rick. The reason you don't live in a hovel is supply-side economics.
The only way investment happens is if people have resources to invest. Supply side economics, basically, means productive people invest their created wealth back into the society to create more wealth for themselves and others. A market economy rewards producers with a fraction of the benefit their productions bring to other people. At the same time, economies of production are constantly being refined which leads to some jobs becoming inefficient. That is good. It's why products which were once incredibly expensive are so cheap now. "Displaced workers" become free to do other tasks. The net gain to everyone is positive.
There is no way expanding confiscation of wealth, consuming most of it inside the government, then providing disencentive to produce to part of the population leads to expansion. If it did, the Socialist countries would be the economic giants. The government cannot "create" jobs or opportunity other than by artificially influencing a situation but that always leads to a collapse and consumes more resources than the "benefits." If a situation is not economical, throwing money at it won't change that equation, it just encourages an unstable situation to grow.
This thing seems to run on Keynesian economics, which is not a surprise given the blurb about the underlying modeling assumptions. The problem is they don't account for the concept of velocity. Lowering taxes in market economies leads to larger economies. This is how collecting a smaller percentage in taxation leads to higher total revenue. A "balanced" economy assumes a stable environment which, quite frankly, isn't what any society should want. It should want its people to live longer and be more productive. That can't happen if the government "gives" too much to the people. In order to give, it must tax/confiscate more than it "gives". That's why the Social Security part of the equation ultimately crashes the system, even in this simulation. It's a Ponzi scheme with an ever-increasing target base.
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Jeebus said 1:02PM on 5-23-2008
Completely lame game. It's impossible to balance the budget by cutting spending, because you're not allowed to cut most things. I wanted to repeal SS and Medicare completely, yet when I had removed everything possible, it still went through the roof (sky really). This is a game for left wingers.
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Todd said 9:59AM on 5-26-2008
Totally agree. If you want to try to create a minimal government that is strong on defense, education, and infrastructure, it's not possible using this "game" aka brainwashing tool of the vast left wing conspiracy.